Off the Leash and Out of Control: Masculinities and Embodiment in Eastern European Stag Tourism

Abstract

Sociology 45(6) 977 -991 AbstractEntrenched conceptions of masculinity have constructed the male body as bounded and controlled. This article discusses the centrality of a particular construction of the male body to the phenomenon of British premarital stag party tourism to Eastern European cities. Drawing on data from participant-observation in Kraków, Poland, it is shown that the tour participants enact an embodied masculinity which is unruly and unrestrained. The stag tour experience is embodied through the use of clothing and incidences of nudity, public urination and vomiting, and the detrimental physical effects of heavy alcohol consumption. This embodiment is self-destructive and frequently self-parodic. The failures of participants to sustain a controlled and contained body are celebrated as part of the enactment of a boisterous masculinity. This represents a release from normative pressures concerning the male body but, with transgression being only temporary, also acts to support the ritualistic reinscription of a wider hegemonic masculinity.

Cricket, drinking and exclusion of British Pakistani Muslims?

“…In Western countries, where alcohol is permissible by law and tradition, and a part of popular culture, the consumption of alcohol plays a crucial role in the social construction of gender (Lyons and Willott, 2008;Thurnell-Read, 2011). Historically, drinking in bars was viewed as acceptable for men and unacceptable for 'decent' women.…”

‘Mine’s a Pint of Bitter’: Performativity, gender, class and representations of authenticity in real-ale tourism

“…The consumption of alcohol and development of masculine identities has been discussed extensively in literature since the latter half of the twentieth century (see Jayne, Gibson, Waitt and Valentine, 2012;Leyshon, 2008;Jayne, Valentine and Holloway, 2008a, 2008bPeralta, 2007;Thurnell-Read, 2011;Valentine, Jayne and Holloway, 2010;Waitt, Markwell and Gorman-Murray, 2008;Waitt, Jesop and Gorman-Murray, 2011). …”

“…In the lead author's experience at working at other real-ale festivals, this is typical, though in his experience there are more younger men ordering full pints, especially on the final nights of the festivals when they attract more of a passing 'outin-town' crowd of young male drinkers. Men, especially working-class men, still face social and psychological pressure to drink pints, not halves -halves are seen as effeminate, weak, and unbecoming of heterosexual, hegemonic masculinity (Jayne, Valentine and Holloway, 2011;Thurnell-Read, 2011). The real-ale tourists however, need to balance their displays of Butlerian heteronormativity (Butler, 2006) with the need to sample as diverse a range of beers as possible, while being sober enough to stand up (to prove one's ability to take one's drink): as Hamish explained, trying to prove his own masculinity to the second author of this paper, the aim is 'tasting new beers not tasted before… do try to keep track, but by end of night to be honest I've lost count'.…”

Using qualitative methods within a mixed-methods approach to developing and evaluating interventions to address harmful alcohol use among young people.

“…Therefore, campaigns that target individual harms arising from HED may be dismissed as irrelevant, particularly given that many are perceived to employ a patronizing, paternalistic, or preaching tone (de Visser et al, 2013). Peer group drinking and drunkenness are important aspects of the social lives of many young people: the individual experience of intoxication is often accompanied by enhanced feelings of togetherness (Brown & Gregg, 2012;de Visser et al, 2013;Fry, 2011;Jayne et al, 2010;Livingstone, Young & Manstead, 2011;MacNeela & Bredin, 2011;Szmigin et al, 2011;Thurnell-Read, 2011). Furthermore, recent qualitative research has revealed that many young people believe that some negative aspects of drinking -such as caring for drunk friends, being cared for when drunk, and suffering through hangovers with friends -offer opportunities for strengthening interpersonal bonds (de Visser et al, 2013).…”