Boyhood Femininity,Gender Identity Disorder,Masculine Presuppositions,and the Anxiety of Regulation

This paper details the diagnostic discourse that has accumulated around feminine boys, including the traditional presuppositions of Gender Identity Disorder (GID). The GID discourse is examined for the ways in which it is built upon unquestioned beliefs about masculinity. Distinct from most modern considerations of gender, no effort has been made to critically theorize gender when thinking about feminine boys; masculinity is as masculinity was. Consequently, we are left with modes of diagnosis and treatment that are out of synch with modern social life, and a set of ideas that do not proceed from an adequate understanding of the range that is masculinity. New sustaining ideals are in play, and in accord with these ideals an argument is made for a new mode of psychotherapeutic address. The traditional individual trauma explanation for GID is questioned. Particular emphasis is given to the ways in which this traditional GID discourse fails to reckon with how masculinity is held in place by the strong arm of regulatory anxiety. A new position that incorporates a greater appreciation for the role of social trauma and melancholia is offered. It is argued that a theory that offers insight into the workings of melancholia as it builds the feminine boy affords a more robust set of ideas through which to contemplate the boy. In turn, we come upon a better avenue of psychotherapeutic action—one that does not employ behavioral strategies that reinforce social exclusion.     

Threatened masculinity and muscularity: An experimental examination of multiple aspects of muscularity in men

Two studies examined the threatened masculinity theory of male body dissatisfaction, which posits that threats to masculinity result in increased muscle dissatisfaction. In Study 1, a masculinity threat was followed by tasks examining confidence in physical ability and perceptions of current and ideal body shapes. Results showed that men who experienced a masculinity threat reported lower confidence in their physical ability and perceived themselves as less muscular than men who experienced an affirmation of their masculinity. In Study 2, men were asked to report their intention to increase muscularity and their appearance anxiety following a threat to masculinity. Results showed that men reported lower appearance anxiety and drive for muscularity when their masculinity was threatened than when their masculinity was affirmed. This apparent contradiction can be explained by noting that men may be motivated to deny appearance concerns following a threat to masculinity, as such concerns are equated with femininity.     

Gang Fights versus Cat Fights: Urban Young Men's Gendered Narratives of Violence

Scholarly accounts of young men's violence have remained remarkably consistent over time: the use of violence emerges in response to focal concerns that strongly emphasize autonomy, respect, and the defense of reputation, and is indicative of the import of hegemonic masculinities on the streets. Yet, despite persistent gender gaps in the use of violence, recent research suggests that young women use violence more often than commonly believed, and their violence is likewise tied to concerns about status and respect. Given scholarly attention to the functions of violence for accomplishing masculinity, this raises the interesting question of whether and how young men maintain the equation of masculinity with violence when faced with the reality of young women's violence. Drawing from the sociology of accounts and research on gender, language, and discourse, we analyze in-depth interviews with 39 urban African-American young men to compare how they construct and make sense of boys' and girls' violence in the context of conversations about the nature and meanings of violence.     

Gender roles, eating pathology, and body dissatisfaction in men: a meta-analysis

The current study reviewed relationships between gender roles and (a) eating pathology, (b) body dissatisfaction, and (c) muscle dissatisfaction among men via meta-analysis. Moderators of sexual orientation and type of gender role measure were also investigated. Results revealed the relationship between femininity and eating and body-related variables did not significantly differ from zero. Sexual orientation moderated the relationship between femininity and muscle dissatisfaction (i.e., femininity was negatively related to muscle dissatisfaction for heterosexual but not gay men). Masculinity was negatively associated with eating pathology and body dissatisfaction. Type of masculinity measure moderated the relationship between masculinity and body dissatisfaction (i.e., trait-based measures produced a negative association, multidimensional measures yielded nonsignificant relationships). Type of masculinity measure produced a cross-over interaction when examining muscle dissatisfaction (i.e., trait-based instruments yielded a negative association and multidimensional instruments revealed a positive relationship). Findings highlight the salience of masculinity in men's eating and body concerns.     

Religionless Christianity and the Political Implications of Theological Speech: What Bonhoeffer's Theology Yields to a World of Fundamentalisms

This article seeks to utilize Bonhoeffer's religionless Christianity in a formative and constructive way to aid theological speech in the complexly secular and multi-faith setting of the twenty-first century. It will begin by seeking to highlight trends in unhelpful contemporary theo-politics, and to locate these in the interconnection of secular and religious forms of fundamentalism. It will then consider how a theological interpretation of Bonhoeffer's religionless Christianity might assist in undermining such fundamentalisms. A further section identifies a threefold positive benefit that Bonhoeffer's thought offers in the contemporary situation: a distinction between God and religion; a genuine understanding of the sovereignty of God; and an inability to separate secular–religious concerns from inter-faith concerns.     

