Gay men need to discern what role their culture plays in maintaining the overarching influence of hegemonic masculinity’s misogyny in American culture. Kupers (2005) defines hegemonic masculinity as a form of masculinity that results in the “subjugation of women, gays, and men who exhibit feminine characteristics” (p. 717). Declaring oneself a feminist is not enough for gay men; “masculinity operates like whiteness: it demands control over any space it enters. It plants itself in the center and shoves anything coded as feminine to the edges” (Wright, 2018, p. 10). Just as White culture needs to be anti-racist, rather than merely pro-diversity, gay culture needs to be anti-misogynist, not just a community that declares itself in solidarity with feminism. Only after discerning the role gay men play in hegemonic masculinity, will the gay community begin to aid in dismantling the destructive impact of misogyny.
It is still prevalent in the gay community for men to use their masculinity in a way that maintains male privilege (Johnson & Samdahl, 2005). Johnson and Samdahl (2005) found this to be true in their ethnography at a gay bar. Despite being subject to hegemonic masculinity themselves, gay men frequently “othered” lesbian women using their masculinity to assert. This form of othering was not limited to women; this is also how gay men often interacted with each other.
Hunt, Fasoli, Carnaghi, and Cadinu (2016) noticed that when gay men experienced threats to their masculinity, they identified as more masculine and had less desire to interact with feminine men. The gay community has been subject to tremendous duress caused by hegemonic masculinity from the abuse of power of heterosexual males.
As aforementioned, hegemonic masculinity is a form of masculinity that perpetuates homophobia, so it is understandable that gay men would want to conform to hegemonic masculinity as a coping mechanism. However, becoming complicit in misogynistic hegemonic masculinity as a coping mechanism to reduce interpersonal distress will only perpetuate misogyny and further distress others.
In the gay community, gay men need to explore redefining their masculinity in a way that allows them to express their full range of emotions (Karp, 2010). After gay men understand how they “both protect and reinforce the very norms they know are not salubrious for their health, then resistance can begin” (Way, 2011, p. 142). Hopefully, this resistance will encourage more gay men not to marginalize other men who express more femininity, since they are already at heightened risk for more psychosocial dysfunction (Hunt et al., 2016). Additionally, perhaps gay men can use this in their interactions with women like the lesbians at the gay bar mentioned above. After doing the critical work of deconstructing hegemonic masculinity and adopting a stance of anti-misogyny, maybe then gay men can more readily accept those of other genders as equal to them and, indeed, be feminists.
By Jared W. Boot, M.A.
References
Hunt, C. J., Fasoli, F., Carnaghi, A., & Cadinu, M. (2016). Masculine self-presentation and distancing from femininity in gay men: An experimental examination of the role of masculinity threat.
Psychology of Men & Masculinity, 17(1), 108-112. Johnson, C. W., & Samdahl, D. M. (2005). " The night they took over": Misogyny in a country- western gay bar. Leisure Sciences, 27, 331-348. Karp, D. R. (2010). Unlocking men, unmasking masculinities: Doing men's work in prison. The Journal of Men's Studies, 18(1), 63-83.
Kupers, T. A. (2005). Toxic masculinity as a barrier to mental health treatment in prison. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 61(6), 713-724.
Way, N. (2011). Deep secrets: The hidden landscape of boys' friendships. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Wright, K. (2018, January 15). The misogynist within. The Nation, 10-11.
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