Symbologies of Hate: A Case Study of Masculinity and Charlie Kirk

• In Event: Sociology of Sex and Gender Section Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (60 minute): Table 10. Masculinities: Crisis, Politics, and Transition

Abstract

Charlie Kirk is a name that evokes many emotions within the youth of America, primarily within the majority of American young men. In the wake of his death, Charlie Kirk has received iconoclastic status to the point that educators far and wide have faced penalties for disparaging his name or discussing his death in a negative voice. Freedom of speech has been challenged in and around one figure and a symbol of American masculinity. Charlie Kirk was and became a particular voice that young American men needed, wanted, or felt they desired. Have American politics left masculinity out of the conversation? Perhaps. Masculinity is seen as a space of power, authority, and the standard of social benefit. Every space is seen as a masculine space, however, under the patriarchy, even masculinity is expected to perform a role in a way that is not expansive, accepting, or even inviting. Masculinity is not in a crisis, it is in essence fighting for its own identity. Charlie Kirk and those like him are a symptom of a larger problem within gender issues and a sociological issue when understanding power dynamics within contentious identity spheres. Who was Charlie Kirk? We see him as a loud and vitriolic individual who gained a large following spouting off certain perspectives around issues like gender, marriage, LGBTQ+ inclusion and equality, and more. Charlie Kirk spoke to a generation, and that generation is still listening.

Author

• E.J. Odell Nèel, Worcester State University