Emerging masculinities: a qualitative analysis of the construction and practice of adolescent masculinities.
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Date
2005
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Abstract
This study aimed to investigate how a sample of South African adolescent boys construct
and negotiate their masculine identities from the different versions of being male available
to them within their particular social and cultural contexts. This study employed a
qualitative research design using the semi-structured interview protocol developed by
Frosh et al.(2002). The results of this research consistently reveal that masculinity among
adolescent boys is dynamic, multiple and continually being made, performed, resisted and
contested. The subjects described different ways of being male, often having to negotiate a
coherent masculine identity from many competing, often contradictory versions of
masculinity. However hegemonic or 'hard' masculinity remains the dominant standard
against which other ways of being male are evaluated. These masculinity constructions
show remarkable similarities to those of the English adolescent boys in the Frosh, Phoenix
and Pattman (2002) study, which suggests that the hegemonic ideal is particularly wide ranging
and well-entrenched in the lives of boys.
Description
Masters Degree. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg.