2.6 Masculinities, Femininities and Feminism

Quick notes — start here

• There are multiple masculinities and femininities.
• Hegemonic masculinity legitimises a hierarchy.
• Men occupy different positions within that hierarchy.
• Caregiving and emotional expression need not be gender-exclusive.
• Formal definition: Masculinities and femininities are socially organised meanings, practices and expectations associated with gender. Hegemonic masculinity describes an ideal that legitimises gender hierarchy; it is not necessarily the most common behaviour among men.

Simple example: A male nurse may face ridicule because care is coded feminine, while a woman surgeon may face doubts about authority. Both encounter a gendered ranking of occupations, although their structural positions are not identical. Shared parental leave can challenge the idea that provision belongs to men and care to women.

Remember this sentence: The concept is most useful when it identifies a specific ideal, the institutions supporting it and the unequal benefits and costs it produces.

Check yourself: Why is hegemonic masculinity different from simply saying 'most men behave this way'?

Detailed bullet notes and references

Plain-English explanation: Connell's distinctions draw attention to hierarchy among men as well as men's collective advantages. Complicity concerns benefiting from a dominant order without fully embodying its ideal; subordination and marginalisation concern different relations of exclusion. Explain these relations with context rather than treating them as permanent personality types.

Critical point: Avoid equating masculinity with violence or portraying every man as equally powerful. Men can challenge harmful norms, and an analysis should identify the practices and institutions involved.

Memory cue: HBC: Hierarchy, Benefits, Costs. This is a study aid, not a scholarly framework.

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Key theorist: R. W. Connell, Masculinities (1995). Masculinity is plural, socially constructed and shaped by class, race and culture.

Masculinities and feminism

• Masculinity studies emerged as a companion field to feminism, recognising masculinity is equally socially constructed, plural ("masculinities") and worth critical study.
• Feminist views on men's studies: (a) complementary — women's subordination cannot be understood without understanding masculinity; (b) sceptical — risks re-centring men and diluting focus on women's oppression (and funding); (c) pro-feminist men's movements (NOMAS in the US, White Ribbon Campaign in Canada, MenEngage Alliance) work with, not instead of, women's movements.
• Also know: "toxic masculinity" (norms that harm men and others), Michael Kimmel (masculinity as proving manhood to other men), bell hooks (The Will to Change, 2004: patriarchy also damages men's emotional life).

Connell's four types

Masculinity, privilege and intersectionality

• Hegemonic masculinity: the dominant, culturally exalted form (strength, dominance, heterosexuality, breadwinning) that subordinates both women and non-conforming men. Example: social pressure on men to be sole breadwinners; a man choosing full-time caregiving judged against the breadwinner ideal.
• Male privilege: unearned structural advantages men receive simply by being perceived as male (economic, legal, social).
• Intersectionality applied to masculinity: privilege is not uniform — a working-class, minority-ethnicity or disabled man does not hold the same power as an elite man; masculinity intersects with class, race, religion and sexuality.
• Limitation: masculinity varies by class, region, age and social setting.

Femininities

• Definition: socially recognised ways of expressing or being expected to express femininity; vary with class, region, age, community and period.
• Emphasised femininity (Connell): forms of femininity oriented toward accommodating gendered power relations; avoid treating one type as universal.
• Pakistan example: family expectations about care, paid work, dress and mobility vary between households and generations.

Pakistan link

• Honour ideology can link reputation to control. At least 470 women were killed in honour-related crimes in 2025, according to National Police Bureau data reproduced in HRCP's report. This recorded minimum illustrates harm but does not alone establish its causes. HRCP 2025 report.
• Men also carry breadwinner pressure and stigma around emotional expression.

Exam question

• Discuss hegemonic masculinity and its relationship to male privilege.

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📝 Extra notes

• Patriarchal dividend (Connell): the collective advantages men gain from the gender order even if they do not personally dominate — the key to understanding complicit masculinity.
• Toxic masculinity: norms that harm men and others (emotional suppression, risk-taking, violence). It criticises norms, not men as a group.
• Emphasised femininity: femininity oriented to accommodating men's interests; not the only femininity.

🧪 Worked example — Connell's four types in one Pakistani neighbourhood

• Hegemonic: the "provider and protector of family honour" ideal — authority, breadwinning, toughness.
• Complicit: a man who never uses violence but accepts that his wife does all care work and drops her job after marriage.
• Subordinated: a man who does "women's work" (cooking, childcare) and faces ridicule; khwajasira persons face stigma.
• Marginalised: a poor or minority-community man who cannot meet the provider ideal and has little power despite being male.
• Point: masculinity is plural and hierarchical; male privilege is not uniform.

20-mark answer expansion — 2.6

• Thesis: Masculinities and femininities are plural social ideals rather than fixed character traits shared uniformly by men and women.
  • Body 1: Define hegemonic, complicit, subordinated and marginalised masculinities (Connell).
  • Body 2: Explain social sanctions around men's emotional expression and women's occupational aspirations.
  • Body 3: Apply gender socialisation and 'doing gender' to repeated role expectations.
  • Body 4: Examine how family control, peer groups and institutional accountability can relate to coercive behaviour without portraying all men alike.
• Explain this Pakistani case: Analyse the expectation that men must be family wage earners and women must do all unpaid care.
• Critique: Masculinity is not synonymous with violence; distinguish risk-related norms from individual conduct.
• Question connection: 2021 Q3; 2023 Q4; 2026 Q8(b). Model framework: 2.PYQ — Social construction, sex, masculinity & queer theory (2016–2026).
• Exam-ready finish: build a relevant 2–3-line introduction, develop the bullets as short causal paragraphs, add the case and critique, then give a conclusion responding to the command word.

✅ How to score

• Present the typology as a table and give one Pakistani illustration per row.
• Discuss feminist positions on men's studies (complementary / sceptical / pro-feminist) — this is what turns a description into analysis.

⚠️ Common mistakes

• Saying all men hold hegemonic masculinity.
• Treating "male privilege" as identical for every man (ignoring class, ethnicity, disability).

❓ Active recall

• Name and illustrate Connell's four types.
• What is the patriarchal dividend?
• Give two feminist views on men's studies.

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Exam-ready answer — Masculinities, Femininities and Feminism

Masculinities and femininities are social patterns rather than a single set of traits shared by all men or women. Their analysis explains how gendered ideals shape conduct, opportunities and relations of authority.

Connell's concept of hegemonic masculinity concerns an ideal that legitimises gender hierarchy. It does not simply describe what most men do. Some men benefit from the wider order without closely embodying the ideal, while others experience subordination or marginalisation in relation to sexuality, class or other social positions.

These relations have institutional consequences. Workplaces may reward constant availability and associate authority with toughness, while caregiving and dependence are devalued. Such norms can limit women's advancement and penalise men who depart from dominant expectations.

Feminist analysis can therefore address both unequal power and the costs of restrictive roles. Shared care, fair workplace procedures and the rejection of harassment challenge practices that sustain hierarchy. However, the disadvantages experienced by some men should not be used to erase structural inequalities affecting women.

Attention to variation prevents masculinity from being treated as a synonym for violence or universal dominance.

Example and application

A male nurse may face ridicule because care is coded feminine, while a woman surgeon may face doubts about authority. Both encounter a gendered ranking of occupations, although their structural positions are not identical. Shared parental leave can challenge the idea that provision belongs to men and care to women.

Conclusion

The concept is most useful when it identifies a specific ideal, the institutions supporting it and the unequal benefits and costs it produces.