In the past twenty years there has been a growing interest in the issues surrounding men and masculinity. Driven primarily by the second-wave feminist critique of the legitimacy or hegemony of masculine practice and culture, the hegemony of men in social spheres such as the family, law, and the workplace can no longer be taken for granted. Beginning with the work of Antonio Gramsci and a focus on developing the full complexity of his theory of hegemony, Howson’s fascinating new book then moves on through theory, applications and analysis of various topical issues, discussing and extending the work of R.W. Connell, and drawing out new possibilities for social justice in gender. Over the course of several informative chapters, the book considers: * a tripartite model of hegemony * hegemony in the theory of practice * application of hegemony to gender * the study of masculinity and family law * radical pluralism * radical organic protest in gender. Presenting a detailed examination of hegemonic masculinity and its interpretations, this significant new book provides an important contribution to contemporary understandings of men and masculinity.

The concept of hegemonic masculinity, formulated by Raewyn Connell more than three decades ago, has been the driving force behind the expanding field of masculinities studies. Hegemonic Masculinity: Formulation, Reformulation, and Amplification provides the first comprehensive overview of the concept—from its original conception to how it has evolved over time. The book also examines some of the most powerful ways the concept is being used in contemporary gender studies. Hegemonic Masculinity describes the development of the concept, the actual formulation and initial applications of the concept, the eventual reformulation and subsequent applications of that reformulation, and finally, the amplification of the reformulated concept of hegemonic masculinity. The book also includes a chapter theorizing why and how hegemonic masculinities are constructed, and the concluding chapter chronicles the prospects for social change toward more egalitarian gender relations. Hegemonic Masculinity: Formulation, Reformulation, and Amplification brings together for the first time in one volume the history of the concept as well as a discussion and examination of some of the most important research accomplished on hegemonic masculinity over the last thirty years.

Gender and the Construction of Hegemonic and Oppositional Femininities analyzes the construction of femininities within the key social institutions of school, work, and the media. The book draws from previous research to demonstrate how femininities are constructed in school and work and analyzes gendered representations in current fictional media.

Despite recent reforms to the Turkish Penal Code, the country retains a high level of honour-based violence. This book analyses the motives behind honour-based violence in Turkey and examines the criminal justice system’s approach to this type of crime. The work takes a socio-legal approach to explore the concepts of honour, patriarchy, and hierarchy, along with the roles of culture and tradition. It also examines how the legal system deals with this phenomenon, focusing on the decisions of the criminal courts in honour killing cases and drawing on prisoner interviews. These analyses show the extent to which the State follows a patriarchal approach when dealing with honour killings and inform recommendations for improving the legal and criminal justice system so as to deter crimes of this nature.

Men drink too much alcohol, eat unhealthy food and avoid going to the doctors until they are seriously ill. Indeed, some say being masculine is bad for men's health. But is the situation so simple? This deeply engaging book explores both the psychological and sociological factors that affect men and their health. It investigates how notions of 'maleness' impact on the individual's approach to health and take-up of services, and provides clear foundations for best practice in care. Part 1 of the book explores and sets the theoretical scene. It asks why disparate fields have not previously been brought together and what theoretical frameworks could be utilised to assist in this process. Parts 2 and 3 consider empirical work in relation to men, health and illness, providing critical rather than simply descriptive accounts. Bringing together an international collection of contributors, Men, Masculinities and Health provides fresh ideas for practice; creating a fertile terrain for future debate that will excite all those interested in gender issues.

Feminisms in Leisure Studies acknowledges and advances the contribution of feminist theories to leisure knowledge and research. Building upon the strong history of feminist leisure scholarship, the book reviews key feminist theories and offers an overview of a fourth wave of feminism and its relevance to leisure. Written by a team of leading international feminist scholars, each chapter addresses a particular theoretical perspective, using examples from each author’s research to unpack methodological and substantive issues essential to leisure studies. Critically, this book moves beyond women, the emphasis of much gender scholarship to date, to focus on issues of feminism as connected to leisure scholarship more broadly. This book is an important and engaging read for students and scholars of diversity, women’s studies, multiculturalism, social justice, gender studies, leisure studies, LGBTQQ studies, and feminist research.

This book focuses on the projection of the hero’s masculinity in a selection of post-millennial popular romance narratives and attempts to discover if, and to what extent, this projection reinforces or challenges patriarchal ideas about gender. In the majority of these narratives the hero is often presented as a hegemonic alpha male. However, hegemonic masculinity is not a fixed concept. Rather, it is subject to continuous change which allows for the emergence of various dominant masculinities. Under a poststructuralist lens and through a close textual analysis approach and a gender reading of romance narratives, the book suggests that to a certain extent the romance hero could be described as a platform onto which different forms of dominant masculinity are displayed and highlights that these masculinities do not necessarily clash, depend on, or function as a prerequisite for each other.

Critical analysis of the dramatisation of homosexuality in British fiction about the Second World War is noticeable only by its relative absence from the field. Whereas feminist literary criticism has broadened the canon of war fiction to include narratives by and about women, queer scholars have seldom focused on literary representations of homosexuality during the war. Natalie Marena Nobitz closes a glaring gap in the critical attention of four novels dealing with the disruption of gender roles and institutionalised heteronormativity: Walter Baxter's Look Down in Mercy (1951), Mary Renault's The Charioteer (1953), Sarah Waters' The Night Watch (2006) and Adam Fitzroy's Make Do and Mend (2012).

Addressing the relationship between masculinity, war, and violence, this book covers these themes broadly and across different disciplines. These analyses are located at different levels: public policies at the macro level; resistance and independence movements at the meso level; and masculine subjectivities, processes of mobilization, and radicalization at the micro level. The ten contributions encompass four recurring themes: violent masculinities and how contemporary societies and regimes cope with traditional violent rituals and extreme violence against women; popular written and visual fiction about war and masculine rationalities; gender relations in social movements of rebellion and national transformation; and masculinity in civil society under conditions of war and post-war. Taking into account different geographical contexts, the book emphasizes the relationship between the local and the global as well as the importance of understanding gender and masculinity in their intersectional interrelations with religion, race, ethnicity, class, and locality. This book was originally published as a special issue of NORMA: International Journal for Masculinity Studies.

Analyzing the speeches of the two Bush presidencies, this book presents a new conceptualization of hegemonic masculinity by making the case for a multiplicity of hegemonic masculinites locally, regionally, and globally. This book outlines how state leaders may appeal to particular hegemonic masculinites in their attempt to "sell" wars and thereby camouflage salient political practices in the process. Messerschmidt offers a fresh historical perspective on the war against Iraq over an 18-year period, and he argues that we cannot truly understand this war outside of its gendered (masculine) and historical context.