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ERIC Number: EJ736178
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2006-May
Pages: 11
Abstractor: Author
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0954-0253
EISSN: N/A
Masculine Femininities/Feminine Masculinities: Power, Identities and Gender
Paechter, Carrie
Gender and Education, v18 n3 p253-263 May 2006
This paper is basically about terminology. In it I discuss the terms "masculinity" and "femininity" and how they relate to being male and being female. My theme arises from an increasing difficulty that I am finding in understanding how individual identities relate to dominant constructions of masculinity and femininity. Christine Skelton and Becky Francis argue that we should not be afraid to name certain behaviours as masculine even when they are performed by girls. After a discussion of the problems of defining both "masculinity" and "femininity", and a consideration of the power relations between these terms, I go on to consider the concept of "female masculinity" (Halberstam). I argue that this formulation is problematic, due to its dependence on a main term whose definition is unclear. Finally, I argue that we need to distinguish "masculinity" and "femininity" from "masculinities" and "femininities".
Routledge. 29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001. Tel: 212-216-7800; Fax: 212-564-7854; Web site: http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals.
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Opinion Papers; Reports - Evaluative
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A