Gendered Self-Concept and the Aggressive Expression of Driving Anger: Positive Femininity Buffers Negative Masculinity

The aggressive expression of driving anger is a risk factor for aggressive and dangerous driving behavior and is associated with a greater risk of accident involvement. The present study related positive and negative facets of a masculine and feminine self-concept to aggressive and adaptive forms of anger expression while driving. A sample of 417 drivers (194 women, 46.5%) in Germany completed the Positive-Negative Sex Role Inventory (PN-SRI) as a measure of positive and negative masculinity and femininity and the Driving Anger Expression Inventory (DAX) as a measure of driving anger expression. Aggressive forms of expressing driving anger were unrelated to gender but differed significantly in relation to gendered self-concept. Negative but not positive masculinity was found to predict higher aggressive and lower adaptive anger expression. No main effects of positive or negative femininity were found. However, the link between negative masculinity and aggressive anger expression was buffered by positive femininity: Negative masculinity was unrelated to aggressive anger expression when accompanied by positive femininity. Adaptive anger expression showed negative links with negative masculinity and positive links with positive masculinity. The findings held for both men and women and support the theoretical distinction between positive and negative facets of the gendered self-concept. The implications for the conceptualization of both gendered self-concept and anger expression on the road are discussed.     

Theological Educators and their Concerns about Technology

Abstract. Based on results from interviews with theological educators at forty‐five seminaries in North America, the author begins by listing twenty‐six concerns expressed about technology in theological education, particularly the concerns about electronically mediated distance education. These concerns are categorized loosely under three headings: Practical and Personal Concerns, Pedagogical and Educational Concerns, and Philosophical and Theological Concerns. More important than the list is the sociology of decision‐making surrounding technology among theological educators. In the final section of the article entitled, “how concerns about technology function within institutions,” the author discusses how it is that these concerns are allowed to function in very different ways across the spectrum of theological education today.     

Sex,gender, and intersex: anthropological,medical, and ethical critiques and proposals

ABSTRACT

The problems of intersex have received little attention from both Catholic Magisterium and theologians. Early in 2019, the Vatican Congregation for Catholic Education issued a document intended to be a pathway for a dialogue on the issue of gender in education. This essay responds to that document as a contribution to filling theological gaps in the consideration of intersex. It first explains and critiques the theological anthropology underlying the Vatican document and then analyzes and critiques Western cultural, medical approaches to intersex persons. It dialogues with the experience of intersex persons and the social sciences that document it and concludes by proposing ethical principles to guide intersex persons, their parents, and their physicians in the care and treatment of intersex.     

Who Cares What She Thinks, What Does He Say? Links between Masculinity, In-Group Bonding and Gender Harassment

Previous research has linked threats to masculinity and gender harassment, the most pervasive form of sexual harassment. Using a computer harassment paradigm, an ingroup bonding explanation of this link was directly examined. The study was conducted with heterosexual male undergraduate students from an inner city Australian university. Participants received a threat to masculinity before being exposed to an ostensible gender ingroup member whose reaction to sexist jokes was manipulated. Data from 74 participants revealed that men high on conformity to masculine norms altered their behavior to correspond with feedback from the gender ingroup member after a masculinity threat, whereas men low on conformity to masculine norms rejected gender ingroup feedback after a masculinity threat. A variable examining reported liking of the gender ingroup member produced a similar pattern, while no changes were observed in reported liking of a gender outgroup member These results suggest that the perceived response of other members of the gender ingroup, but not members of the gender outgroup, influence men’s proclivity to enact gender harassing behaviors.     

With Liberty and Some Justice for a Few: Thinking Theologically about Criminal Justice

The current crisis in the American criminal justice system begs for theological response, and its sources need theological critique. The recent proposed statement of the ELCA draws attention to the needs of victims of crime and their families, and makes sensible recommendations for paths to greater justice. In doing so it is important to remember what forms of justice are possible under the jurisdiction of fallible, earthly institutions.     

Conceiving of God: Theological arguments and motives in feminist ethics

This paper offers a critical investigation of the theological assumptions that lie within three forms of modern feminist ethics, with a view to challenging feminist ethics to enter the new theological possibilities opened up in postmodernity for the conceiving of god. The first part of the paper considers the conceiving of god in modern feminisms, in which theology becomes ethics. The consequences of this development are considered. The second part of the paper investigates the turn into postmodernity which hears the saying of the death of god and the critique of onto-theology. This disturbance to the foundations of feminist ethics is understood as part of a wider critique of humanism manifest particularly in gender theory. That the end of the modern human subject might allow a conceiving of god through an understanding of the performative is the restored orthodoxy to which the paper points.     

