Although previous research has investigated men in feminized sports, we took a different approach in this study and examined men in ballet. Because ballet is one of the most highly gender-codified sports, male ballet dancers must negotiate their identities as men while performing a dance form that is highly stigmatized as effeminate. We investigated how five self-identified heterosexual male college dance majors perceive and perform heteromasculinity within male ballet culture using qualitative data gathered from structured interviews. Results provide three unique contributions to the literature. First, we found that these men develop and contextualize their heteromasculinity in the context of a male ballet culture. Second, the results demonstrate three unique stigma-management techniques within male ballet culture. Third, men described a hegemonic heteromasculinity and the roles of masculinity and emotionality in male ballet performance as parts of male ballet culture. We hope this study will stimulate future research that can help personnel and faculty to better understand how college ballet programs can be informed by the ways masculinity may be institutionalized and reproduced within the context of dance programs, as well as the ways male ballet dancers can challenge heteromasculine hegemony in the sports world. ◊ ◊ ◊ Boys and men who do ballet must be either exceptionally brave or foolhardy, or both. .. because of the art form's strong associations with a super-feminized world of women and the consequent amount of abuse men often take for not choosing a more conventional occupation. (Fisher, 2007, p. 45

The literature on hybrid masculinity suggests that some men manage subordinate or contradictory forms of masculinity while still maintaining and benefiting from gender inequality. Drawing from 35 in-depth qualitative interviews with religious participants in pornography addiction recovery programs, we expand this literature by illustrating how hybrid masculinity operates through shared cultural knowledge about sex, gender, and sexuality. We find that participants use distinct cultural schemas related to religion and science to explain how men are created by God to be biologically “hard-wired” for pornography addiction. We use the phrase redemptive masculinity to describe a type of hybrid masculinity that upholds the cultural association between hegemonic masculinity and pornography consumption, but allows religious men to describe their avoidance of pornography as a masculine feat. Redemptive masculinity depends upon particular beliefs about gender that give advantage to the religious men who work to overcome pornography addiction. We show how their stories reinforce essentialist differences between male and female bodies that protect the interests and sexual expressions of religious men. In turn, we show how hybrid masculinities may involve gender-flexible practices for men but also how these may ultimately reinforce strict and inflexible beliefs about so-called “opposite” sexes.

Men in women-dominated or feminized spaces use masculinizing strategies to circumvent stigma, yet this scholarship largely ignores sports which limits insights into how masculinity operates across social contexts. Drawing parallels from men’s experiences in other women-dominated settings, I address this gap by investigating how and to what end men in baton twirling “maneuver” masculinities. Using 30 qualitative interviews, I show how men in twirling bolster lost status using compensatory manhood acts (CMA) by demonstrating skill mastery and being the best. Twirlers in this study borrow masculine characteristics they deem valuable while also buying into an unequal social order that emphasizes differences between winners (white, heterosexual men) and losers (men of color or gay men). Findings from this study extend theoretical insights concerning how men maneuver within and across a variety of social structures by using similar tools to create a “hybrid” masculinity that reinforces gender privilege and hierarchies of inequality.

Sexual identity formation or "coming out" as lesbian, gay, or bisexual (LGB) involves a complex process including both private realization and public disclosure. Private realization refers to the process through which an individual becomes aware of their LGB identity, whereas public disclosure reflects when an individual discloses their identity to another person. Sex, race, and class affect the timing of these processes across the life course. While extant research has identified the bivariate nature of these processes, we took a multivariate approach to understand the timing of these sexual identity milestones from a life-course perspective. Using data from the Pew Research Center's 2013 Survey of LGBT Adults (n = 1136), we considered how the timing of private realization and public disclosure of LGB identity is a sexed, racialized, and classed experience. The sample consisted of lesbians (n = 270), gay males (n = 396), bisexual females (n = 342), and bisexual males (n = 127). Results indicated that females uniformly realized and disclosed their identities at later stages in the life course, whereas individuals with at least some college education came out during their prime college-age years. We also found variation in timing between private realization and public disclosure for Black respondents, but not other racial groups. These findings provide insight into how organizations can develop specific programs that allow LGB individuals to safely explore their sexuality and provide support over the life course.

Using a hybrid masculinities framework, we qualitatively analyzed 15 college men's experiences with feminism and gender scholarship in Women's and Gender Studies (WGS) courses. Men described adopting particular strategies of discourse in their social interactions to manage varied reactions to feminism and gender studies. As a way of justifying their choice of academic study, these men also learned to navigate social relationships by highlighting or downplaying their own masculinity (i.e., creating or deconstructing a hybrid masculinity). Finally, men reconciled the multiple meanings of feminism and WGS studies by drawing from dominant cultural norms and expectations in attempts to make sense of the incongruence of men studying feminism. Implications for future research and college campuses and educators are considered.