Boyhood studies

Masculinity, as an identity signifier along gender lines, varies from one society to another. The nature, definition, and expression of masculinity (dominance, oppression, violence, and aggression) through social interactions may breed bullying, as found in the Agbowo community of Ibadan, Nigeria. The data for the study were collected through mixed methods and revealed that patriarchal constructed masculinity allows for hegemonic dominance, aggression, oppression, and violent acts that foster bullying among adolescent males in Agbowo. Hence, to address bullying-related problems among adolescents, an understanding of the societal context in which it is carried out is required.

The topic of pederasty in "The Sisters" has attracted extensive commentary. In this discussion, the boy's confusion, growing up at the crux of two views of masculinity, has not been explored. Moreover, Father Flynn's nostalgic view of boyhood, and his dependency on the company of the boy, also warrants exploration. Furthermore, little has been made of the boy's antagonistic relationship with Father Flynn's sisters, as there is evidence in the story that the boy is considered corruptive. It is my contention that pederasty is not the larger issue, as in another context, this could be contested. Rather, the boundary between the boy and adults is constructed across two opposing ideals of masculinity, obliterating any possibility of contestation. Subsequently, sentient and reflexive aspects of the boy's characterization deviate from how children are viewed by adult characters in Dubliners.

Representations of boys and men in Disney films often escape notice due to presumed gender neutrality. Considering this omission, we explore mas-culinities in films from Disney's lucrative subsidiary Pixar to determine how mas-culinities are represented and have and/or have not disrupted dominant gender norms as constructed for young boys' viewership. Using Raewyn Connell's theory of gender hegemony and related critiques, we suggest that while Pixar films strive to provide their male characters with a feminist spin, they also continue to reify hegemonic masculinities through sharp contrasts to femininities and by privileg-ing heterosexuality. Using a feminist textual analysis that includes the Toy Story franchise, Monsters, Inc., Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, and Coco, we suggest that Pixar films, while offering audiences a "new man," continue to reinforce hege-monic masculinities in subtle ways that require critical examination to move from presumed gender neutrality to an understanding of continued, though shifting, gender hegemony.

This article provides insight into the practically uncharted territory of children’s literature published during the Communist regime in Romania, with a special emphasis on boys’ roles and masculinity in the context of major themes and obsessions. Its purpose is to reveal both the nonideological side of this literature and the extent to which it might have exerted a decisive influence on education. The conclusion is that the power of nonideological seduction was greater than that of indoctrination.

Despite sustained academic examinations of Jesus in film over the past couple of decades, as well as biblical scholars' multidisciplinary work in the areas of children's and childhood studies, the cinematic boy Jesus has received little attention. This thesis begins to fill the lacuna of scholarly explorations into cinematic portrayals of Jesus as a child by analyzing two adaptations of Luke's story of the twelve-yearold Jesus in late twentieth-century film. Using methods of historical and narrative criticism tailored to the study of film, I situate the made-for-television movies Jesus of Nazareth (1977) and Jesus (2000) within the trajectories of both Jesus films and depictions of juvenile masculinity in cinema, as well as within their respective social, cultural and historical contexts. I demonstrate how these movie sequences are negotiations by their filmmakers between theological and historical concerns that reflect contemporary ideas about children and particular idealizations about boyhood.

Men increasingly define themselves through the management of their bodies in today’s media-driven society, and bodily ideals operate as a major point of cultural reference —influencing men’s perceptions of their own bodies, and indeed their self-identities. One of the dominant modes of ideal male beauty in contemporary Japan, as embodied by many of the country’s male actors, models, and celebrities, differs from the generalized Western ideal of muscularity; being slender, shōnen-like (boyish), and predominantly kawaii (cute) are in vogue. These clean-cut, boyish demeanors, I argue, visually allude to a type of male identity that is situated in a liminal realm between boyhood and manhood, embodied not only by adolescent boys but also by young men in that timescape between “adolescence” and what some societies see as manhood. The primary aim of this article is to examine a particular sector of the significance of this male beauty in contemporary Japanese popular culture —namely the bishōnen, the beautiful boy positioned between child and adult. While the term bishōnen has been used extensively in its literal sense —any beautiful young man, in studies of the aesthetic imagination of Japanese boyhood —it is much more than just a genre label; it denotes a critical concept and an imagined figure of the boy. This article examines bishōnen as a cultural imagination, a complex ideal of boyish identity in Japanese popular culture, and argues that the way bishōnen is perceived and conceptualized calls into question the widely assumed equation of human beauty with sexual desire — pointing to the potential of bishōnen beauty to be appreciated purely on an aesthetic level.

Literature in 19 th century involved some themes as growing up, struggling with making decisions and giving morals in order to construct the readers. However, there was such a movement towards producing a specific gender books which mean books for girls and books for boys. There were types of novels at that time, for example, novels addressing the domestic sphere which talked about family and girls and another one which is about adventure including bloodshed and lots of danger. However, this movement aims to construct the children by influencing their ideas and personalities in a way that serve the values of the society, which is clear through the writers ideologies that have been set in their works. One of the important themes that gender specific books established is portraying the boyhood in order to construct the boys and draw an image for the true masculine which it is very clear in the two novels, Little Women and Treasure Island.

