This article explores the emotional expression through a singing voice in the reinterpretation of the male ideal identity and traditional fairy tales with romantic plots in Disney's animated films. We analyze whether princes sing, and if so, when, what about and how often they sing compared to princesses, male villains, and comic reliefs. By doing so, we aim to shed light on how gender bias may lead to emotional injustice and shape the construction of boyhood. After the analysis of the statistical data, we conclude that princes sing less than princesses, male villains and comic reliefs, especially in films produced after a sociopolitical conservative period, and they mainly sing with their romantic interest, perpetuating so the male ideal of not showing emotions and vulnerability in public.
While not limited to Baltimore, the “squeegee boy” is a common sight at major entryways into the city. Commonly, but not exclusively, very young men armed with window cleaning supplies, these individuals are dedicated to earning funds from visitors to the city, particularly on busy days. While prohibited, they persist, as this provides one of the few semi-legitimate ways for these young men to earn a living. I engage in a critical discourse analysis of social media videos of various squeegee kids. I analyze the boys’ language for discursive elements of internalized adultification and survivornomics. Overall, these discourses highlight the powerlessness of these boys, they are engaging in actions that could negatively impact their well-being because of their limited options.
This article counter-narrates the centrality of texts in reconstructing resistances to the haunting presence of hegemonic masculinity and sexuality in boyhood and adolescence. Through our textual interactions we, two gay-identified men, growing up in different countries and continents recount how our reading encounters provided an Other location in and among the quotidian narratives of normalcy in which a queer hermeneutic emerged. In this article, we suggest reading critically necessitates reading intertextually in order to interrogate the macro/micro connections and is a practice in which the wider social, political, cultural, and historic contexts frame the reading event. Reading critically, we suggest focuses on issues of power, transformation and signifies how textual interpretations allow for alternative visions of self to co-exist.
A nontrivial aspect of early twentieth-century Western masculinity is the popular reception and educational relaying of early endocrine concepts of sexual development after 1889. “Internal secretion” relocated long-standing monocausal attributions of sexual maturation and differentiation—the grand story of boy-to-man “development”—from “reabsorbed” semen to a conjectured “second” testicular secretion. US sex-hygienic works (1870s–1940s) readily reveal the long-term survival of the “old”, semen-based, physiology of sex/gender as well as its behavioral-hygienic implications concerning “semen loss,” a survival animated by various attempts at containing and interpreting transpiring scientific opinion. These discursive maneuvers provide a historical backdrop to present-day quasi-scientific valorizations of continence recirculated under the heading of “semen retention,” valorizations posing important but unanswered questions concerning boyhood health-scientific literacy and what may be shifting, post-gonadal psycho-physiologies of male identity.
This article draws on rape culture discourse and theories of masculinity in crisis to examine two Young Adult (YA) novels: Aaron Hartzler's What We Saw (2015) and Cassie Gustafson's After the Ink Dries (2021). Using Michael Kimmel's framework of cultures of entitlement, silence, and protection, I conduct close readings to examine how young male athlete characters participate in these cultures, concealing a sexual assault through their adherence to a “don't betray the brotherhood” mentality. The article also examines how the characters minimize their own involvement to preserve a “good guy” persona, prompting readers to evaluate what that label means within rape culture. Ultimately, this analysis considers why these boys fail to step in, speak out, or take responsibility—behaviors that must be critically contextualized if we are to foster more accountability and challenge the social norms that enable sexual violence.
This article explores the emotional expression through a singing voice in the reinterpretation of the male ideal identity and traditional fairy tales with romantic plots in Disney's animated films. We analyze whether princes sing, and if so, when, what about and how often they sing compared to princesses, male villains, and comic reliefs. By doing so, we aim to shed light on how gender bias may lead to emotional injustice and shape the construction of boyhood. After the analysis of the statistical data, we conclude that princes sing less than princesses, male villains and comic reliefs, especially in films produced after a sociopolitical conservative period, and they mainly sing with their romantic interest, perpetuating so the male ideal of not showing emotions and vulnerability in public.
This article draws on rape culture discourse and theories of masculinity in crisis to examine two Young Adult (YA) novels: Aaron Hartzler's What We Saw (2015) and Cassie Gustafson's After the Ink Dries (2021). Using Michael Kimmel's framework of cultures of entitlement, silence, and protection, I conduct close readings to examine how young male athlete characters participate in these cultures, concealing a sexual assault through their adherence to a "don't betray the brotherhood" mentality. The article also examines how the characters minimize their own involvement to preserve a "good guy" persona, prompting readers to evaluate what that label means within rape culture. Ultimately, this analysis considers why these boys fail to step in, speak out, or take responsibility-behaviors that must be critically contextualized if we are to foster more accountability and challenge the social norms that enable sexual violence.
