Constructing hegemonic masculinities
evidence from Greek narrative performances
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1558/genl.v9i1.18348Keywords:
agency and responsibility, hegemonic masculinity, heteronormativity, heterosexuality, identity construction, narrative positioningAbstract
In this article we draw upon the notions of heterosexuality, heteronormativity, agency and responsibility in order to investigate the construction of hegemonic masculinities through stories produced by Greek male adolescents. Our data are part of a broader set of narrative data collected in the context of a research project aiming to record and analyse naturally occurring talk of Greek youths. We adopt the model of narrative positioning in order to explore how young men narratively construct their identities as heterosexual human beings. The narratives at hand deal with sexually related encounters in which our male narrators are involved with women who hold senior, institutional roles. The story topics are presented as unconventional, and our narrators diminish their agency and responsibility for the sexually related acts, which, in turn, are attributed to female characters. We explore and unpack the subtle ways in which our narrators position themselves in relation to heterosexuality and heteronormativity, and how this contributes to the construction of their (hegemonic) masculine selves. To this end, we attempt to probe deeper into the notion of hegemonic masculinity.
References
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Kiesling, S. F. (1998) Men’s identities and sociolinguistic variation: the case of fraternity men. Journal of Sociolinguistics 2: 69–99. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1467-9481.00031
Kiesling, S. F. (2006) Hegemonic identity-making in narrative. In A. De Fina, D. Schiffrin and M. Bamberg (eds) Discourse and ?dentity 261–87. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Kotthoff, H. and Baron, B. (2001) Preface. In H. Kotthoff and B. Baron (eds) Gender in Interaction: Perspectives on Femininity and Masculinity in Ethnography and Discourse ix–xxiv. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Labov, W. (1972) Language in the Inner City. Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press.
Labov, W. (1990) The intersection of sex and social class in the course of linguistic change. Language Variation and Change 2: 205–54. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0954394500000338
Lampropoulou, S. (2012) Direct Speech, Self-Presentation and Communities of Practice. London: Continuum.
Moita-Lopes, L. (2006) On being white, heterosexual and male in a Brazilian school: multiple positionings in oral narrative. In A. De Fina, M. Bamberg and D. Schiffrin (eds) Discourse and Identity 288–313. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Ochs, E. (1992) Indexing gender. In A. Duranti and C. Goodwin (eds) Rethinking Context: Language as an Interactive Phenomenon 335–58. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Pavlidou, T.-S. ([2002]2006) ?????? – ????? – ????: ??????????, ??????????? ??? ???????? ??????. [Language – grammatical gender – social gender: problems, inquiries and the Greek language.] In T.-S. Pavlidou (ed.) ?????? – ????? – ???? [Language – Grammatical Gender – Social Gender], 2nd edn, 15–64. Thessaloniki: Institute of Modern Greek Studies.
Sarbin, T. R. and Kitsuse, J. I. (1994) A prologue to Constructing the Social. In T. R. Sarbin and J. I. Kitsuse (eds) Constructing the Social 1–17. London: Sage.
Speer, A. S. (2005) Gender Talk: Feminism, Discourse, and Conversation Analysis. Abingdon: Routledge. http://dx.doi.org/10.4324/9780203321447
Talbot, M. (2010) Language and Gender. Cambridge: Polity Press.
Archakis, A. and Lampropoulou, S. (2009) Talking different heterosexualities: the permissive, the normative and the moralistic perspective: evidence from Greek youth storytelling. Discourse and Society 20: 307–326. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0957926509102400
Archakis, A. and Lampropoulou, S. (2011) Just for fun mate: the construction of masculinity in Greek youth storytelling. In K. Ciepiela (ed.) Identity through a Language Lens 161–71. Frankfurt: Peter Lang.
Bamberg, M. (1997) Positioning between structure and performance. Journal of Narrative and Life History 7: 335–42.
Behnke, C. and Meuser, M. (2001) Gender and habitus: fundamental securities and crisis tendencies among men. In H. Kotthoff and B. Baron (eds) Gender in Interaction: Perspectives on Femininity and Masculinity in Ethnography and Discourse 153–74. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Bruner, J. (1990) Acts of ?eaning. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Bucholtz, M. (1999) You da man: narrating the racial other in the production of white masculinity. Journal of Sociolinguistics 3: 443–60. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1467-9481.00090
Bucholtz, M. and Hall, K. (2004) Theorizing identity in language and sexuality research. Language in Society 33: 469–515. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0047404504334020
Bucholtz, M. and Hall, K. (2005) Identity and interaction: a sociocultural linguistic approach. Discourse Studies 7: 584–614. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1461445605054407
Cameron, D. (2003) Gender and language ideologies. In J. Holmes and M. Meyerhoff (eds) The Handbook of Language and Gender 447–67. Oxford: Blackwell. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/9780470756942.ch19
Cameron, D. (2006) On Language and Sexual Politics. Abingdon: Routledge.
Cameron, D. and Kulick, D. (2003) Language and Sexuality. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511791178
Cameron, D. and Kulick, D. (2006) General introduction. In D. Cameron and D. Kulick (eds) The Language and Sexuality Reader 1–12. Abingdon: Routledge.
Coates, J. (2003) Men ?alk. Oxford: Blackwell.
