MASCULINIZATION
Androgyny, Masculine
Female
Masculinization is a term applied to the critique of
traditional academic discussions of the female offender and of popular depictions of
female criminality.
Masculinization refers to the attribution of male
characteristics to women in an attempt to understand their behavior rather than locating
women's behavior in female experience or structural location.
Freda Alder, for example, argued in 1975 that the women's
liberation movement would lead to an increase in female crime because liberation would
make women more like men.
Masculinization is also the abnormal development of male
sexual characteristics in a female resulting from hormone therapies or adrenal
malfunction.
The term masculinization is frequently used in a variety of
contexts as can be noted in the following abstracts and articles.
Self-perceived attractiveness and masculinization predict
women’s sociosexuality - Andrew P. Clark - Department of Psychology, McMaster
University
Abstract: Women vary with respect to monogamous/polyandrous inclinations, as indexed by
the Sociosexual Orientation Inventory (SOI). Possible sources of SOI variation include
variation in perceptions relating to the utility of different mating tactics and variation
in one’s degree of masculinity/femininity, among other things. In three studies with
undergraduate participants SOI, an index of self-perceived attractiveness and two measures
of masculinization, namely scores on the Vandenberg Mental Rotation test (V-MRT) and 2D:4D
digit ratios, were measured. Self-perceived attractiveness predicted SOI in the first
study, but not in the second study. Right 2D:4D did predict SOI in the second
study. In the third study, both self-perceived attractiveness and right 2D:4D
predicted SOI, and so did V-MRT scores. However, the strongest single predictor of SOI in
Study 3 was the reported amount spent on alcohol during the average month.
Mentor Revealed: Masculinization of an Early Feminist
Construct
Gerald P. Koocher, Simons College
Abstract: Mentor Revealed: Masculinization of an Early Feminist Construct Johnson's (2002)
excellent paper on mentoring perpetuates a sexist stereotype in its portrayal of Mentor as
a male. Although a man named "Mentor," described in ancient Greek lyric poetry,
is the namesake of the concept; that character did not provide the wise nurturing behavior
ascribed to him. The actual source of "mentoring" was a celibate goddess
masquerading as Mentor. Few men in ancient Greek society would have accepted guidance from
a woman, even a goddess. Failing to understand mentoring as a concept with feminine roots
unintentionally perpetuates the demeaning trivialization of women's wisdom in a male
dominated society.
Johnson's (2000) excellent article on intentional mentoring is valuable in helping us to
understand many nuances in the process of nurturing the personal, intellectual, and
professional lives of our junior colleagues. Unfortunately, the paper suffers from a
small, but highly significant, inaccuracy and thereby perpetuates a historical problem in
which valuable feminist perspectives are erroneously masculinized. Johnson (2000, p. 88)
describes Mentor as, "an Ithacan noble in Homer's Odyssey, wise counselor and friend
of Ulysses, entrusted with the care, education, and protection of Ulysses' son
Telemachus."
A careful reading of the Odyssey reveals that Johnson has committed a common interpretive
error repeated through the ages: assuming both that the Mentor who guided Telemachus was
male, and that the function we have come to call Amentoring@ reflects the original
Mentor's actual behavior.
A regional analysis of estrogen binding to hypothalamic cell nuclei in relation to
masculinization and defeminization
EJ Nordeen and P Yahr
Journal of Neuroscience, Vol 3, 933-941, Copyright © 1983 by Society for
Neuroscience
Gonadal steroids masculinize and defeminize neuroendocrine development, including
behavior. Defeminization makes males less sensitive than females to estrogen for showing
female sexual behavior and cyclic gonadotropin secretion. Masculinization makes males more
sensitive than females to estrogen for showing male sexual behavior. Thus masculinization
and defeminization produce opposite effects on estrogen sensitivity. To study the
relationship between estrogen sensitivity and estrogen binding, we studied sex differences
in estrogen binding to hypothalamic cell nuclei on a regional and temporal basis. We
measured the amount of estradiol (E2) bound to cell nuclei in the preoptic area (POA),
mediobasal hypothalamus (MBH), corticomedial amygdala, and cortex of gonadectomized male
and female rats 30 and 60 min after [3H]E2 was injected intravenously. In the MBH, males
consistently bound less E2 than females did. In the POA, males bound less E2 than females
after 60 min, but they bound more E2 than females after 30 min. Decreased estrogen binding
in the MBH may underlie defeminized sexual behavior. Similarly, decreased estrogen binding
in the POA at 60 min may be a correlate of defeminized gonadotropin secretion, whereas
increased estrogen binding in the POA at 30 min may be a correlate of masculinized sexual
behavior. To test the hypothesis that decreased estrogen binding in the MBH and POA are
correlates of defeminization, we measured E2 binding at 60 min in female rats in which
masculinization and defeminization were manipulated independently. Defeminization
decreased E2 binding to cell nuclei in both the POA and MBH to the level seen in males at
this time point. Masculinization had no effect at this time point. The data suggest that
sex differences in E2 binding to hypothalamic cell nuclei correlate reliably with sex
differences in estrogen sensitivity even though masculinization and defeminization produce
opposing effects on these parameters. - jneurosci.org/cgi/content/abstract/3/5/933
The
Puzzle: Exploring the Evolutionary Puzzle of Male Homosexuality
by Louis Arthur Berman
Interview with Louis A. Berman
Q. How does your theory of male homosexuality differ from
the way most people think about homosexuality?
