Maintaining hegemonic masculinity affects most societies negatively as it promotes the subjugation and marginalization of women while promoting criminal activities among men. However, we can move closer to achieving our goal of establishing a society that is more just and equitable for everyone if we advocate for non-hegemonic forms of masculinity and challenge the power dynamics that drive hegemonic masculinity. The idea of hegemonic masculinity significantly affects contemporary thinking regarding men, gender, and the general social relationship order (Jewkes et al., 2015). Hegemonic masculinity enables us to understand how different societies maintain different power relations and gender inequalities. This proposal will discuss the construction of hegemonic masculinity, its implications in the Canadian context, and appropriate initiatives that can help deal with the negative consequences of hegemonic masculinity.
The term “hegemonic masculinity” characterizes the existing ideology, social structure, and power dynamics perpetuating male dominance. As a result, most men view it as a normal and necessary thing to make them continue enjoying some power over their fellow men and the majority of women. The concept of hegemonic shows how men and women regularly give in to systems of oppression. However, resistance to hegemonic masculinity plays a significant role in advancing gender justice. According to Connell & Messerschmidt (2005), masculinity manifests in four categories that include hegemonic, complicit, subordinated, and marginalized, which are more relational than personality characteristics. In each given culture and period, the hegemonic viewpoint represents the standard of masculinity that is generally accepted. Therefore, the hegemonic male represents the ideal kind. However, this representation shifts through time and across locations and can even be contested within a society.
The second group, the complicit, includes the vast majority of men. These men buy into and contribute to the hegemonic masculinity systems to reap the substantial, corporal, and figurative rewards of female subjugation while avoiding subordination. They do this through fantasies in which they experience and grow to love a position of power over others. There is a clear hierarchy between the four roles. A man in a junior role may look like he has what it takes to rise to the top, but he nevertheless finds himself there. If men fail to conform to gender roles to the hegemonic system and ideology, they risk being subjugated. Men who openly identify as LGBT are the best examples (Connell & Messerschmidt, 2005). According to this philosophy, gay men just are not just men. Aiming for dominance is beyond their scope of validity. The widespread use of the insult “Be a man” is a form of active gender policing that serves to instill in its targets the subjugation fear, the legitimacy loss, and the descent into involvement. Most often, disabled men of color represent marginalized males who cannot even seek hegemony. When marginalized sets seek legitimacy, they can contest their status by appealing to be men too.
Connell & Messerschmidt (2005) employs hegemonic masculinity in a second context to explain the existing system of gender relationships: the way contemporary “con figurations of practice” organize social connections and institutions favors males over women and some men over others. Connell emphasizes the four dimensions that revolve around power, labor assignment, emotional interactions, and the process through which these reconfigurations of practice occur. Connell argues that the maintenance of men’s superior status is institutionalized as part of hegemonic masculinity, giving the impression that it is natural and inevitable. Government, the market, and the family are just a few of the key societal institutions designed to support and reproduce male hegemony through institutional design, credentialing, and figurative social manifestations. Other instances of how social institutions and cultural expectations depict the hierarchical interactions of men with other men include the ban on openly gay service members and the stereotyping of traditionally female positions like a librarian, elementary school teacher, and nurse.
The third way hegemonic masculinity is used is as an ideology, which justifies the legitimacy and continuation of patriarchy. Although men’s and women’s experiences vary due to racial differences, social class, and sexuality, hegemonic manliness as thought shapes how everyone experiences and, hence, knows the world (Buschmeyer & Lengersdorf, 2016). Hegemonic complicity is an ideology that may be measured along four categories: ideal form masculinity, hierarchy ranking of oneself and others, the subjugation of women, and acceptance of woman-type conduct. The concept of ideal-type masculinity holds that there is just one correct way to be a man. The conviction in one ideal type indicates this trait, although various kinds of people can present alternative ideal types and raise questions about their definitions.
Putting oneself and others in a hierarchy is an underexplored aspect of hegemonic masculinity. Some academics have viewed competition as a limiting aspect of masculinity or an impediment to genuine connection. However, the inner, reflective nature of dynamic hierarchical evaluation is overlooked in this framework. Males engage in constant, active comparison with other males and their own ideal type to establish a hierarchy (Kiesling, 2005). Overt and covert sexism and homophobia include the demotion of females and everyone or everything deemed feminine. Some might say that overt sexism and homophobia are on the decline. However, their lingering or residual impacts are still alive and well in the shape of attitudes about males, females, and sexuality.
The concept of hegemonic masculinity manifests in various aspects in the Canadian context. The commonly affected areas include economics, politics, media, and person-to-person relationships. In the political sphere, people always associate political leadership with masculinity. To qualify as a leader, one must possess certain traits that make them distinct from others. For instance, they must be strong and assertive and possess high competitive power. As a result, less privileged people may be denied an opportunity to express their leadership capabilities (Thomson, 2020). The most affected group is women and the marginalized genders. This belief also promotes negative gender stereotypes, which promote injustices and inequalities in the country. Female politicians always suffer from harassment and sexist comments, discouraging them from politics as most people believe leadership is meant for men. Women possess certain traits that could help them interact with the needs of people and advocate for their rights. Such traits include teamwork and empathy, although most men view the characteristics as weaknesses and therefore use them to discourage women from getting involved in politics.
