230632 Defining Masculinities (S) (SoSe 2009)

For centuries, Western societies have been dominated by gender hierarchies in which the masculine and patriarchal are the uncontested norm. Various waves of feminist critique and gender studies, though, have pointed out that gender divisions are the result of complex construction processes. While images of women have long been analysed to be mainly male projections of, for instance, wishes and anxieties, more recent masculinity studies have started asking a number of pertinent questions: Who develops images of men, how and why is the male gender as much a construction as the female one? How does it turn into the norm? What are the social and psychological implications of images of men? What does it mean to belong to the group whose power-structures shape the structure of society? How much space is left for individuals born into that category not to comply? What is the connection between sex, sexuality, sexual orientation and gender? What is the role that literature plays in supporting, questioning, and modifying such constructions of masculinity? In this seminar, we will read four texts from the 20th century that explore a variety of male-gender constructions and/or need to be seen in the contexts of different moments in the cultural history of masculinities.

Please obtain and read a copy of:

D.H. Lawrence, Lady Chatterley's Lover (1928)
William Golding, Lord of the Flies (1954)
Jackie Kay, Trumpet (1998)
Patrick Gayle, Rough Music (2001)