Metodo

International Studies in Phenomenology and Philosophy

Book | Chapter

226257

Games people play

the collapse of "masculinities" and the rise of masculinity as spectacle

Damien Ridge

pp. 205-225

Abstract

Perspective is important. When Andy Warhol produced an art piece of 13 police mugshots of "Thirteen Most Wanted Men" for the New York World's Fair in 1964, the work was hurriedly painted over by concerned authorities before the public could view it. It was only years later that the Warhol's subversive (homoerotic) gaze on the FBI list was more widely appreciated (Crimp in Social Text 59: 49–66, 1999; Siegel in Art Journal 62(1): 7–13, 2003). I begin with this story because it points to key issues I want to take up in this chapter, in particular, the importance of "audience" and different readings when it comes to masculinity. While current theory tends to locate masculinity in the actors, what if it is better located in the audience? What if masculinity was better understood as a kind of public spectacle? In addition, there are the naturally subversive elements of gender (e.g. think of drag performances); the game-like nature of masculinity (men might feel compelled to play along with expectations of masculinity—think of brutal playground expectations on boys—but it doesn't mean they are not aware of its inauthenticity); and the inevitable—but less discussed link—with sexuality (see below).

Publication details

Published in:

Kingerlee Roger, Seager Martin, Sullivan Luke (2019) The Palgrave handbook of male psychology and mental health. Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan.

Pages: 205-225

DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-04384-1_11

Full citation:

Ridge Damien (2019) „Games people play: the collapse of "masculinities" and the rise of masculinity as spectacle“, In: R. Kingerlee, M. Seager & L. Sullivan (eds.), The Palgrave handbook of male psychology and mental health, Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan, 205–225.