Influences of Emerging Beauty Industry for Men on Construction of Masculinities of Male Students of Dhaka City

Abstract

Back in history, muscular and strong male body has always been used to promulgate masculinity. This idealized male figure was proliferated mainly for spreading the notion of male superiority in relation to power and to give a strong base to the social construction of masculinity. This study targets to disclose the perception about the attributes masculinities among the male students of Dhaka city regarding male beautification. It attempts to unveil young men’s perspectives regarding their masculinities and beauty. From history we can see men have always been assumed as the ambassador of roughness but in recent time the emergence of fashion-conscious men can be seen, who are slowly occupying a handsome position in the society. Concerning study attempts to bring out the way in which such changing trend of male beauty is perceived among the male students of Dhaka city. What could be the ideologies of these young men who are being involved with it? What is influencing them to be part of such arena which, to a great extent, is still considered as female domain? Is their perception about construction of masculinity is shifting from the so called idealized masculinity? The study tries to find out the answers.

Masculinity and Suicide in Bangladesh

“…There is a relative dearth of empirical and theoretical literature on men and masculinity in Bangladesh (Sowad, 2017). This makes it difficult to grasp the ideal and changing meanings of Bangladeshi masculinity.…”