Man with an H : masculinity in the spotlight

Abstract

The 21st century is the scene of wars, pandemics, environmental destruction, economic and social crises, in the midst of this, the man emerges as the protagonist in the appropriation and bodies, most often through violence, facts like these indicate the urgency of rethinking the roles historically assigned to man within society. In this sense, this paper aims to reflect on the patterns of masculinity that reinforce the ideology of male superiority. To do so, it uses the literature review method, which is essential to present the historical and social context that cooperates to the imposition of the pre-established masculinity model and confront it with the current social transformations. As a result, there is a lack of theoretical knowledge about masculinity studies, since it is a subject studied only a few decades ago. It is also worth mentioning that studies on masculinity emerged together with studies on feminism. We conclude that, in view of the theoretical contributions on masculinity, research is needed to address the multiple models of masculinities, going beyond the duality of gender and discussing it in imaginary, symbolic, and real places.