Who epitomises masculinity?
Great question. ….and I’ve got to refer to R W Connell’s text ‘Masculinities’ to reply. He covered the way that masculinities are socially constructed and so argued that there are several different types of masculinities in our society. Nevertheless some of these ways of being male are more powerful than others. Two important concepts about current masculinities develop from this: a)Connell uses the term ‘hegemonic masculinity’ to convey this notion that one form of masculinity is a more controlling form b) ..that this power relationship within gender is based on the power relationship between genders Your point about David Beckham is a great example of this theoretical principle. Connell himself points out the way that the power of ‘hegemonic masculinity’ rests on these men’s cultural power to downgrade other men because of their supposed greater feminity. However he also points out that this hegemonic power works in different ways according to their class: with working class men fo
