Hybrid Masculinities and Shifts in Enactments and Meanings of Contemporary Masculinities
The Department of Sociology is excited to host Dr. Tristan Bridges on November 7 for our 2023-24 Distinguished Speaker Series.
Dr. Bridges, Associate Professor at the University of California Santa Barbara, will present a lecture titled “Hybrid Masculinities and Shifts in Enactments and Meanings of Contemporary Masculinities.”
ABSTRACT
Dr. Tristan Bridges
Scholarship on masculinities emerged following a pattern in other subfields examining identities associated with forms of structural and cultural advantage and privilege. Masculinity and masculine gender privilege were theorized as invisible. But something dramatic has shifted. Privilege associated with gender (along with other identities) is simply no longer as invisible as it once was. And privilege consciousness has worked in ways that have altered some of the processes by which systems and structures of inequality are reproduced.
Presenting data from a few different empirical projects, I will unpack what this means, how these conditions provide new ways for us to appreciate how privilege associated with masculinity works and is reworked in historical moments when it is called into new kinds of question. Building on theorizations of “hybrid masculinities,” I will discuss how gender and sexual inequalities have the capacity to be simultaneously challenged and reproduced.
My research is broadly concerned with an important dynamic in the sociology of gender—while gender is subject to incredible variation and transformation, gender inequality has been shown to be much more durable. My research examines this dynamic by examining shifts in the meanings and practices associated with masculinity. I am particularly interested in the relationship between gender, sexuality and power with a focus on “hybrid” configurations of masculinity that operate in ways that challenge and reproduce systems of inequality.
My work on “hybrid masculinities” is concerned with the revival and retheorization of a theoretical discussion that began among scholars studying shifts in masculinity at the end of the 20th century. Building on interdisciplinary research and theory concerning the gender projects of young, straight, white men, “hybrid masculinities” is a theoretical framework that provides new tools for making sense of contemporary gender and sexual inequality and unites findings from scholarship across the field–concerning questions of identity, inequality, and how we can interpret the meanings and consequences associated with shifts in masculinity.
Presently, I am working on a book that attempts to reconsider how we theorize about men’s relationship with gender identity and inequality in the 21st century, tentatively entitled: Othering Other Men: Transformations in Gender and Inequality among Men.
Find out more about Dr. Tristan Bridges here.
ACCESSIBILITY
We strive to host inclusive, accessible events that enable all individuals to engage fully. To be respectful of those with allergies and environmental sensitivities, we ask that you please refrain from wearing strong fragrances. To request an accommodation or for inquiries about accessibility, please contact us through the RSVP form or email us at poli.communications@ubc.ca.