Читать книгу Still Straight - Tony Silva - Страница 13

Masculinity is not a biological given. How American men understand and express masculinity has changed greatly over the last two centuries.168 Masculinity is a set of behaviors, attitudes, and emotions that society shapes and gives meaning to.169 Masculinity is something that is associated with men, but it is not necessarily tied to men, nor is masculinity simply a set of things that men do. Men can be feminine, for instance, and women can be masculine, and there are many people who identify as neither men nor women who also express masculinity in varied ways. At the same time, most people express their gender in ways that reflect what others expect them to do, given their gender identity, their biological sex, and the social situation.170

Masculinity is a continuing process: boys and men never “achieve” masculinity but rather must continually maintain it. Sometimes they do so through what are called “manhood acts,” which take different forms but typically involve “claiming privilege, eliciting deference, and resisting exploitation.”171 Actions inconsistent with such behavior are policed by friends, family members, acquaintances, and others, and men often act particularly masculine in all-male spaces.172 Masculinity is also relational; men’s masculinity is shaped in part by how they interact with women,173 as well as with other men.

There are numerous forms of masculinity.174 They differ across social contexts and populations, and both shape, and are shaped by, other forms of masculinity as well as femininity. Additionally, different forms of masculinity exist in a hierarchy. Some forms have more power and influence than others, thus reinforcing social inequalities between men and women and among men.175 Certain forms of masculinity seem progressive and do often represent an improvement in gender relations.176 At the same time, many obscure and continue to reinforce various forms of inequality.177

Many men today seek to construct a masculinity in what Miriam Abelson, a sociologist at Portland State University, calls a “Goldilocks zone”: not violent or emotionally stunted, but also not something that would be seen as obviously gay or feminine.178 Rather, many want to be in control of their emotions with the ability to be flexible about how they express themselves.179 These forms of masculinity seem progressive, but do little to challenge wider social inequalities.

What is common to most forms of masculinity is the importance of heterosexuality. More men than women perceive same-sex sexuality as a threat to how they perceive themselves in terms of gender. Nationally, men report greater homophobic attitudes on average than women.180 Men are more likely to report homophobic attitudes when they feel their masculinity is threatened,181 a dynamic that rarely occurs with women when they feel their femininity is threatened.182 Put another way, heterosexuality is more strongly tied to masculinity than to femininity.183 For many men, being masculine means being straight. Indeed, many of the men I talked to identified as straight in part to preserve their sense of themselves as masculine.

Additionally, masculinity differs depending on whether the context is rural or urban. “Rural masculinity” refers to masculinity as it is “constructed within what rural social scientists would recognize as rural spaces and sites,”184 which are themselves difficult to define.185 Rural and urban residents often understand and construct masculinity differently. In many rural areas, for instance, rural men construct masculinity in opposition to representations of urbanity,186 emphasizing differences between themselves and urbanites. Forms of rural masculinity differ on the basis of local context and population, but they also share many common traits, such as an emphasis on physical labor and toughness.187

It is not socially acceptable for most rural men to express what might be considered “softer” forms of masculinity, as some urban men do. For instance, whereas many straight urban men pay close attention to grooming188 or even dress fashionably in ways they consider somewhat “gay,”189 most rural men do not. The masculinity they construct reflects fairly rigid expectations.190 This is the case in part because rural areas and small towns tend to be socially homogenous and to reward conformity. Due to differing social contexts, forms of masculinity in rural areas are distinct from those in urban locations. People in rural areas, especially men, are much more likely to own guns than are suburban and urban residents,191 and gun ownership is one way many rural men understand themselves as men.192 Even as the issue of gun control becomes more popular in urban areas, it is unlikely to gain much traction in rural areas.193

Masculinity is critically important for rural gay men, as it provides them some social acceptance in their communities, which is otherwise lacking because of homophobia.194 Similarly, in rural areas men and women of all sexual identities gain some community acceptance through masculinity.195 Also, rural transgender men gain some community acceptance through heterosexuality and working-class masculinity, and by being white in settings in which whites are the majority.196

While rural and urban areas are tied together due to social and economic links, as well as easy travel between the two,197 attitudes about gender and sexuality in these areas are often quite distinct. There are unique forms of masculinity in rural areas and small towns, and these are key to what it means to be a man in these settings. Consequently, central to the stories of the men I interviewed is a distinctly rural masculine outlook. This guides rural men’s “thoughts, tastes, and practices.” In addition, “It provides them with their fundamental sense of self; it structures how they understand the world around them; and it influences how they codify sameness and difference.”198 As we will see, heterosexuality is a crucial part of this rural and small-town masculinity. Being masculine, for many of the men I interviewed, meant being straight.