Date of Award
2024
Document Type
Honors Thesis (Open Access)
Department
Colby College. Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Program
Advisor(s)
Sonja Thomas
Second Advisor
Laura Saltz
Abstract
This thesis examines what is at stake in the highly-racialized, -sexualized, and -gendered systems in which male Colby students craft self-concepts and how the college culture both rejects and replicates broader social notions of masculinity. I also analyze the theoretical threads that gave way to the field of masculinity studies and how such a discipline responds to contemporary claims of a “crisis of masculinity.” I then shift my focus to conduct a discourse analysis of “Sex Ed for Guys,” a TikTok account created by a group of male Colby students that offers a direct commentary on young men’s social and sexual subjectivity. My analysis of the TikTok is buttressed by primary source material from both student interviews and archival research, all of which help to frame my argument that the male-based forces fighting hegemonic masculinity can at the same time perpetuate it.
Keywords
Gender, hegemonic masculinity, discourse analysis, TikTok, Michael Kimmel
Recommended Citation
Kane, Florence O., "Of Mind and Men: Replications and Rejections of Hegemonic Masculinity at Colby and Beyond" (2024). Honors Theses. Paper 1439.https://digitalcommons.colby.edu/honorstheses/1439