Masculinity as violence: college men sexual violence survivors and the impact of hegemonic masculinity

Abstract

This article focuses on the concept of masculinity as violence and how hegemonic masculinity ultimately serves as a secondary form of violence among men who survived sexual violence in college. I used Jackson and Mazzei’s concept of “thinking with theory” framing both hegemonic masculinity and administrative violence as theoretical frameworks to understand how masculinity as violence mediates these college men’s lived experiences. This study was a secondary analysis of interview data from 15 cisgender and transgender men who survived sexual violence during college between 2005 and 2015, using a qualitative collective case study approach. Findings included: (1) the inevitability of masculinity as violence; (2) masculinity as violence and its impact on coping; (3) the shame, fear, and frustration of masculinity as violence; and (4) systemic administrative (masculine) violence in higher education.

Keywords:

• Hegemonic masculinity
• sexual violence
• college men
• thinking with theory
• masculinity as violence

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 I am of the scholarly contested ground evoked in my use of O’Neil et al.’s 1986 work on gender role conflict theory and hegemonic masculinity. Connell and Messerschmidt (2005) critiqued the scholarship on hegemonic masculinity in the 1990s and early 2000s for the slippage and misuse of the concept. They specifically named, “The concept of masculinity is criticized for being framed within a heteronormative conception of gender that essentializes male-female difference and ignores difference and exclusion within the gender categories. The concept of masculinity is said to rest logically on a dichotomization of sex (biological) versus gender (cultural) and thus marginalizes or naturalizes the body” (p. 836). As a result, O’Neil et al.’s gender role conflict, reliant on biological sex, is a part of that critique. Yet, for this study, components of the concepts of gender role conflict have utility in understanding the larger patterns of hegemonic masculinity and domination for the participants.

2 In the United States, Title IX of the Educational Amendments of 1972 is a federal mandate that prohibits sexual discrimination in educational institutions (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2021). In 2011, the Obama administration issued an update to the Dear Colleague Letter, which issued specific guidance to college and university leaders about the required steps needed to address sexual violence and harassment in higher education institutions (U.S. Department of Education, 2011). This guidance further mandated that colleges and universities investigate reports of sexual violence and harassment and extended the right of protection to any student from sexual harassment and violence in school curricular, co-curricular, and extra-curricular programs (U.S. Department of Education, 2011).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Daniel Tillapaugh

Daniel Tillapaugh is associate professor and chair of the Department of Counselor Education in the Graduate School of Education at California Lutheran University.