To be a Man is Not a Day’s Job: The Discursive Construction of Hegemonic Masculinity by Rural Youth in Nigeria

Mensah, Eyo

doi:10.1007/s12147-020-09271-2

Cited by 12 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 58 publications

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“…Other studies have analyzed the use of non-verbal signs and communication behavior among men on partner selection and courtship interaction (Renninger et al, 2004;Brak-Lamy, 2015;Fisher et al, 2020). Besides, many researchers have related the accounts of violence and the discourse of hegemonic masculinity (Connell, 1995;Mullaney, 2007;Mañas-Viejo and Martínez Sanz, 2020;Mensah, 2021).…”

Section: Nam Reject Perpetuating the Double Standard Through The Language Of Desirementioning

confidence: 99%

Making Choices in Discourse: New Alternative Masculinities Opposing the “Warrior’s Rest”

et al. 2021

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Psychology research on men studies, attractiveness, and partner preferences has evolved from the influence of sociobiological perspectives to the role of interactions in shaping election toward sexual–affective relationships and desire toward different kinds of masculinities. However, there is a scientific gap in how language and communicative acts among women influence the kind of partner they feel attracted to and in the reproduction of relationship double standards, like the myth of the “warrior’s rest” where female attractiveness to “bad boys” is encouraged or supported. Some women imitate “the warrior” behavior of men by choosing dominant traditional masculinities (DTM) to have “fun” with and oppressed traditional masculinities (OTM) for “rest” after the “fun” with DTM—choosing an OTM for a stable relationship, but perhaps without passion, while also feeling attraction toward DTM, a response which perpetuates the chauvinist double standard that the feminist movement has condemned when men behave in this sexist way. Through conducting a qualitative study with communicative daily life stories, this article explores, on the one hand, how language and social interaction among women can lead to the reproduction of the DTM role by women and, on the other hand, also how new alternative masculinities (NAM) offer an alternative by explicitly rejecting, through the language of desire, to be the rest for the female warrior, the second fiddle to any woman. This has the potential to become a highly attractive alternative to DTM. Findings provide new knowledge through the analysis of communicative acts and masculinities evidencing the importance of language uses in the reproduction of the double standards in gender relations and to understand how and why these practices are maintained and which kind of language uses can contribute to preventing them. Implications for research and interventions on preventive socialization of gender violence are discussed.

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Section: Nam Reject Perpetuating the Double Standard Through The Language Of Desirementioning

confidence: 99%

Making Choices in Discourse: New Alternative Masculinities Opposing the “Warrior’s Rest”

et al. 2021

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“…This could be explained by the differences in the socialization process of boys and girls, which involve different gender roles [ 27 ], in which traditional masculine norms include suppressing emotion and emotional dysregulation. Macho attitudes are the result of the construction of gender roles and norms (related to hegemonic masculinity), and these attitudes sustain a culture of violence among boys [ 28 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluation of the lights4violence program: reduction in machismo and acceptance of violence among adolescents in Europe

et al. 2022

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Background Machismo and acceptance of violence (AV) against women are part of the social construction of hegemonic masculinity and are related to the risk of dating violence. This study aims to analyze the effectiveness of the Lights4Violence program in reducing machismo and AV in secondary school students from different European cities. Methods Quasi-experimental longitudinal study using a convenience sample of 1,146 high school students from different European cities (12–17 years old) including 575 intervention group students (59.1% girls) and 571 control group students (62.7% girls). We performed linear regression models to identify the effect of the intervention, modelling the difference in means in machismo and AV (dependent variables) between wave-2 and wave-1. Results An interaction was identified between the group variable and the empathy variable. In wave-2, girls with high empathy at baseline in the intervention group obtained lower mean AV scores (β: -0.131; p = 0.004). However, the boys in the intervention group (reference: control group) with low empathy at baseline registered a significant increase in the mean values of machismo (β: 0.247; p < 0.001). Conclusion The importance of empathy is shown in the effectiveness of interventions to reduce machismo and AV in adolescents. While the Lights4Violence program focuses on promoting healthy relationships, there were some controversial results. It is possible that some children, especially those with less empathy, may have felt “challenged” during the intervention and/or assessment. This suggests the need for the development of interventions that also consider psychological processes and integrate the promotion of positive expressions of masculinity.

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“…However, the sexual joke and motif in excerpt 6 warns men against valorising masculine sexual power as a heroic act despite the pressure from their partners in order to live longer. Some men act out their sexual conquest in order not to be seen as weak or effeminate because such a perception would be contrary to the ideal perception of masculinity (Mensah 2021). Male virility occupies a central place in sexual relationships and in defining male identity in such relationships especially in the African context where phallocentric ideals, power and dominance are accomplished by strength and vigour and are often celebrated as sexual capital or "traditional imaginaries of masculinity" (Ndjio, 2012, p. 626).…”

Section: Excerptmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sexual jokes in Nigerian stand-up comedy

Mensah,

Inyabri,

Aboh

2023

EJHR

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Nigerian stand-up comic artists explore emerging social, religious, and political issues as materials for comic entertainment within their performance space and community of practice. One of the resources for comic performance is the recourse to sexual contents which are deployed to reduce apprehension around stereotyped norms about sex and sexuality in the Nigerian sociocultural context. Drawing on ethnographic qualitative data using social media skits, audio-visual disks and semi-structured interviews, this article examines sexual jokes as ideological texts and rhetorical devices that embody the struggle between conservatism and postmodern conceptions of sex and sexuality. It highlights the recurrent themes and creative discourses of sexual humour which stand-up comedy performers exploit as artistic tools for the engagement of gender roles, sexual myths, sexual politics and social contradictions within a vulnerable socio-political and economic context. We adopt social relief theory and incongruity theory of humour comprehension to provide a nuanced understanding of sexual jokes and the sociocultural inhibitions that surround them. The dominant themes in these jokes include male sterility, faking orgasm, commodification of sex, prostitution, rape, and the use of aphrodisiac. The results indicate that sexual jokes are circulating within the comedy performance space as forms of protest against stereotyped sexual culture. In this way, male and female comedians, working with the tools and ideology of postmodernism, help to satirise conventional sexual values and radicalise their audiences against normative construction of sex and sexuality.

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To be a Man is Not a Day’s Job: The Discursive Construction of Hegemonic Masculinity by Rural Youth in Nigeria

Cited by 12 publications

References 58 publications

Making Choices in Discourse: New Alternative Masculinities Opposing the “Warrior’s Rest”

Making Choices in Discourse: New Alternative Masculinities Opposing the “Warrior’s Rest”

Evaluation of the lights4violence program: reduction in machismo and acceptance of violence among adolescents in Europe

Sexual jokes in Nigerian stand-up comedy

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