Browsing by Subject "Hypermasculinity"

Focus on boys and men, especially as gendered subjects, has been missing in most of the mainstream development as well as in the Gender and Development (GAD) field, even if it is widely recognized that gender equality cannot be achieved without a focus on and an active involvement of boys and men in pursuing it. Where focus has been placed on boys and men in this field, attention has been drawn on masculinities, arguing that “masculinities matter” for gender equality and development. Evidence has been offered for instance of marginalized “masculinity-threatened” men resorting to “hypermasculinity” to assert themselves as masculine in the face of poverty that precludes their role as the breadwinner – which is the cornerstone for masculine identity in Kenya as well as globally. In addition to that hypermascular behavior is claimed to exacerbate gender inequality and other development issues, it is a form of “toxic masculinity” that boys and men themselves also suffer from. This study focuses on marginalized urban adolescent men explicitly as gendered beings in the context of Mukuru Kayaba slum in Nairobi. More precisely, this study aims to provide insights of the perceptions of these boys on masculinity and gender equality as well as of their lived realities as they strive to comply with the previous in the context of poverty, and challenge their way out of it. The hypothesis of marginalized urban men resorting to hypermasculinity to assert themselves as masculine serves as a backdrop of this study and a more nuanced understanding of this phenomenon is sought for in this study. The research material of this study derived from interviews with 10 adolescent boys between the ages of 15 and 19. The study was guided by critical masculinity theory which is engaged with the social constructionist view of masculinity, and gender, as socially-produced and fluid dynamics that derive their meanings within specific social contexts. In addition to employing especially Connell's social theory on masculinity, postcolonial perspectives on masculinity and effects of current globalization are also attempted to be incorporated as the context where the boys live and construct their masculinity is all, historical, local and global at once. Central findings of the study are that hypermascular attitudes, beliefs and actions were defined as the negation of “proper” masculinity in the official narratives of the boys. However, this kind of masculinity was claimed to be the most common one among boys in the slum. Adolescents did thus appear to be more prone to resort to hypermascular behaviors than adult men in the slums of Nairobi, which highlights how a fragile life situation adolescence is. The boys do not however comply to hypermasculine behavior necessarily to assure themselves as masculine per se, but either because of pure need, and/or because they are striving for hegemonic masculine ideals such as being able to provide for girls. Hypermasculinity might however also be a more hegemonic form of masculinity among the boys in the slum than the boys were willing to let be known. In any case, the boys felt stigmatized, criticized and dehumanized by people from outside of the slum, but they also took part in the same stigmatization: the social construction of slum boys as thieves – thus hypermascular. This, in turn, appeared to allow the police to use arbitrary and excessive power against them. In conclusion, my material strongly supports the view that boys (and men) should be included in considerations and pursuits to advance gender equality. However, similarly as girls and women need better opportunities at many places, boys and men living in poverty also need opportunities. The easy way forward in GAD in addressing boys and men has been to consider the problematics of masculinities. The transformation that is required to bring about the opportunities needed by both genders however is a much bigger and more difficult issue, and something that would also bring the masculinities at the top of the global hierarchy of masculinities into question and scrutiny.