Date of Award
2012
Document Type
Thesis
Publisher
Edith Cowan University
Degree Name
Bachelor of Arts (Honours)
School
School of Communications and Arts
Faculty
Faculty of Education and Arts
First Supervisor
Dr Marcella Polain
Abstract
The following work explores the nexus of male homosexuality and traditional masculinity.
The creative work examines the ways in which both patriarchal and popular, purportedly feminist or queer theorist cultures arbitrarily assign allegedly immanent feminine qualities to homosexual males even when these characteristics are not congruent with the male subject. This facet of western, and specifically Australian, culture is explored through the prism of a hegemonically masculine ‘country boy’ who finds that despite his own comportment and identity, he becomes culturally and socially feminised by virtue of his homosexuality alone. He experiences isolation, angst, anger and cognitive dissonance as he grapples with unifying his sexuality and his masculine identity.
The accompanying essay analyses the cultural conflation of male homosexuality with effeminacy, examining the ways in which patriarchal and ostensibly feminist popular media discourses not only feminise the male homosexual but problematise, de-legitimise and render invisible the masculine homosexual or the “macho homo” identity. Given the existing evidence and research to indicate that many homosexual men identify as traditionally masculine, the case is made for reifying the “macho homo” via a proposed reframing of male homosexuality in a masculist framework.
Access Note
Access to this thesis is restricted to the exegesis.
Recommended Citation
Guagliardo, K. (2012). Full-forward and, Macho homos : toward a masculist reframing of male homosexuality. Edith Cowan University. https://ro.ecu.edu.au/theses_hons/76