The ambiguity of ‘new’ masculinities: Zayn Malik and disordered eating

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No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. While Zayn used the term ‘eating disorder’ in his autobiography, he has stated elsewhere that he has not been officially diagnosed with one and that it ‘wasn’t specifically’ an eating disorder (see Eyre 2017). For this reason, I use the broader term ‘disordered eating’.

2. It should be noted that hybrid masculinity is most readily associated with straight, white men (see Bridges and Pascoe 2018, p. 260) who strategically borrow identity aspects from marginalized Others. Being British-Pakistani, Zayn might himself be classified as belonging to a marginalized group. However, focusing here especially on gender, I would argue that he does indeed inhabit a privileged position, not least afforded him through his status as a successful pop star.

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Kai Arne Hansen

Kai Arne Hansen is associate professor of music in the Department of Art and Cultural Studies, Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences. His research covers topics including popular music and identity, gender and sexuality, contemporary media, audiovisual aesthetics, and the musical cultures of children. Hansen is currently working on a monograph that conceptualizes post boy band masculinities (Oxford University Press, forthcoming), and is editor-in-chief of the Norwegian Journal of Musicology.