A. My book advances the theory, supported by a considerable amount of evidence--from the
work of laboratory biologists, psychologists and anthropologists--that male homosexuality
results from the interaction of nature and nurture. This book is unique, I believe, in its
emphasis on that interaction, and in carefully spelling out of the corroborating
evidence.
Q. You attempts to solve a puzzle within the context of Darwinian theory -- why are there
homosexuals in all cultures and every generation, although their sexual practice has no
reproductive value?
A. We begin to explain that puzzle with the fact that the human body plan, including the
brain, is basically female. During the first six weeks of life, male and female embryos
look exactly alike. If an embryo is genetically equipped to become a male, at about six
weeks after conception, it begins to produce testosterone. This male hormone bathes the
embryo and masculinizes the individual's brain and sex organs.
As a reminder that the human body plan is basically female, just note that both males and
females have nipples, though only females need them. As newborns, infants, and even as
pre-adolescents, boys and girls often look very much alike except for their sex
organs.
What we cannot see directly is how highly masculinized the boy's brain is. But we can see
all kinds of behavioral differences between the average boy and the average girl. It is
also obvious that there are wide variations in masculine behavior within a sizeable
population of boys.
At one extreme are boys who have a strong tendency to engage in rough-and-tumble play, in
horseplay, in aggressive provocation, in seeking attention and dominance. At the other
extreme, are those boys who would rather play indoors, who like to play house or play
school, who like to help Mother around the house. They are also more likely to be artistic
or musical. They are so much like their sisters (if they have sisters), they are sometimes
called "sissy-boys."
In modern language, we say these tendencies have a strong genetic component, and there is
evidence that these behavioral differences express differences in brain masculinization.
Our theory holds that these differences in brain masculinization occur because some brains
are genetically programmed to be more resistant to the masculinizing influence of
testosterone than others.
Then, at adolescence, there is another surge of testosterone, and this time it
masculinizes the boy's general physique. But if his brain was low-masculinized during his
prenatal nine months of life, he still has a low-masculinized brain. He may look very
masculine, but that's not how he thinks and feels and tends to act.
I call these persons men with low-masculinized brains: LMBs. Many get along very well in
life. They are likely to become artists, musicians, or teachers. They become members of
other helping professions, like librarians, therapists, nurses, physicians and so on. LMB
men get married and raise families, and quite possibly are better husbands and fathers
than are highly masculinized males.
But about half the men with a low-masculinized brain syndrome are deeply troubled by the
fact that they don't feel as masculine as they look, and many of these persons try to make
up for this feeling of deficit by engaging in homosexual behavior.
Domesticating Masculinity and Masculinizing Domesticity in Contemporary U.S. Fatherhood
Politics
Abstract: Since the mid-1990s, the U.S. fatherhood responsibility movement has claimed
that fathers have become marginalized in the family, with catastrophic societal
consequences. In response to this perceived situation, the fatherhood responsibility
movement seeks to reestablish the necessity of men in families, constituting fatherhood as
specifically male in differentiation from the feminizing connotations of family
involvement. However, by masculinizing fatherhood, proponents of responsible fatherhood
engage a century-long dilemma at the heart of constructing particularly male versions of
parenthood: How do you masculinize domesticity and at the same time domesticate
masculinity? The fatherhood responsibility movement deals with this dilemma by converging
on three long-standing and overlapping arenas for masculinization: heterosexuality, sport,
and religion. - muse.jhu.edu/journals/social_politics/v011/11.2gavanas.pdf
GENDER AND NATIONALISM: THE MASCULINIZATION OF HINDUISM AND FEMALE POLITICAL PARTICIPATION
IN INDIA
Sikata Banerjee, Department of Women's Studies, University of Victoria, P.O. 3045,
Victoria, BC, Canada V8W 3P4
Source: Women's Studies International Forum, Volume 26, Number 2, March 2003, pp.