The Impact of Parental Status and Gender Role Orientation on Caring and Postconventional Reasoning in Young Marrieds

This study was designed to examine the influence of sex and gender role orientation on adoption of the ethic of care and on postconventional reasoning in married men and women, with and without children. Parental status was unrelated to gender role orientation in men but was associated with masculinity in women, such that women with children had lower masculinity scores. Adoption of an ethic of care in men was a function of gender role orientation, such that only androgynous men did not evidence lower caring scores when they had children. Caring scores in women were a function of both parental status and masculinity, such that women with children who were high in masculinity evidenced lower caring scores. Postconventional reasoning as assessed by P scores on three dilemmas from the Defining Issues Test (DIT) were only influenced by sex and age but not by gender role orientation. Postconventional reasoning as assessed by ratings of all postconventional statements (R scores) was influenced by both sex and gender role orientation; in men, masculinity and femininity interacted such that androgynous and undifferentiated men evidenced higher R scores when they had no children, but only androgynous men with children evidenced high R scores. In women, gender role orientation did not impact R scores and neither did parental status. Multiple regressions indicated that for women, the interaction of masculinity and femininity, and caring scores, accounted for a significant amount of the variance in R scores. In men, none of the variables entered the equation. The implications for both Gilligan’s and Bem’s theories are discussed.     

Gender Role Orientation and Anxiety Symptoms Among African American Adolescents

The present study evaluated gender role theory as an explanation for the observed gender differences in anxiety symptoms among adolescents. Specifically, the relation between gender, gender role orientation (i.e., masculinity and femininity), self-esteem, and anxiety symptoms was examined in a community sample of 114 African Americans aged 14 to 19 (mean age 15.77; 57 girls). Results revealed that masculinity was negatively associated with anxiety symptoms whereas femininity was positively associated with anxiety symptoms. Gender role orientation accounted for unique variance in anxiety scores above biological gender and self-esteem, and self-esteem moderated the relation between femininity (but not masculinity) and overall anxiety symptoms. Consistent with research on children and Caucasians, findings supported gender role theory as a partial explanation for the observed gender disparity in anxiety symptoms among African American adolescents.     

Masculine body ideologies as a non-gynocentric framework for the psychological study of the male body

Psychological research of the body disproportionately centers on body-appearance concerns. Grounded in women's experience of objectification, it neglects much of men's bodily experience. To address this we introduce Masculine Body Ideologies (MBI), a set of belief systems that prescribe how men should engage with their bodies. Three MBI ideal-types are identified and situated within broader masculinity ideologies: unattended, functional body ideology associated with traditional masculinity rooted in modern industrial society; metrosexual body ideology associated with post-industrial, consumer masculinity and reemploying signifiers of body functionality to form an objectified body esthetics; and holistic body ideology emphasizing inner-harmony, authenticity and expressivity, manifesting post-industrial trends of self-aware masculinity. As a normative framework, MBI underscores how similar body practices may be motivated by different body concerns associated with alternative body ideologies. This framework can clarify conceptual and empirical inconsistencies in studies of male body-appearance concerns and inform emerging research and mental-health considerations.     

What's in a Disorder

Abstract

This paper analyzes the emergence of two FDA-approved products to treat “sexual disorders”: Viagra, a drug prescribed for the treatment of erectile dysfunction, and the Eros, a device prescribed for the treatment of female sexual dysfunction. Through an analysis of advertising and promotional materials for Viagra and the Eros, we argue that these pharmaceutical devices and the discourses they circulate reinforce normative gender ideals by enacting dominant cultural narratives of masculinity, femininity, and male and female sexuality. These cultural narratives of normative gender structure sexuality in such a way that reinforces certain kinds of masculinity, femininity, and (hetero)sexuality, thereby rendering “atypical” gender and sexual expressions, desires, and appearances invisible and marginal. We argue that these constructions reify cultural ideologies about “what counts” as legitimate and appropriate sexuality and that these constructions have profound implication for social actors, sexologists, and therapists.     

The Man of the House: Commentary on Thomas Burkhalter’s “Foregrounding Masculinities in Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy”

Thomas Burkhalter is complemented on so vividly bringing the reader into his personal struggles to find a true masculinity in the unforgiving context of contemporary South Africa where White masculinity is associated with apartheid. The struggle to be free of old identifications with the patriarchal order and gender binaries saturate the paper, and attention is drawn to the lingering presence of older conceptions of masculinity as a monolithic concept that leaves women as victims and nurturers and the male as dominant. Burkhalter’s clinical vignette is examined and found to illustrate well his struggle and to capture the vulnerability to genderized enactments and the enduring presence of the old order manifested by a reliance on defense analysis that constrains his construal of Mr. Jones’s statement that he is “after all the man in the house.” Potential alternative meanings of this phrase that foreground grief, hope, and a plea for companioning in pain are offered and a deeper engagement with Mr. and Mrs. Jones’s conscious and unconscious worlds is encouraged.     