An unpublished essay on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine's Jake Sisko and Nog as representations of American childhood in the aftermath of the Cold War. As the United States transitioned its role as a "defender of the Free World" as it entered "the end of history," Jake and Nog reflected shifts in the construction of the child citizen-soldier.

Dieses Kapitel verfolgt, wie sich neue Geschlechtermodelle und Selbstbilder bei weiblichen und männlichen Jugendlichen herausbildeten - und zwar in Auseinandersetzung mit dem militaristischen Erbe Nazi-Deutschlands wie mit den US-amerikanischen Körperidealen der Lässigkeit und körperbetonter Weiblichkeit. Weitere Impulse in Richtung Zivilität gaben das "tolerante, kosmopolitische" Selbstverständnis der Jazz-Kultur, die Auseinandersetzung mit der "Rassenfrage" in den USA sowie die Auseinandersetzung der Jugendlichen mit "Materialismus"-Vorwürfen. Dabei wird besonders das transformative Potenzial der damals als konformistisch und konsumistisch abgestempelten Teenager-Kultur herausgearbeitet.

Raewyn Connell famously theorized hegemonic masculinity, explaining its dominance over femininity and “subordinated” and “marginalized” masculinities. Attending to representations of the latter, we argue that “men in the margin” are commonly wrongly and/or simplistically depicted as regressive and violent in response to their marginalization. Focusing on representations of working-class boys and men, we illustrate the stereotypical treatment of “men in the margin” more broadly, making clear that this goes against Connell’s treatment of such men. Conversely, privileged boys and men are commonly held up by critical studies on men and masculinities scholars as paragons of progressive change. The characterization of boys and men in the margin as regressive and patriarchal impedes the ability to address problems like violence, misogyny, and homophobia and overlooks the possibilities for transformation that emerge among marginalized communities.

He hit stop, took the headphones hung around his neck, plugged
them in and pressed play. The scratchy, whispering silence of empty tape filled
his ears, then the descending, bass tones of Sense of Doubt took over. Coming
through the foam pads of his headphones, the sound was like a transmission
from another planet. Like there were millions of miles of light and stars, rocks
and gas it had to travel through before reaching Earth, the US, California, San
Diego, 219 Clearcreek Place.

Be yourself… but don't be a wimp! Advice Literature in the USSR and Gender Roles in Contemporary Ukrainian Books for Girls and Boys.
Even though advice literature for children has a long history in Western Europe and the USA, it became popular in all post-Soviet states only in the late 1980s. Still, advice literature for adults played an important role in the formation of gender stereotypes in the USSR. After the collapse of communism manuals for different age groups including advice on etiquette, manners, sex, and looks flooded bookstores and libraries in all post-Soviet states. The essay examines Ukrainian advice literature for boys and girls and the influence gender stereotypes it promotes have on children. Comparing two popular sets of contemporary handbooks for boys and girls, the author shows that they reinforce hegemonic patriarchal gender roles based on inequality and sexism.
Будьте собой… только не будьте слабаками! Гендерные стереотипы в украинской справоч-ной литературе для девочек и мальчиков. Эссе включает в себя изучение стереотипного описа-ния гендерных ролей в украинской литературе. Материалом для исследования послужили четыре книги, опубликованные за последние пять лет. Рассматривая нормы и модели поведения, пред-ставленные в этих книгах, автор показывает роль таких книг в постсоветском возрождении па-триархальных норм. Автор демонстрирует, что в украинских справочниках для мальчиков и де-вочек дети представлены как товар, на который может возрастать или падать спрос в обществе. Ключевые слова: девичество, детство, Украина, справочная литература, гендерные стереотипы MISCELLANEA POSTTOTALITARIANA WRATISLAVIENSIA 2(7)/2017

This essay analyzes the cinematic genre convention of the “sensation scene” as a vehicle for the representation of queer crises in American juvenility during the postwar era. Through popular cinema, post-WWII America organized and communicated concerns about the production of “fit” masculine and heterosexual juveniles who would be capable of carrying out the postwar expansion of American democratic and capitalist ideologies. The sensation scene was deployed by popular films to mark queer and racialized masculinities in an aesthetic system that mirrored institutional efforts to prevent “unfit” juveniles from accessing the benefits of full social and political participation. Today, the genre device continues to structure popular film representations of and common thinking about the relative value of young, male American lives.

Internationally, the research on the education of boys has sought to
understand how social practices, behaviours and rituals contribute to
identity construction. We are interested in approaches to the emotional
labor of doing ‘boy work’. As educators grapple with the gendered performances
and subjectivities of young men, there is an imperative to
engage with the affective dimensions of boyhood. We explore what theories
of affect can add to our understandings of masculinities and masculine
identity practices in rapidly changing affective economies of
gender and, specifically, what this may mean for relationships formed
between educators and students. To illustrate how theories of affect
can open up new analytical spaces, we present two vignettes from a
program in the United States designed to support young men and boys
to gain critical awareness of restrictive ‘gender norms’. Drawing primarily
upon Ahmed’s work on affective economies, we theorize how attention
to affective economies of boyhood can positively influence the work
of educators today.