Coates, J. (2007) Everyone was convinced that we were closet fags: the role of heterosexuality in the construction of hegemonic masculinity. In H. Sauntson and S. Kyratzis (eds) Language, Sexualities and Desires 41–67. New York: Palgrave.
Connell, R. W. (1995) Masculinities. Cambridge: Polity Press.
Connell, R. W. (2001) Masculinities and men’s health. In H. Kotthoff and B. Baron (eds) Gender in Interaction: Perspectives on Femininity and Masculinity in Ethnography and Discourse 139–52. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Connell, R. W. and Messerschmidt, J. W. (2005) Hegemonic masculinity: rethinking the concept. Gender and Society 19: 829–59. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0891243205278639
Coupland, N. (2007) Style: Language Variation and Identity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511755064
De Klerk, V. (1997) The role of expletives in the construction of masculinity. In S. Johnson and U. H. Meinhof (eds) Language and Masculinity 144–58. Oxford: Blackwell.
Duranti, A. (2004) Agency in language. In A. Duranti (ed.) A Companion to Linguistic Anthropology 451–74. Oxford: Blackwell.
Eckert, P. and McConnell-Ginet, S. (1999) New generalizations and explanations in language and gender research. Language in Society 28: 185–201. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0047404599002031
Frosh, S., Phoenix, A. and Pattman, R. (2002) Young Masculinities: Understanding Boys in Contemporary Society. New York: Palgrave.
Hall, K. (2004) Marginalized places. In M. Bucholtz (eds) Language and Woman's Place: Text and Commentaries 171–7. New York: Oxford University Press.
Holmes, J. (2005) Why tell stories? Contrasting themes and identities in the narratives of Maori and Pakeha women and men. In S. F. Kiesling and C. B. Paulston Intercultural Discourse and Communication: The Essential Readings 110–34. Malden, MA: Blackwell. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/9780470758434.ch8
Holmes, J. and Meyerhoff, M. (eds) (2003) The Handbook of Language and Gender. Oxford: Blackwell. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/9780470756942
Holmes, J. and Schnurr, S. (2006) Doing femininity at work: more than just relational practice. Journal of Sociolinguistics 10: 31–51. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1360-6441.2006.00316.x
Johansen, M. (2011) Agency and responsibility in reported speech. Journal of Pragmatics 43: 2845–60. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2011.04.001
Kantsa, V. (2006) ????????????? ?????????: ????????? ??? ???????? ???????? ???????. [Family affairs: maternity and homosexual erotic relationships.] In E. Papataxiarchis (ed.) ??????????? ??? ??????????: ? ???????? ??? ???????????? ???????? ??? ???????? ?????? [Adventures of Otherness: The Production of Cultural Difference in Contemporary Greece] 355–81. Athens: Alexandria.
Kiesling, S. F. (1998) Men’s identities and sociolinguistic variation: the case of fraternity men. Journal of Sociolinguistics 2: 69–99. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1467-9481.00031
Kiesling, S. F. (2006) Hegemonic identity-making in narrative. In A. De Fina, D. Schiffrin and M. Bamberg (eds) Discourse and ?dentity 261–87. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Kotthoff, H. and Baron, B. (2001) Preface. In H. Kotthoff and B. Baron (eds) Gender in Interaction: Perspectives on Femininity and Masculinity in Ethnography and Discourse ix–xxiv. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Labov, W. (1972) Language in the Inner City. Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press.
Labov, W. (1990) The intersection of sex and social class in the course of linguistic change. Language Variation and Change 2: 205–54. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0954394500000338
Lampropoulou, S. (2012) Direct Speech, Self-Presentation and Communities of Practice. London: Continuum.
Moita-Lopes, L. (2006) On being white, heterosexual and male in a Brazilian school: multiple positionings in oral narrative. In A. De Fina, M. Bamberg and D. Schiffrin (eds) Discourse and Identity 288–313. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Ochs, E. (1992) Indexing gender. In A. Duranti and C. Goodwin (eds) Rethinking Context: Language as an Interactive Phenomenon 335–58. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Pavlidou, T.-S. ([2002]2006) ?????? – ????? – ????: ??????????, ??????????? ??? ???????? ??????. [Language – grammatical gender – social gender: problems, inquiries and the Greek language.] In T.-S. Pavlidou (ed.) ?????? – ????? – ???? [Language – Grammatical Gender – Social Gender], 2nd edn, 15–64. Thessaloniki: Institute of Modern Greek Studies.
Sarbin, T. R. and Kitsuse, J. I. (1994) A prologue to Constructing the Social. In T. R. Sarbin and J. I. Kitsuse (eds) Constructing the Social 1–17. London: Sage.
Speer, A. S. (2005) Gender Talk: Feminism, Discourse, and Conversation Analysis. Abingdon: Routledge. http://dx.doi.org/10.4324/9780203321447
Talbot, M. (2010) Language and Gender. Cambridge: Polity Press.
Published
2015-03-19
Issue
Section
Special Issue Articles
How to Cite
Archakis, A., & Lampropoulou, S. (2015). Constructing hegemonic masculinities: evidence from Greek narrative performances. Gender and Language, 9(1), 83-103. https://doi.org/10.1558/genl.v9i1.18348