A nontrivial aspect of early twentieth-century Western masculinity is the popular reception and educational relaying of early endocrine concepts of sexual development after 1889. "Internal secretion" relocated long-standing mono-causal attributions of sexual maturation and differentiation-the grand story of boy-to-man "development"-from "reabsorbed" semen to a conjectured "second" testicular secretion. US sex-hygienic works (1870s-1940s) readily reveal the long-term survival of the "old", semen-based, physiology of sex/gender as well as its behavioral-hygienic implications concerning "semen loss," a survival animated by various attempts at containing and interpreting transpiring scientific opinion. These discursive maneuvers provide a historical backdrop to present-day quasi-scientific valorizations of continence recirculated under the heading of "semen retention," valorizations posing important but unanswered questions concerning boyhood health-scientific literacy and what may be shifting, post-gonadal psychophysiologies of male identity.
While not limited to Baltimore, the "squeegee boy" is a common sight at major entryways into the city. Commonly, but not exclusively, very young men armed with window cleaning supplies, these individuals are dedicated to earning funds from visitors to the city, particularly on busy days. While prohibited, they persist, as this provides one of the few semi-legitimate ways for these young men to earn a living. I engage in a critical discourse analysis of social media videos of various squeegee kids. I analyze the boys' language for discursive elements of internalized adultification and survivornomics. Overall, these discourses highlight the powerlessness of these boys, they are engaging in actions that could negatively impact their well-being because of their limited options.
As an exercise in the self-analysis of one boyhood, the author analyzes a science fiction film, Invaders from Mars, which had a profound and lasting effect on his emotions when he viewed the film in 1953 at age eight. Cultural meanings and unique individual meanings interact during the act of viewing the film, and the author uses this personal case study to make larger points about collective cultural fantasies in popular culture and individual fantasies in the boy's mind. Psychoanalytic theory about the latency period (ages five to twelve) of psychosexual development helps explain what is so unsettling about the film for the author when he was an eight-year-old boy.
This article counter-narrates the centrality of texts in reconstructing resistances to the haunting presence of hegemonic masculinity and sexuality in boyhood and adolescence. Through our textual interactions we, two gay-identified men, growing up in different countries and continents recount how our reading encounters provided an Other location in and among the quotidian narratives of normalcy in which a queer hermeneutic emerged. In this article, we suggest reading critically necessitates reading intertextually in order to interrogate the macro/ micro connections and is a practice in which the wider social, political, cultural, and historic contexts frame the reading event. Reading critically, we suggest focuses on issues of power, transformation and signifies how textual interpretations allow for alternative visions of self to co-exist.
Sex is a social behavior that requires learning, but its discussion is often shrouded in mystery. Family and friends may provide inconsistent or misleading information about the body and sex. Misconceptions surround pubertal changes and sexual awakenings. Teenagers face challenges in understanding sexual orientations and activities due to restrictive societal norms. Literature may offer a safe space for such explorations. Indian boyhood fiction often sidesteps these issues, but memoirs like those of Krishnagopal Mallick, Bhisham Sahani, and Khushwant Singh candidly address pubescence. This article examines how autobiographical narratives help adolescents navigate emotional turmoil during pubertal changes and emerging sexuality. Relevant excerpts provide insights into emotional complexities beyond biological explanations. These stories offer a relatable and convincing understanding of growing up, aiding teenagers in their journey of self-discovery.
This article examines the early development of social gender norms in children, emphasizing how family and school environments influence their attitudes and gender expectations. It centers on the KINDER project, active from 2021 to 2023, which aimed to address gender stereotypes in early childhood and elementary education. Drawing on theories by Althusser and Freire, it suggests transformative educational practices to challenge existing norms. Utilizing methods such as focused interviews and quantitative research, the project devises an inclusive approach with educational resources and campaigns promoting empathy, nurturing masculinities, and diversity in curricula. The article underscores the ongoing necessity for initiatives to cultivate more equitable and inclusive educational environments.
In the wake of feminist reshaping and postcolonial interrogation of the adventure genre, this article investigates men/boys in the Indian adventure narratives for children to decode what society wishes to be, what it wishes to be seen as, and what it unconsciously reveals itself to be in the areas of masculinity and manliness. Content analysis of the Indian children's adventure stories in English (ICLE) and Gujarati languages (CLG) is undertaken by grounding the framework of hegemonic masculinity in the Indian context. The conclusions reveal myriad strategies employed by hegemonically gendered texts to adhere to the wide spectrum of hegemonic masculinity and by non-hegemonically gendered ones to interrogate, invert, ridicule, and replace these ideals. These conclusions underline the importance of examining masculinity as a location of gender politics.