What role does taste play in contemporary youth culture? How do young people reproduce, or alternatively, reject gender norms? Using new research and the work of renowned theorists such as Judith Butler and Pierre Bourdieu, Victoria Cann argues that popular culture affects young people's experiences of masculinity and femininity and forces them to navigate a social minefield in which they are pressured to display tastes deemed appropriate for their gender. Combining her own unique empirical research with a strong theoretical framework, Cann widens and links the fields of gender and taste studies to show the everyday reality of twenty-first-century youth and their apprehensions - especially those of young boys- about participating in activities, or embracing pop-cultural preferences that have traditionally only been associated with the opposite sex.

Following the launch of our first special issue in December 2020 (Cann et al. 2020) we are delighted to publish this second, linked issue. As evidence of the impact and dominance of Raewyn Connell’s ideas and their influence on the field, we received so many high-quality abstracts in response to our call for papers that we decided to create two collections. This second special issue of Boyhood Studies, An Interdisciplinary Journal, celebrates the twentieth anniversary of Raewyn Connell’s landmark text, The Men and the Boys (2000), and hosts a wide range of international and interdisciplinary authors to highlight the continued global relevance of the book and Connell’s work more widely. This issue continues this work by showcasing an impressive array of empirical research studies and reflection pieces by emerging and leading scholars that are guided by the original themes in The Men and the Boys.

Der Beitrag beschäftigt sich mit der Veränderung von Männlichkeitside-alen in der Bundesrepublik in den 1950er und 1960er Jahren. 'Moderne' junge Männer wollten 'lässig' erscheinen und wandten sich vom soldatischen Ideal des 'zackigen' Jungen ab; ein ziviler Habitus bildete sich heraus. Von ihm gab es 'proletarisch harte' ebenso wie androgyn verletzliche Ausprägungen.
Wie waren Frauen und Mädchen an den Veränderungen der Männlichkeitsideale und -praktiken beteiligt? "Transsexuelle Taktiken" lassen sich auf beiden Seiten beobachten, und ebenso Versuche, die binäre Geschlechterordnung  hinter sich zu lassen.
Schließlich wird ein Blick geworfen auf die Vorgeschichte der Lässigkeit, v.a. unter den Swingfans der Zwischenkriegszeit.

Deirdre Fishel (dir). 2012. The Boy Game. [videorecording]. [Harriman, NY]: New Day Films. Mind’s Eye Productions. 16 min.Steven Brion-Meisels and Maura Clarke. The Boy Game: A Look at Bullying Through the Lens of Masculine Gender Norms. A Study Guide to Accompany the Film. N.d., PDF, 65 pp.

Following the launch of our first special issue in December 2020 (Cann et al. 2020) we are delighted to publish this second, linked issue. As evidence of the impact and dominance of Raewyn Connell’s ideas and their influence on the field, we received so many high-quality abstracts in response to our call for papers that we decided to create two collections. This second special issue of Boyhood Studies, An Interdisciplinary Journal, celebrates the twentieth anniversary of Raewyn Connell’s landmark text, The Men and the Boys (2000), and hosts a wide range of international and interdisciplinary authors to highlight the continued global relevance of the book and Connell’s work more widely. This issue continues this work by showcasing an impressive array of empirical research studies and reflection pieces by emerging and leading scholars that are guided by the original themes in The Men and the Boys.

Masculinity, as an identity signifier along gender lines, varies from one society to another. The nature, definition, and expression of masculinity (dominance, oppression, violence, and aggression) through social interactions may breed bullying, as found in the Agbowo community of Ibadan, Nigeria. The data for the study were collected through mixed methods and revealed that patriarchal constructed masculinity allows for hegemonic dominance, aggression, oppression, and violent acts that foster bullying among adolescent males in Agbowo. Hence, to address bullying-related problems among adolescents, an understanding of the societal context in which it is carried out is required.

In this reflective piece, the new editors of the historic journal Men and Masculinities explicate how key tenets of Raewyn Connell’s scholarship informed their expanded vision of the journal. It begins with a meta-analysis of empirical research published in the journal for the last 20 years, and highlights its emphasis on contemporary scholarship from various disciplines and fields. Each facet of the journal’s new vision is relayed thereafter, including its feminist perspective, international focus, and interdisciplinarity. It concludes with efforts by the editors to actualize their vision in the service of broadening the field of gender, boyhood, and masculinity studies.

What role does taste play in contemporary youth culture? How do young people reproduce, or alternatively, reject gender norms? Using new research and the work of renowned theorists such as Judith Butler and Pierre Bourdieu, Victoria Cann argues that popular culture affects young people's experiences of masculinity and femininity and forces them to navigate a social minefield in which they are pressured to display tastes deemed appropriate for their gender. Combining her own unique empirical research with a strong theoretical framework, Cann widens and links the fields of gender and taste studies to show the everyday reality of twenty-first-century youth and their apprehensions - especially those of young boys- about participating in activities, or embracing pop-cultural preferences that have traditionally only been associated with the opposite sex.