167-179(13)
Abstract: Feminist analysis has revealed the gendered nature of nations and nationalism.
Adopting such a perspective, this paper analyzes the relationship between the
masculinization of Hindu nationalism and female political participation. The image of an
aggressive male warrior is central to certain versions of Hindu nationalism or Hindutva in
contemporary India. This image is embedded within a political narrative, which declares
its affinity for ideas of resolute masculinity through an array of symbols, historic
icons, and myths. Given that Indian women are very visible in the politics of Hindutva,
this paper interrogates how women have created a political space for themselves in a very
masculinist narrative. This interrogation focuses on historical and cultural processes
that enabled this masculinization, certain ideals of femininity implicit within this
narrative which opens the door for female participation, and womens' use of images and
icons drawn from a common cultural milieu to enter the political landscape of Hindutva. -
sciencedirect.com
Rethinking Masculinized Tools: Machetes, Women's Work, and Suburban Yard Maintenance
Abstract: This paper examines masculinization and colonial ideologies that immediately
come to surface at the intersection of "machete" (with its connotative
associations) and the suburbs in the United States. By using the lens of feminist theory,
we explore the contradictions in suburban home maintenance discourse (gardening discourse
in particular) and present texts and images of women using and talking about the tools
identified as masculine in Western industrialized contexts. In such examples, we observe
that using machetes in the maintenance of suburban homes not only subverts unspoken rules
about women and technology, but also reveals a gendering process that intersects with
class and race/ethnicity, as well as those power relations that distinguish "third
world" from "first world" environments. We argue that masculinized and
colonial images associated with machetes renders invisible some women's work as well as
their involvement in technology in the global economy. Stories in this paper emerged from
an experience of one of the authors using a machete in an exclusive suburban home
environment. - muse.jhu.edu/journals/nwsa_journal/toc/nwsa16.2.html
The Masculinization of Poverty: Gender and Global Restructing
Keith Nurse, Institute of International Relations, University of the West Indies, Trinidad
and Tobago, keith@cablenett.net
This paper is built on the premise that masculinism is a gendered ideology that is
socially constructed and therefore not static or immutable but shaped by the historical
and cultural context (Connell 1995; Peterson 1997). This view contrasts with a male sex
role theory, which deems gender differences in the biological – the
“natural” – to be essential, and makes invisible the structural and
systemic bases of power in gender relations (Bly 1990; Gorman 1992).
Also, the paper operates with the concept of multiple masculinities (as well as multiple
femininities) rather than a single masculinity, because the norms and traits associated
with dominant or elite males are generally extrapolated as universal, which legitimizes
and normalizes hegemonic masculinity and marginalizes subordinate or subaltern
masculinities. The concept of multiple masculinities incorporates the intersection between
gender, ethnicity, race, sexuality, nation and empire (Connell 1995; Hooper 1998).
In addition, the paper views masculinism as “deeply entrenched in the longue durée
of human history” but “historical, contingent and mutable” (Peterson 1997).
Thus, contemporary masculinism is viewed as having its epistemological roots in modern
western thought (e.g. the Newtonian--Cartesian world-view) which dichotomizes,
differentiates and hierarchizes cultural values in binary opposites.