Few literary genres better capture the complexities of boyhood than the bildungsroman, which traces a young protagonist's development alongside his attempts at societal integration. In the genre's queer iteration, particularly the gay male bildungsroman, boyhood becomes further complicated by the tension between masculinity and queerness. This article examines how Douglas Stuart's Young Mungo (2022) challenges conventional representations of queer boyhood by situating its protagonist within a working-class Glaswegian environment shaped by economic precarity, sectarian violence, and rigid gender norms. Unlike classical bildungsromane, where boyhood culminates in successful integration, Young Mungo suggests that queer survival often necessitates escape. By framing boyhood as a process continually obstructed by societal forces, Stuart's novel highlights the way queerness, class, and masculinity intersect to complicate normative developmental trajectories.
The present essay is dedicated to the relationship between extreme multilingualism (or a polyglottal language repertoire) and queerness. The author employs an autoethnographic method and revisits a three-month period when he was fifteen years old, focusing on four languages (i.e., French, Arabic, German, and Polish) and a journey that took him across Europe from Western Poland to Paris and back. This reflexive narrative is evaluated through the lens of language biographies/trajectories in the era of superdiversity and mobility, leading to the following conclusion: The author's language acquisition and multilingualism have been reflective of and motivated by his queerness. That is, the author has not acquired his extreme multilingual repertoire and has not learned over forty languages because of education, work, or skills-related needs and aspirations, but because of the love he has felt and made to real and imaginary people. The key element in shaping this queerness-driven polyglotism has been the author's mobility-language being understood as a biographical trajectory that runs across (informal) spaces, emotions, minds, and bodies. The author interprets the above observations within a radical pedagogical approach to education and contends that, to learn languages, we need sensitive lovers rather than (more) teachers and classrooms.
The following article analyzes constructions of masculinity through sexting practices among adolescents in Germany. Drawing on theories of masculinity and data from group discussions with adolescents, the research identifies gendered differences in experiences of sexual boundary violations via digital media. Male participants in our study use distancing strategies and do not perceive themselves as affected by such violations, while female participants identify themselves as potential victims. This phenomenon is interpreted as the masculine privilege of "not having to be affected." The article argues that autonomy emerges as a key paradigm in contemporary constructions of masculinity. These findings contribute to understanding how gender inequalities are reinforced through digital sexual communication and highlight the role of perceived autonomy in maintaining hegemonic masculinity.
Few literary genres better capture the complexities of boyhood than the bildungsroman, which traces a young protagonist's development alongside his attempts at societal integration. In the genre's queer iteration, particularly the gay male bildungsroman, boyhood becomes further complicated by the tension between masculinity and queerness. This article examines how Douglas Stuart's Young Mungo (2022) challenges conventional representations of queer boyhood by situating its protagonist within a working-class Glaswegian environment shaped by economic precarity, sectarian violence, and rigid gender norms. Unlike classical bildungsromane, where boyhood culminates in successful integration, Young Mungo suggests that queer survival often necessitates escape. By framing boyhood as a process continually obstructed by societal forces, Stuart's novel highlights the way queerness, class, and masculinity intersect to complicate normative developmental trajectories.
The following article analyzes constructions of masculinity through sexting practices among adolescents in Germany. Drawing on theories of masculinity and data from group discussions with adolescents, the research identifies gendered differences in experiences of sexual boundary violations via digital media. Male participants in our study use distancing strategies and do not perceive themselves as affected by such violations, while female participants identify themselves as potential victims. This phenomenon is interpreted as the masculine privilege of “not having to be affected.” The article argues that autonomy emerges as a key paradigm in contemporary constructions of masculinity. These findings contribute to understanding how gender inequalities are reinforced through digital sexual communication and highlight the role of perceived autonomy in maintaining hegemonic masculinity.
Discussing my long-term research involvement in the world of fitness trainers and bodybuilders in India, I frequently get asked if these men's bodies resonate with a potentially toxic sense of masculinity. Horrific rape cases, dowry deaths, and the more general problem of eve-teasing or the harassment of women in public spaces have all contributed to the idea of the Indian male as entitled and with a deeply problematic masculine self. This article seeks to upset this idea by focusing on the trajectories of interlocutors hailing from new or lower middle-class backgrounds. Focusing on a bodybuilding federation where men of the gujjar-caste form the majority and a small neighborhood gym where the trainers are from an ‘urban village’ in Delhi dominated by the jat-caste, it centers on men who actively engage with their socioeconomic status in society and the way their “transformed” muscular bodies are perceived in urban space. Having been expected to follow in their fathers’ footsteps and/or join the family business, their journeys deviate markedly from that of their peers. Working out and developing their bodies therefore marks more than mere bodily transformation. It also entails a process whereby they need to rework their sense of (masculine) self and their place in society.
