Masculinism

Gendering Insecurities, Informalization and "War Economies"

Citation:

Peterson, V. Spike. 2016. “Gendering Insecurities, Informalization and ‘War Economies.’” In The Palgrave Handbook of Gender and Development, edited by W. Harcourt, 441-62. London: Palgrave Macmillan.

Author: V. Spike Peterson

Abstract:

David Roberts (2008) observes that defining human security is more contentious than defining human insecurity (also Burke 2007). Like many others, Roberts draws on diverse literatures referencing institutional, indirect, or structural violence to generate a definition of insecurity as “avoidable civilian deaths, occurring globally, caused by social, political and economic institutions and structures, built and operated by humans and which could feasibly be changed” (2008, 28). Indirect or structural violence refers to the presumably unintended but recurring patterns of suffering or harm that result from the way social institutions or structures “order” expectations, norms, and practices.1 “War” is arguably a display of structural violence at its extremity. Feminists have produced incisive accounts of how in/security, violence, conflicts, and wars are pervasively gendered.2 But existing analyses tend to focus on masculinist identities and ideologies in the context of embodied and “political” forms of violence, leaving aside how these are inextricably linked to economic phenomena.

Keywords: informal economy, informal activity, human security, international relations, social reproduction

Topics: Conflict, Economies, Informal Economies, War Economies, Feminisms, Gendered Power Relations, Masculinism, Security, Human Security, Violence

Year: 2016

Contesting Feminism’s Institutional Doubles: Troubling the Security Council’s Women, Peace and Security Agenda

Citation:

Otto, Dianne. 2019. "Contesting Feminism’s Institutional Doubles: Troubling the Security Council’s Women, Peace and Security Agenda." In Governance Feminism: Notes from the Field, edited by Janet Halley, Prabha Kotiswaran, Rachel Rebouché, and Hila Shamir, 200-29. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.

Author: Diane Otto

Annotation:

Summary:
“I start by examining the Security Council’s preoccupation with sexual violence in four of the eight WPS resolutions, which is also a feature of GF elsewhere in international law and institutions. I argue that, in this context, the focus on women’s sexual vulnerability has enabled a consolidation of protective stereotypes of women that underpin and justify military ways of thinking, which reassert what Iris Marion Young has described as the 'logic of masculinist protection,' which does a lot of useful symbolic work for the Security Council, while seriously undermining feminist logics of social justice and peace. Next, I discuss the other four WPS resolutions, which I refer to as the 'women’s empowerment resolutions.' While these resolutions are also informed by SV GF in their attention to sexual violence, my argument is that they have also created footholds for other strands of feminist thinking— informed by postcolonial, materialist, and queer perspectives— to challenge the power of GF to dictate institutional feminist priorities. I then go on to argue that despite the dominance of SV GF, more transformative feminist ideas are slowly gaining ground because of the vision and activism of grassroots feminist groups, organized often through regional and international NGOs like WILPF and the NGO Working Group. The tenacity of bottom-up feminist logics of social justice and peace is evident in the Global Study, which was undertaken to mark the fifteenth anniversary of the adoption of SCR 1325, and the Civil Society Survey that was commissioned to inform the study. I conclude that grassroots activism, though vital, is not enough. For feminist logics of social justice and peace to make inroads into international institutions by re-signifying discursive institutional practices, support from 'friends' within governmental and legal institutions is necessary, which always involves compromise and retrenchment and, in the contemporary moment, a reckoning with SV GF. Even then, feminist logics may be lost in translation, but this is a continuing struggle” (Otto 2019, 203-4).

Topics: Feminisms, Feminist Foreign Policy, Gender, Gendered Power Relations, Masculinism, International Law, International Organizations, NGOs, Peacebuilding, Sexual Violence, SV against Women, UN Security Council Resolutions on WPS, UNSCR 1325

Year: 2019

Recreating Men’s Relationship with Nature: Toward a Profeminist Environmentalism

Citation:

Pease, Bob. 2019. “Recreating Men’s Relationship with Nature: Toward a Profeminist Environmentalism.” Men and Masculinities 22 (1): 113–23.