In the dominant masculinist discourse, the “feminine” is conceptualized and
actualized as the ontological “Other” to be mastered and controlled; the
masculine values, on the other hand, are taken as the prototype for human behaviour
(Persram 1994; Peterson 1997). For example, sexism is one of the key elements of the
geoculture of the capitalist world system:
Sexism was the relegation of women to the realm of non-productive labour, doubly
humiliating in that the actual labour required of them was if anything intensified, and in
that productive labour became in the capitalist world-economy, for the first time in human
history, the basis of the legitimation of privilege. (Wallerstein 1983: 103)
Behavioral and Physical Masculinization Are Related to Genotype in Girls with Congenital
Adrenal Hyperplasia
Catherine M. Hall, Julie A. Jones, Heino F. L. Meyer-Bahlburg, Curtis Dolezal, Michelle
Coleman, Peter Foster, David A. Price and Peter E. Clayton
Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital (C.M.H., J.A.J., D.A.P., P.E.C.), Manchester M27
4HA, Regional Molecular Genetics Laboratory (M.C.), St. Mary’s Hospital, Manchester
M13 0JH, and Department of Mathematics (P.F.), University of Manchester, Manchester M13
9PL, United Kingdom; and Department of Psychiatry (H.F.L.M.-B., C.D.), Columbia
University, New York, New York 10027
The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism Vol. 89, No. 1 419-424 Copyright ©
2004 by The Endocrine Society
Address all correspondence and requests for reprints to: Catherine M. Hall, Endocrine
Department, Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital, Manchester M27 4HA, United Kingdom.
E-mail: catherine.hall@cmmc.nhs.uk.
Girls with congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH) exhibit behavioral masculinization. There
is controversy about the roles of pre- and postnatal androgens, social factors, and
chronic illness in its etiology.
To assess the effect of chronic illness, we compared behavioral masculinity in 24 CAH
girls and 25 diabetic girls aged 3–12 yr from Manchester using two sensitive
questionnaires, and an overall masculinity score M (high = masculine) was derived.
To assess the contributions of pre- and postnatal androgens, the CAH subjects were
categorized into genotype groups (G) according to the reported severity of loss of CYP21
function: G1 (n = 10, null mutations), G2 (n = 9, intron 2G), G3 (n = 3, I172N), and G4 (n
= 2, unknown loss of function). In CAH girls, relationships between G, Prader degree of
genital masculinization at birth, bone age advance, and M were assessed.
CAH girls were less feminine and more masculine than diabetic girls (P < 0.001), who
were not significantly different from U.S. controls. Among the CAH girls, those in G1 and
2 were more genitally masculinized than those in G3 and 4 (P < 0.009) and had higher M
(P < 0.025). M was negatively correlated with advanced bone age (r = -0.5; P =
0.02).
CAH girls, but not diabetic girls, demonstrated behavioral masculinization. Both physical
and behavioral masculinization were related to each other and to genotype, indicating that
behavioral masculinization is a consequence of prenatal androgen exposure.
Abbreviations: CAH, Congenital adrenal hyperplasia; 17OHP, 17-hydroxyprogesterone. -
jcem.endojournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/89/1/419
Male sex drive and the masculinization of the genome
Rama S. Singh, Department of Biology, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada, email:
Rama S. Singh (singh@mcmaster.ca)
Rob J. Kulathinal, Department of Organismic & Evolutionary Biology, Harvard
University, Cambridge, MA, USA
Abstract: Charles Darwin remarked that males, with their superior strength, pugnacity,
armaments, unwieldly passion and love songs, are almost always the more active and most
often, the initiators of sexual interactions.[1] Here, we propose that such male sex drive
directly impacts the genome by leading to its progressive masculinization - genes that
possess sex-specific effects on male fitness accumulate to a much greater extent and are
generally more diverged.[2],[3] The larger proportion of male versus female fitness
modifiers in combination with stronger sexual selection may generate evolutionary
signatures such as a greater sensitivity to male sterility[4] and a paucity of X-linked
male-specific genes.[5-8] Male sex-drive theory complements the female-choice theory of
sexual selection and allows for the genetic variation of costly sexual traits to be
continuously replenished. BioEssays 27: 518-525, 2005. © 2005 Wiley periodicals,
Inc.
Contracting Masculinity: Gender, Class, and Race in a White-Collar Union, 1944-1994 by
Gillian Creese, Heidi Gottfried
The American Journal of Sociology, Vol. 106, No. 1 (Jul., 2000), pp. 271-273
Susan Bordo. 1986. "The Cartesian Masculinization of Thought." Signs.
Oedipus in the Stone Age: A Psychoanalytic Study of Masculinization in Papua New Guinea by
Theodore Lidz, Ruth Wilmanns Lidz, Harriette Dukeley Borsuch
Review author[s]: Michele D. Dominy
Gender and Society, Vol. 5, No. 1 (Mar., 1991), pp. 128-131
Masculinization and defeminization
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