Dear all!Together with my other dear colleague, Julia Kubisa, we would like to invite you to join us in September in Wroclaw (Poland) at the 17th Polish Sociological Congress. We would mainly discuss (in English ;)) the theoretical and methodological contributions as well as challenges within the most fascinating subdiscipline ever, namely, the sociology of masculinities.
Continue readingcritical studies on men and masculinities
CFP: Research Stream “Men and Masculinities in a Changing Europe” at the 14th ESA Conference 2019, Manchester, UK
Together with my dear colleague, Katarzyna Suwada, I would like to invite you, dear sociologists, critical men and masculinities’ scholars as well as everyone else interested in sociology of masculinities, to join us in August in Manchester at the 14th European Sociological Associaton conference, where we would like to discuss the situation of men and condition of masculinities in a changing Europe.
In recent years two major trends linked to the transformation of masculinities can be observed in European societies. On the one hand, researchers recognise significant changes in both models of masculinities and male gender roles. These changes have been followed by a switch in public discourses and politics focused on men and boys (Scambor at al. 2014). Moreover, one can identify a flourishing number of grass-roots initiatives oriented on men and gender equality (Wojnicka 2016). Yet, on the other hand, Europe is also facing a crisis of liberal democracy, which affects the value of gender equality, and in some regions a re-traditionalisation of gender roles becomes excessively visible. Far-right groups, dominated by men, are gaining greater popularity by attacking (male) immigrants and refugees coming from other parts of the world. Such trends are connected to the resurrection of hegemonic and toxic forms of masculinities. They also create new forms of marginalised masculinities. Continue reading
A country for (old) men?
So it (finally) happened. On June, 23rd, Polish Father’s Day, President Andrzej Duda signed the bill prohibiting the sale of ellaOne (the “morning after pill”) without a doctor’s prescription. By doing so, he added another brick to the current government’s mission aimed at limiting the sexual and reproductive rights of Polish women. According to European Commission recommendations, ellaOne has been available without prescription since 2015 and it will now remain so for less than one month. Access to ellaOne under new legislation will present multiple obstacles such as difficulties in finding nearby gynecologists (particularly those willing to give a prescription), short visiting hours (Nappi et al., 2013) and money issues (short-notice visits to gynecologists in Poland usually cost extra). In other words, many women, especially those who are young, from rural areas and not wealthy, will suffer under the new law tremendously.
About a Very Different Boy
I am pleased to announce that my publication on Otto’s Weininger’s book Sex and Character is now available in the Literatura, kultura, media journal. In the paper “Otto Weininger: mizogin i profeminista?” [Otto Weininger: misogynist and profeminist?] I present my unique analyses of Weininger’s only book, which influenced not only (antifeminist and misogynist) male scholars and artists from his époque such as James Joyce, August Strindberg and Ludwig Wittgenstain but also several feminist thinkers e.g. Charlotte Perkins Gilman and Germaine Greer. Continue reading
Trumpsculinity
In her last essay on the new politics of masculinity and migration, Pierrette Hondagneu-Sotelo, sociology professor at the University of Southern California (USC), wrote that the current presidential election in the US has an extraordinary dynamic, as one of the most important discursive categories is (traditional) masculinity, supported by misogyny and xenophobia, which at certain point dominated Trump’s campaign (Hondagneu-Sotelo 2016). As a critical men and masculinities scholar, I couldn’t agree more, since everything that I’ve read, seen and heard from and about the (American) male electorate in the last few months has led me to the conclusion that Trump’s masculinity is a crucial factor influencing the election results. Continue reading
Menferencing
As you may have noticed already, it usually takes me a few weeks or even months to reflect on the events that I attend, and my comments mostly refer to the conference/workshop content, as I try to focus on men and masculinities and/or gender issues that are discussed during the event. This time, however, is slightly different because not only did the conference end six days ago, but I am also changing my focus from the content to the interactions that I observed. So let me start with the basics.
CFP: Special Issue of NORMA:International Journal for Masculinity Studies
The Guest Editors of the Special Issue of NORMA: International Journal for Masculinity Studies on “Men and Migration in Europe and beyond” warmly welcome scholarly contributions from researchers working on the issues pertaining to the international migration and mobilities, critical men and and masculinities studies. This special issue aims at collecting and broadening the scholarly knowledge on the issues concentrated on the presence of male migrants in the receiving societies.
International Conference “Men and Masculinities: Politics, Policy, Praxis”
In June 2017 the Nordic Association for Research on Men and Masculinities (NFMM), that I’m a member of, together with the Centre for Feminist Studies (CFS) at Örebro University, Sweden, will organise an international, interdisciplinary conference on men, masculinities, politics, policy and praxis. The aim of this event “to foster interdisciplinary dialogues between those researching and engaged in political or policy activism around men and masculinities, across different nations, with a view to establishing international collaborations between researchers and practitioners globally.” The Örebro conference will be the third conference ogranised by NFMM that I’m planning to attend. Two previous events held in Oslo and Reykjavik in 2012 and 2014, respectively, were actually the best men and masculinities events that I’ve had a pleasure to take part in so far and therefore, I strongly recommend 2017 conference to all of you interested in critical men and masculinities studies. More details regarding the conference are available here.
A report on the international workshop “Men and Migration in contemporary Europe”
Between the 9th and 10th of June 2016 a group of social science scholars from multiple disciplines such as sociology, law, political science and gender studies from Sweden, the United States, Poland, Estonia, Germany, the United Kingdom, and Italy gathered at the Centre for European Studies at Gothenburg University (CERGU) to participate in an international workshop titled “Men and Migration in contemporary Europe”. The workshop was organised by me and my colleagues from CERGU and was generously sponsored by the Riksbankens Jubileumsfond. Continue reading
Vienesse workshop on migration and masculinities:”Migration und Männlichkeiten. Konstruktionen von Geschlecht und Differenz in der Einwanderungsgesellschaft”
At the beginning of 2017 the Feminist Theory and Gender Research section of Austrian Sociological Association will organise a workshop focused on the timely issue of migration and masculinities. The workshop entitled “Migration and masculinities. Constructing gender and difference in the host society” will take place at the University of Vienna between 19th and 2oth January 2017. More information about the event (in German) can be found here. The workshop’s programme can be found here.
Dr. K & THE men 