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What is Hypermasculinity?
Hypermasculinity in many respects is closely associated with hegemonic masculinity, and as such can
be articulated as the hyperbolic performance of strength, power, control, emotional resistance, and
stoicism by men. This is best demonstrated through the action hero for example Arnold
Schwarzenegger,
Sylvester
Stallone,
and
Jason
Statham.
When performed it has a relational impact on other genders and marginalised identities, as such men
who assert hegemonic masculine characteristics, traits and behaviours, do so in order to enhance their
status. However, whilst similar, hypermasculinity is not the same as hegemonic masculinity. It is the
heightened performance of a few masculine norms, rather than being the actual norm itself.
In addition to enforcing some normative masculine ideologies about the male body, hypermasculinity
also compensates for those which are lacking. The poor, jobless male youth, for example, might not be
financially successful, but he might gain feelings of power by excessively displaying his masculinity
through aggressive sexism and violence (Karp 2010, pp.65). Hypermasculinity in this respect also
becomes a mask for male inadequacies, weaknesses and other qualities that undermine normative
representations of gender.
The reiteration of hypermasculinity is learnt through mainstream cultural mediations, such as film, news,
sports and mainstream heterosexual pornography, to name but a few. The latter, for example, teachers
men that in heterosexual relationships female and male bodies should be seen as oppositional binaries.
The female sex worker is expected to perform a sense of pleasure in her activity, and these are coded in
particular ways. Lax-mouthed expression, the caressing of her own body, the groan of a deep
penetrative
pleasure,
and
most
importantly
the
pleasure
of
losing
control.
Whilst there is a sense of passive uncontrollability associated with her, the male sex worker is almost
always perceived as active and machine like. Not only through his hard physicality, but also in his actions
where he functions with emotional resistance and technical efficiency; his only goal is to bring her to
orgasm (Garlick 2009, pp.608). This is because to ejaculate in pornography is not about pleasure for
the male it is about controlling the representation of her pleasure through skill and endurance (Williams
1989, pp.101). In this respect the men in these films are not demonstrating sex at all rather they are
demonstrating power over their bodies, and their female co-workers (Thomas 1996, pp.21). This
demonstration of power masks the cultural fear that male bodies, as with female bodies, might be
uncontrollable.
Hypermasculinity in art?
Hypermasculine representations can also be found in art, but in many respects these images do not just
reinforce hegemonic ideals. Instead they also seem to destabilise the whole idea of hypermasculinity in
relation to normative gender roles. It is as if whilst concealing the inadequacies of maleness, they also
aim to reveal them.
Touko Laaksonen, is best known for his pseudonym Tom of Finland, and his illustrations of gay culture
and fetish art. In his later works he depicted males, with super-enlarged physical traits, both muscular
and penile, physically dominating other men. Usually this form of violence was representative of
authority. On the one hand he illustrated police officers, or the armed forces, and on the other criminals
or social deviants such as leather clad biker gangs. However, the cathexis of these hypermasculine
images are not focussed on heterosexual desire as seen in mainstream pornography, but rather on a
homosexual
one.
In the Jailhouse Series (1987) one illustration depicts a police officer receiving oral sex through the bars
of a cell from an inmate, whilst at the same time receiving anal sex from another officer. In this particular
illustration the masculinised binaries of authority, those men who uphold the law and those who break it,
becomes blurred. Authority becomes socially deviant through homosexual desire, whilst criminality
becomes literally desirable. As such, normative references of hypermasculine identity, power strength
and authority for example, are turned against themselves to reveal a potential excess of meaning outside
of heterosexuality.
muscle with muscularity. This demonstrates the potential for excess in masculine representations in
body-based practice.
Bibliography
Garlick, S. (2009). "Taking Control of Sex? Hegemonic Masculinity, Technology, and Internet Pornography." Men and
Masculinities 12(5): 597-614.
Hutcheon, L. (1986-1987). "The Politics of Postmodenism: Parody and History." Cultural Critique5(Winter): 179-207.
Karp, D. R. (2010). "Unlocking Men, Unmasking Masculinities: Doing Men's Work in Prison." The Journal of Men's
Studies 18(1): 63-83.
Thomas, C. (1996). Male Matters: Masculinity, Anxiety, and the Male Body on the Line, University of Illinois Press.
Williams, L. (1989). Hardcore: Power, Pleasure and the Frenzy of the Visible. Berkeley and Los Angeles, University
of California Press.