Ecomodern Masculinity: An Examination of Biofuels' “Real Men”

• In Event: 4342 - Marx, Ecology, and Gender

Abstract

Biofuels have been marketed to the American public as one way that citizens can “vote with their dollars” to fight climate change. However, research has demonstrated that biofuels are net contributors to carbon dioxide emissions and that there are significant environmental harms associated with their production. How have biofuels continued to retain their “green” image? Through a case study of one major biofuels producer and retailer on the West Coast of the U.S., we seek to uncover the ways in which biofuel producers and consumers rationalize the use of this alternative fuel source as an environmentally-sustainable choice. We find that one of the primary ways in which this is achieved is through this company’s deployment of “ecomodern masculinity” (Hultman 2013) to sell its products. Through embracing particular aspects of hegemonic masculinity while distancing itself from the violence and environmental destruction associated with fossil fuel extraction, this biofuel company evokes the dangers, denial, gender, and class politics associated with Big Oil in order to leverage its customers’ distrust of fossil fuels, while directing their attention toward new technological innovations that promise harmony with the environment. Our analysis points to the ways in which this company’s discourse aligns with the American incarnation of Ecological Modernization featuring themes of national and green consumerism. We argue that ecomodern masculinity is capitalism’s response and adaptation to environmental crises of its own making. At its base, ecomodern masculinity is an ideological repackaging of corporate hegemonic masculine relations dominated by elite, well-educated men in government, industry, and the military with the aim of safeguarding profit accumulation.

Authors

• Sue Dockstader, University of Oregon

• Shannon Elizabeth Bell, Virginia Tech