Psychological Masculinity amid Femininity: Relationship to Striving and Self-Concept in the Achievement and Interpersonal Domains

The relative influences of gender and individual differences in psychological masculinity and femininity on the achievement and interpersonal strivings, abilities, and self-concepts of 176 male and female college students were investigated. The results indicate that psychological masculinity and femininity are better predictors of strivings and self-concepts in the achievement and interpersonal domains than gender. Only with respect to subjects' expected and ideal financial responsibilities, an area which is governed by strong societal sex role norms, does the influence of gender surpass that of psychological masculinity and femininity. The results are discussed in terms of the personality strengths and social competencies that derive from masculine and feminine personality traits.     

Men and masculinities: Scales for masculinity ideology and masculinity-related constructs

11 instruments for assessing beliefs and attitudes about men or masculinity standards (masculinity ideology) and 6 instruments that assess first-person accounts of gender role conflict, stress, or conformity to masculinity ideology are evaluated in this review. The 17 instruments were all developed in the past 2 decades and peer reviewed, and are readily accessible. An introductory section distinguishes between gender ideology and gender orientation and defines the scope of the first set of 11 scales as indexing the extent to which subjects accept the ideas and beliefs used to justify gender roles and relations. The second set of 6 scales focus on how men individually experience their gender. All scales were systematically evaluated according to whether they include items comparing the sexes or concerning gender relations or items assessing attitudes and beliefs about women. Inclusion of these types of items is noted in a table, along with information on whether the authors assumed one dominant form of masculinity, whether subscales were identified, and the psychometric properties of the scale and subscale. The review suggests that measures of gender orientation and measures of gender ideologies are independent and have differential correlates. Evidence also suggests that gender ideologies about men are distinct from and have differential correlates from gender ideologies about women or about gender relations in general. Items comparing genders should thus be avoided in measures of attitude toward masculinities. Several of the measures have too narrow a definition of masculinity.     

Innovating “Traditional” Women’s Roles: Byzantine Insights for Orthodox Christian Gender Discourse

Some contemporary hierarchically endorsed statements about gender within Orthodox Christianity appeal to “traditional roles” for women. Byzantine hagiographies about women, however, often confound the stability suggested by such rhetoric, and offer a more open “tradition” of Orthodox Christians celebrating diverse and boundary-breaking forms of women’s sanctity (even if via negation of their womanhood). Although these texts betray an unabashedly historical patriarchal perspective, they also can be read as using gender, via an almost apophatic dialectic, to convey theological values that challenge essentialist associations between specific vocations, authoritative positions, and particular sexes. As hagiography is an influential genre for Orthodox beliefs and practices, the ways hagiographers negotiate and depict gender should inform understandings of gender in Orthodox “tradition.”     

Accessing the multitude within: A psychoanalytic perspective on the transformation of masculinity at mid‐life1

This paper reflects upon the essential components of male identity that commonly are reworked in middle age. The author argues that healthy masculine gender identity involves an ongoing, plastic process of destabilization and reconstruction at various pivotal developmental stages, particularly during middle adulthood. In essence, a man's mature transformation of his sense of masculinity results when finite concepts of gender identity are superseded by an awareness of the complexity of one's multiple, early and diverse gender identifications. A clinical case provides insight into how psychoanalytic treatment can contribute to a new experience of masculinity. The case illustrates how a maturing man, meeting an altered sense of identity in mid‐life, relies less on gender splitting and more on reuniting previously antithetical intrapsychic elements. Why this more pluralistic, polythreaded masculinity frequently must wait until mid‐life is further clarified. Specific importance is attached to the early development of male gender identity as it is founded on the boy's unique struggles in separating from his mother. The foundation for male gender identity formation is reconsidered as the author questions the ‘dis‐identification’ model while explicating how the boy's striving for narcissistic completion shapes the gendered masculine ego ideal. Classically termed ‘phallicism’ is understood both to facilitate and obstruct a man's adult development, while the concept of ‘genitality’ is augmented by the postclassical notion of ‘interiority’. At mid‐life, ‘phallic’ ego ideals (resting on omnipotence, desires for narcissistic completion and gender splitting) are transformed into more realistic, ‘genital’ ego ideals (synthesizing autonomy and connection). The achievement of a mature, less sharply gendered ‘masculine’ ego ideal (revitalizing the foreclosed dimensions of both the early maternal and paternal imagos) occurs as the balance of forces shifts in the direction of true genitality rather than defensive phallicism.