have look at R W Connell's influential text
'Masculinities"
in which the author uses the concepts of hegemonic masculinities/emphasised feminities to show how
some forms of masculinities are privileged over others
and feminity gets to be defined as inferior in specific ways
Connell starts by arguing that:
"Masculinity is hegemonic among men. No femininity is hegemonic.
Definition of "hegemonic masculinity" is: "a social ascendancy achieved in a play of social forces that extends beyond contests of brute power into the organization of private life and cultural processes."
;Ascendancy achieved through violent threats is not hegemony.
"Ascendancy embedded in religious doctrine and practice, mass media content, wage structures, the design of housing, welfare/taxation policies, is'
then goes ino detail to analysis the bases of these forms of gendering
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