HENB01402U English - Elective 3, topic 2: What is a Real Man? NEW TOPIC

What does it mean to be a man? What does it take to be recognized as a ‘real man’ by one’s surroundings? When re-examining gender and gender roles, scholars have tended to privilege the female perspective, perhaps not surprisingly in the light of a long history of patriarchal oppression. The study of men and masculinity has thus been met with resistance, even causing a number of critics to contemplate whether or not ‘we need to study masculinity’ as so much of what we read is written by men. However, the problem with masculinity has never been that it is not present, but rather that male positions have been privileged and thus appeared transparent, universal, even neutral, causing us to fail to actually study men. In this course, we will attempt to right this wrong, by unhinging the understanding of masculinity as identical with patriarchal and hegemonic ideological formations with the aim to reconceptualize the term in theoretical and literary contexts. In order to do this, we will dive into the multifaceted world of masculinities by exploring them in regards to both femininities as well as other masculinities in various group dynamics. Finally, we will pay particular attention to one specific aspect often associated with overt ‘manliness’, namely violence.