Cargando…

“It is what we have been told to do”: Masculinities and femininities crossing with sexual orientation and feminist activism in Spain

Masculinities and femininities are often characterized by social inequalities and mainly studied from the perspectives of adult, heterosexual and non-activist people. This study explores the discourses on masculinities and femininities of young cisgender men and women, involved or not in feminist ac...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Cerdán-Torregrosa, Ariadna, La Parra-Casado, Daniel, Vives-Cases, Carmen
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2023
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10171591/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37163542
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0285544
_version_ 1785039452672884736
author Cerdán-Torregrosa, Ariadna
La Parra-Casado, Daniel
Vives-Cases, Carmen
author_facet Cerdán-Torregrosa, Ariadna
La Parra-Casado, Daniel
Vives-Cases, Carmen
author_sort Cerdán-Torregrosa, Ariadna
collection PubMed
description Masculinities and femininities are often characterized by social inequalities and mainly studied from the perspectives of adult, heterosexual and non-activist people. This study explores the discourses on masculinities and femininities of young cisgender men and women, involved or not in feminist activism and of different sexual orientations (heterosexual, bisexual and homosexual) in Spain. Between 2019 and 2020, we conducted a qualitative study with 20 semi-structured interviews and 8 discussion groups in which 73 people participated. A socially dominant gender discourse was identified, which establishes a dichotomous understanding of masculinity in constant confrontation with femininity, as well as of heterosexuality against homosexuality, in a heteronormative context. Young people discursively position themselves differently from said discourse according to their sexual orientation and involvement in feminist activism. We encounter discursive positions that reproduce the socially dominant gender discourse, especially detected among non-activist heterosexuals. We also observe others that try to transgress it, mainly among activists of all sexual orientations and non-activist homosexuals and bisexuals. This study empirically adds to the knowledge of the configuration of inequalities in gender relations and how interactions with sexuality take place. The results also provide guidance for future gender-transformative interventions to promote gender equality and social justice.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-10171591
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2023
publisher Public Library of Science
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-101715912023-05-11 “It is what we have been told to do”: Masculinities and femininities crossing with sexual orientation and feminist activism in Spain Cerdán-Torregrosa, Ariadna La Parra-Casado, Daniel Vives-Cases, Carmen PLoS One Research Article Masculinities and femininities are often characterized by social inequalities and mainly studied from the perspectives of adult, heterosexual and non-activist people. This study explores the discourses on masculinities and femininities of young cisgender men and women, involved or not in feminist activism and of different sexual orientations (heterosexual, bisexual and homosexual) in Spain. Between 2019 and 2020, we conducted a qualitative study with 20 semi-structured interviews and 8 discussion groups in which 73 people participated. A socially dominant gender discourse was identified, which establishes a dichotomous understanding of masculinity in constant confrontation with femininity, as well as of heterosexuality against homosexuality, in a heteronormative context. Young people discursively position themselves differently from said discourse according to their sexual orientation and involvement in feminist activism. We encounter discursive positions that reproduce the socially dominant gender discourse, especially detected among non-activist heterosexuals. We also observe others that try to transgress it, mainly among activists of all sexual orientations and non-activist homosexuals and bisexuals. This study empirically adds to the knowledge of the configuration of inequalities in gender relations and how interactions with sexuality take place. The results also provide guidance for future gender-transformative interventions to promote gender equality and social justice. Public Library of Science 2023-05-10 /pmc/articles/PMC10171591/ /pubmed/37163542 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0285544 Text en © 2023 Cerdán-Torregrosa et al https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Cerdán-Torregrosa, Ariadna
La Parra-Casado, Daniel
Vives-Cases, Carmen
“It is what we have been told to do”: Masculinities and femininities crossing with sexual orientation and feminist activism in Spain
title “It is what we have been told to do”: Masculinities and femininities crossing with sexual orientation and feminist activism in Spain
title_full “It is what we have been told to do”: Masculinities and femininities crossing with sexual orientation and feminist activism in Spain
title_fullStr “It is what we have been told to do”: Masculinities and femininities crossing with sexual orientation and feminist activism in Spain
title_full_unstemmed “It is what we have been told to do”: Masculinities and femininities crossing with sexual orientation and feminist activism in Spain
title_short “It is what we have been told to do”: Masculinities and femininities crossing with sexual orientation and feminist activism in Spain
title_sort “it is what we have been told to do”: masculinities and femininities crossing with sexual orientation and feminist activism in spain
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10171591/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37163542
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0285544
work_keys_str_mv AT cerdantorregrosaariadna itiswhatwehavebeentoldtodomasculinitiesandfemininitiescrossingwithsexualorientationandfeministactivisminspain
AT laparracasadodaniel itiswhatwehavebeentoldtodomasculinitiesandfemininitiescrossingwithsexualorientationandfeministactivisminspain
AT vivescasescarmen itiswhatwehavebeentoldtodomasculinitiesandfemininitiescrossingwithsexualorientationandfeministactivisminspain