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Stonehill College

Publication Date

Spring 2014

Program Name

Netherlands: International Perspectives on Sexuality and Gender

Abstract

This study is the result of a month-long interview process with seven men living in the Netherlands. It focuses on the feminist experiences of the men as well as the ways in which they enact or embody feminist ideals in their daily lives. Their backgrounds are very diverse. Some are Dutch natives, while others are migrants from other nations. There are diversities in race, sexuality, age, and class as well. Each interviewee negotiates their masculinity and their feminist ideology differently. Specifically, this study examined the pressure to uphold hegemonic masculinity, homosociality as a platform for feminism, and some of the reasons why men choose not to identify with the feminist label. It should be noted that this study is very limited in its theoretical implications, as there were certain constraints which made it difficult to reach any definite conclusions. Overall, however, it was discovered that there are a myriad of ways of enacting and embodying feminism as a male and that there was often a negotiation between one’s feminist identity and one’s maleness.

Disciplines

Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies

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