Author: Bob Pease

Abstract:

While feminist and profeminist scholars are increasingly in agreement with the thesis that hegemonic and destructive forms of masculinity are the source of current environmental crises, there is less agreement on how to address this issue or on the way forward for ecologically conscious and profeminist men. Some forms of ecofeminism essentialize women as being closer to nature than men, while arguing that men are closer to culture. There seems little capacity for men to change in this view. In a parallel development, some ecomasculinity theorists argue that the problem is not with the nature of masculinity per se but with the separation of men’s natural maleness from forms of masculinity that suppress their infinite capacity to care. It will be argued that such latter approaches espouse either an ecofeminine or ecomasculinist perspective rather than a social ecofeminist view. This article will explore the implications of the social ecofeminist critique (or what some writers refer to as feminist environmentalism) for understanding socially constructed masculinism, and what men can do about it, in the context of the social divisions between men across the world.

Keywords: environmental crises, ecofeminism, hegemonic masculinity, ecological masculinities, profeminist environmentalism

Topics: Environment, Climate Change, Feminisms, Ecofeminism, Gender, Masculinity/ies, Gendered Power Relations, Masculinism

Year: 2019

‘Peace without Women Does Not Go!’ Women’s Struggle for Inclusion in Colombia’s Peace Process with the FARC

Citation:

Céspedes-Báez, Lina M., and Felipe Jaramillo Ruiz. 2018. “‘Peace without Women Does Not Go!’ Women’s Struggle for Inclusion in Colombia’s Peace Process with the FARC.” Colombia Internacional (94): 83-109.

Authors: Lina M. Céspedes-Báez, Felipe Jaramillo Ruiz

Abstract:

In this study, we analyze the tactics deployed by Colombian women’s rights NGOs, movements, and advocacy groups to challenge masculinism in the peace negotiations between the Colombian government and the former Colombian guerrilla Revolutionary Armed Forces (FARC) held in Havana. By drawing on the literature on women’s participation in peace and transitional justice processes, the research assesses the presence of women in Colombia’s peace talks, the way women’s movements articulated their demands, the role of the sub-commission on gender, and the manner in which gender was introduced in the drafts of the peace agreement and in the document the parties to the negotiation signed in Cartagena in September 2016.

Keywords: Gender, armed conflict, peacebuilding, feminism, Colombia

Topics: Gender, Gendered Power Relations, Masculinism, Justice, Transitional Justice, NGOs, Peacebuilding, Peace Processes, Rights, Women's Rights Regions: Americas, South America Countries: Colombia

Year: 2018

Eco-Man: New Perspectives on Masculinity and Nature

Citation:

Allister, Mark, ed. 2004. Eco-Man: New Perspectives on Masculinity and Nature. Charlottesville: The University of Virginia Press.

Author: Mark Allister

Annotation:

Summary:
'Eco-Man' brings together two rapidly growing fields: men's studies and ecocriticism. The volume's 20 essays question whether readers can construct a notion of manhood around ecological principles and practices - and if so, what this would look like, and how it would enrich men's studies. (Summary from WorldCat)
 
Table of Contents: 
1. Introduction
Mark Allister
 
2. Deerslayer with a Degree
John Tallmadge
 
3. The Sky, the Earth, the Sea, the Soul
Gretchen Legler
 
4. "To Be a Man" in the Common Life of Nature: An Interview with Scott Russell Sanders
Mark Allister
 
5. Chariot of the Sun: Men and the Shame of Environmental Degradation 
Thomas R. Smith 
 
6. Taking Care: Toward an Ecomasculinist Literary Criticism?
Scott Slovic 
 
7. Anecdote of the Car: The Diminished Thing 
Alvin Handelman
 
8. Traversing the Timelines 
David Copland Morris 
 
9. The Boys' Trip 
Rick Fairbanks
 
10. "Once a Cowboy": Will James, Waddie Mitchell, and the Predicament of Riders Who Turn Writers
Cheryll Glotfelty 
 
11. Fishing the Mysteries 
Barton Sutter
 
12. On the Point of a Sharp Hook 
James Barilla
 
13. I Love the Single Deer Path 
Timothy Young
 
14. Fathers and Sons, Trails and Mountains 
O. Alan Weltzien 
 
15. As Big As the World: Imagination, Kindness, and Our Little Boys 
Julia Martin 
 
16. Nature Nurturing Fathers in a World beyond Our Control 
Patrick D. Murphy 
 
17. When Tillage Begins: A Family Portrait
Jim Heynen
 
18. Husbands and Nature Lovers
Lilace Mellin Guignard 
 
19. Consuming Cities: Hip-Hop's Urban Wilderness and the Cult of Masculinity 
Stephen J. Mexal 
 
20. Wild Time: Prisoners and Nature
Ken Lamberton 
 
21. The Nature of My Life
James J. Farrell

Topics: Environment, Gender, Men, Masculinity/ies, Gendered Power Relations, Masculinism

Year: 2004

A Declaration of Caring: Towards Ecological Masculinism

Citation:

Pulé, Paul M. 2013. “A Declaration of Caring: Towards Ecological Masculinism.” PhD diss., Murdoch University.

