The Masculine Urge to Cry: Affective Masculinity and the Men’s Movement

• In Event: Culture, Affect, and Political Representation

Abstract

Masculinity is often popularly defined by its rejection of emotion, but it actually represents a deep well of emotional response that is embedded in the patriarchal project of maintaining male hegemony. In this paper, I argue that masculinity represents what cultural theorist Raymond Williams called a “structure of feeling” that conditions the public and private lives available to people who identify as men (PIM). Using archival research on the Men’s Movement (1970s-1990s), I theorize masculinity as an affective register that conditions emotional comportment for PIM.

Through an interpretive analysis of archival material, the paper explores the structure of feeling guiding American masculinity among men’s movement participants. The paper begins with a review of affect theory and masculinity studies, identifying a scholarly gap at the link between these literatures. Then, I turn to Men’s Movement activities, focusing on the types of feelings movement activists fostered. I conclude with opportunities for future research, arguing that the discipline of political science needs a deeper engagement with affective politics.

Men’s movement participants sought to resurrect a primordial version of manhood that, they argued, was undermined by modern society. Along the way, they sought to deepen the cultural valuation of masculine feelings, encouraging their members to embrace masculine emotions and feel more like a man. Attending to this transformative moment in American gender relations, the paper highlights the importance of affect in regulating gendered lives.

Author

• H. Howell Williams, Western Connecticut State University