Economically, hegemonic masculinity connects to the idea that men should be family’s sole breadwinners. While women manage families, men are expected to provide for the needs of their families. As a result, wage gaps and women’s discrimination are increased in different places of work. Society may also fail to recognize the role of women in building society as women appear as weak gender. In Canada, the majority of women in Canada earn fewer wages compared to women. The majority of women have high representations of women in low-paying jobs. Majority work as cleaners, caregivers food service jobs. Such jobs have less value in society, denying women an opportunity to advance in their careers, social life, and politics (Thomson, 2020). Still, the jobs are tiresome, and women are forced to work long hours, widening the poverty gap among less privileged families. Also, the issue of competition and individualism promotes the notion that men should remain self-sufficient, putting less value on the role of women as caregivers in their families. The cycle keeps revolving, and women’s neglect promotes high rates of gender inequalities and the persistence of hegemonic masculinity.
The media also demonstrate hegemonic masculinity through gender roles and relationship representation. The messages conveyed in the media, including the news, movies, books, songs, and commercials, significantly affect the formation and development of identities (Miele, 2020). People’s socioeconomic status, race, religion, and nationality-based identities are shaped by the cultural norms they meet and face through media consumption. Media culture’s outputs are the raw materials from which we construct our very selves, our sense of self, our understanding of what constitutes to be male or female, our class consciousness, our ethnic and racial identities, our nationalities, our sexual orientations, and our feeling of “us” and “them.” Media images significantly impact how we see the world and the values we hold most dear, whether those values are good, bad, moral, or immoral. Stories in the media provide the symbols, misconceptions, and resources that we use to create a shared culture and to integrate ourselves into that society. Most media platforms in Canada portray men as a dominant and powerful gender while women take part in subordinate roles. This contributes to increased rates of gender stereotypes which increases gender-based harassment and violence in the country. Women are highly sexualized and sexual harassment seems common among many people and gives rise to a culture that promotes toxic masculinity. The hostile environment promotes marginalization of women and makes their impact in the society less effective.
In relationships, hegemonic masculinity promotes a toxic culture that expects to have sexual dominance over women, be aggressive and emotionally detached. This promotes violence among partners, whether in marriages or relationships. When the society views men as emotionally detached, it becomes difficult for them to seek for mental help which has become prevalent in the entire society. As a result, it becomes difficult for men to develop positive relationships with others and increase the cases of violence. Sexual dominance also increases the normalization of sexual harassment and assault which affects an individual’s ability to relate well with others.
Combating the harmful effects of hegemonic masculinity requires a society that actively promotes gender equality and welcomes people of various identities and orientations. This includes fighting against sexist assumptions about leadership and promoting more opportunities for women and other traditionally underrepresented groups to hold political office. This includes promoting economic policies that increase the value of traditionally female-dominated fields and ensure that women and other oppressed groups receive equal pay and access to such fields (Jewkes, et al., 2015). In the media, this involves working to reduce negative gender stereotypes and increase depictions of all genders. Toxic masculinity and gender-based violence must be confronted, and positive, respectful relationships must be encouraged. The #MeToo movement is one such Canadian endeavor challenging hegemonic masculinity. The movement started in US and later it entered to other nations Canada being among them. The #MeToo movement’s main agenda is to advocate for the rights of women who have survived sexual assault and harassment (Levy & Mattsson, 2022). The movement encourages women to come out and voice their concerns and experiences which helps to boost their self esteem. The major issues the movement address is gender based violence and toxic masculinity. The movement highly condemn the normalization of sexual harassment among women. Among the policies prompted include promotion of work regulations and rules that prohibit actions that contribute to increased cases of sexual assault and harassment. Still, through anti-sexual-harassment awareness campaigns, women receive the courage to come out and speak against such injustices. Those who have been molested have a place where they can seek for counseling and also medical help.
In conclusion, hegemonic masculinity touches different facets of our cultures. It manifests politically, economically, socially and through media. The concepts is highly associated with dominion and power over other people. Hegemonic masculinity severely affects both men and women, and it represents a major contributor of oppressive stereotypes in the society. Women are the major victims of the concept and it denies them an opportunity to express their potential either politically or socially. However, advocating for policies that advocate for equality, social justice and contend against stereotypes that promote oppression in the society.
References
Buschmeyer, A., & Lengersdorf, D. (2016). The differentiation of masculinity as a challenge for the concept of hegemonic masculinity. NORMA, 11(3), 190-207. https://doi.org/10.1080/18902138.2016.1217672
Connell, R. W., & Messerschmidt, J. W. (2005). Hegemonic masculinity. Gender & Society, 19(6), 829-859. https://doi.org/10.1177/0891243205278639
Jewkes, R., Morrell, R., Hearn, J., Lundqvist, E., Blackbeard, D., Lindegger, G., … & Gottzén, L. (2015). Hegemonic masculinity: combining theory and practice in gender interventions. Culture, health & sexuality, 17(sup2), 112-127.
Kiesling, S. F. (2005). Homosocial desire in men’s talk: Balancing and re-creating cultural discourses of masculinity. Language in Society, 34(5), 695-726.
Levy, R., & Mattsson, M. (2022). The effects of social movements: Evidence from# MeToo. Available at SSRN 3496903.
Miele, R. (2020). Hegemonic Masculinity and the Ideal Male Hockey Player: The Constructions of NHL Injuries in Popular Canadian Newspapers, 2016-2017 (Doctoral dissertation, The University of Western Ontario (Canada)).
Thomson, K. (2020). By the light of the corona (virus): revealing hegemonic masculinity and the double bind for men in responding to crises. Health Sociology Review, 29(2), 149-157.
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