Author: Paul M. Pulé

Abstract:

This dissertation argues that the social and environmental problems we face are primarily the result of patriarchal or ‘malestream’ norms. These norms are constructed on hypermasculinist ways of being, thinking and doing that inhibit the growth and development of sustainable principles and practices. Responding to this assertion and following in the footsteps of deep ecology, social ecology and ecological feminism, the study brings masculinities concerns to the heart of the human/Nature relationship while also bringing concerns for society and the environment to the ways we think about men in the modern West. Further, it argues that if we are to achieve a truly sustainable future, then we must encourage men to reawaken their innate care. The dissertation declares that all men are born good and possess an infinite capacity to care and be caring. It is however recognised that these innate capacities for men to care and be caring are suppressed by ‘men’s oppression’ and that this oppression can prevent men from expressing their fullest humanness to the detriment of all Others and themselves. The dissertation recommends that men develop emotional competencies along with their intellect and intuition in order to authentically nurture the relational space between Others and themselves. Building on feminist care theory, a theoretical framework termed ecological masculinism is introduced, which facilitates modern Western men to care for and be caring towards society, Nature and the self—concurrently. The dissertation constructs a theoretical framework for ecological masculinism that is accompanied by a plurality of ecomasculine praxes. This ecologised masculinities theory and praxes instigates a new conversation in environmental philosophy that facilitates the rise of ‘ecomen’ who serve important roles in forging a deep green future for all of life on Earth.

Topics: Environment, Feminisms, Feminist Political Ecology, Gender, Gendered Power Relations, Patriarchy, Masculinism

Year: 2013

Cognitive Short Cuts

Citation:

Hutchings, Kimberly. 2008. “Cognitive Short Cuts.” In Rethinking the Man Question: Sex, Gender and Violence in International Relations, edited by Jane L. Parpart and Marysia Zalewski, 23–46. London: Zed Books.

Author: Kimberly Hutchings

Annotation:

Summary:
"The purpose of this chapter is to examine one of the reasons for this ongoing marginalization of feminist/gender concerns. I will argue that a key reason for the ongoing invisibility of women and gender in the theoretical frames through which post-cold-war international politics is grasped is the legitimizing function of masculinity discourses within those theories. My central claim is that masculinity operates as a resource for though in theorizing international politics. That is to say, masculinity operates as a kind of commonsense, implicit, often unconscious shorthand for processes of explanatory and normative judgement, thereby as one of the crucial ways in which our social scientific imagination is shaped and limited. I will explore how this works in two very influential but different accounts of contemporary international politics: the 'offensive' realism of Mearsheimer (The Tragedy of Great Power Politics, 2001) and the post-Marxist story of 'empire/multitude' in the work of Hardt and Negri (Empire, 2000). In conclusion, I will argue that one can hope, to paraphrase Ferguson, to loosen the hold of masculinity on meaning and life only once one has appreciated how much intellectual work is accomplished by masculinity's logical structure (Ferguson 1993: 29). Without the logic of masculinity, grand theorists of international politics would be required to work a great deal harder in order to persuade us of the accuracy of their diagnoses of the times" (Hutchings 2008, 23-24). 

Topics: Feminisms, Gender, Masculinity/ies, Gender Analysis, Femininity/ies, Gendered Power Relations, Patriarchy, Masculinism

Year: 2008

Gender and the Privatization of Security: Neoliberal Transformation of the Militarized Gender Order

Citation:

Eichler, Maya. 2013. “Gender and the Privatization of Security: Neoliberal Transformation of the Militarized Gender Order.” Critical Studies on Security 1 (3): 311-25.

Author: Maya Eichler

Abstract:

The increasing reliance on private military and security companies (PMSCs) in contemporary military conflict marks a historic shift in the state’s organization of military violence. This transformation has gendered underpinnings and entails gender-specific outcomes, at the same time as it reveals a gendered continuum between public and private military and security organizations. As the US example illustrates, security privatization was facilitated by the broader neoliberal transformation of the militarized gender order and itself has had negative implications for gender equality in the military and security sphere. Based on original research, this article argues that PMSCs are deeply gendered organizations whose employment practices tends to intensify the gendered division of labour that is characteristic of public militaries. While business and operational needs may allow for temporary disruptions of gender norms, masculinism remains not only vital but is reinvigorated by privatization. Political goals such as gender equality are sidelined in a sector premised on de-regulation and free markets. In contrast to problem-solving approaches that view gender as a problem of accountability or operational effectiveness in regards to PMSCs, this article shows that gender is deeply implicated in the expansion and organization of private force at the turn of the twenty-first century.

Keywords: private security, privatization of military security, PMSCs, Gender, feminist security studies, neoliberalism, militarization, United States

Topics: Armed Conflict, "New Wars", Economies, Gender, Gender Roles, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Equality/Inequality, Masculinism, Military Forces & Armed Groups, Private Military & Security, Militarization, Privatization, Violence Regions: Americas, North America Countries: United States of America

Year: 2013

The Reconstruction of Masculinities in Global Politics: Gendering Strategies in the Field of Private Security

Citation:

Stachowitsch, Saskia. 2015. “The Reconstruction of Masculinities in Global Politics: Gendering Strategies in the Field of Private Security.” Men and Masculinities 18(2): 363-386.

Author: Saskia Stachowitsch

Abstract:

The concept of masculinities has been central to the analysis of private security as a gendered phenomenon. This research has either focused on the identity constructions and practices of security contractors as men or on masculinity as a theoretical and ideological framework for making sense of security outsourcing. This article aims to overcome this dualism by developing a relational, strategic, and discursive understanding of masculinities and focusing on the gendering strategies that create them. These strategies are identified as masculinization of the market and feminization of the state, feminization and racialization of (some) security work, hypermasculinization as a critical or affirmative discourse, romanticizing the autonomous male bond, and militarization of private security. It is argued that private security as well as critical discourses on it integrate business, humanitarian, and militarized masculinities in a way that ultimately legitimizes masculinism and reconstructs masculinity as a privileged category in international politics.

Keywords: private security, feminist international relations, PMSCs, gendering strategies, masculinism

Topics: Gender, Masculinity/ies, Gendered Power Relations, Masculinism, Military Forces & Armed Groups, Private Military & Security, Militarization, Security Regions: Americas, North America, Europe, Northern Europe Countries: United Kingdom, United States of America

Year: 2015

Mainstreaming Gender in Philippine Institutional Responses to Climate Change

Citation:

Badayos-Jover, Mary Barby P. 2012. “Mainstreaming Gender in Philippine Institutional Responses to Climate Change.” PhD diss., College of Agricultural Sciences and College of the Liberal Arts, The Pennsylvania State University.

Author: Mary Barby P. Badayos-Jover

Abstract:

Global climate change has become a pressing environmental, social, political and economic problem in highly vulnerable developing countries like the Philippines. A number of socio-political institutions are thus now involved in climate change initiatives in Philippine locales. While these efforts are underway, there is also a parallel growing concern that institutional responses to climate change will reinforce gender inequalities or undermine the gains made towards gender equality. This apprehension is significant in the Philippines since it has long officially subscribed to gender mainstreaming and is ranked high in gender equity indices.

The study focused on analyzing the extent to which Philippine institutional climate change efforts integrate gender concerns. Data collection made use of feminist approaches and institutional ethnography to reveal the complex ruling relations that influence practices on the ground. Interviews and focus group discussions were conducted with representatives from international institutions working in the Philippines, national government agencies, local government units, civil society groups and grassroots communities.

Study results highlighted that institutional and community representatives acknowledge gender as a cross cutting issue yet associate it mainly with "women's participation". Gender mainstreaming has largely remained rhetoric in the face of organizational masculinism. Hence, there is minimal integration of gender concerns in Philippine institutional climate change initiatives, despite specific policy pronouncements and years of bureaucratic gender mainstreaming. These results have implications on gender equity within climate change institutional structures and processes. However, the results also provide entry points for developing gender-sensitive, equitable, efficient and effective on-the-ground climate change initiatives in vulnerable Philippine locales.

Topics: Environment, Climate Change, Gender Mainstreaming, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Equality/Inequality, Masculinism, Governance, Post-Conflict Governance, NGOs, Political Participation Regions: Asia, Southeast Asia Countries: Philippines

Year: 2012

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