The Psychology of Gender 4th Edition

62 Chapter 2

associated with less relationship satisfaction,

less involvement with children, more sexual

aggression, more negative attitudes to racial di-

versity, and less positive attitudes toward using

a condom (Levant & Richmond, 2007).

One ethnic group that faces some

unique gender-role strains in the United

States is African American men. African

American men face a dilemma because the

male gender role is associated with high

power and high status in the United States,

but the African American race is associated

with a lack of power and low status in the

United States. American culture does not

provide African American men with legiti-

mate pathways to validate their masculinity.

The central features of the masculine gender

role are achievement and success, but rac-

ism and poverty make it difficult for African

American men to be economically success-

ful. African American men are more likely

to be unemployed and are less educated than

Caucasian men. Compared to White males,

African American males are more likely to

get in trouble for the same misbehavior at

school, more likely to have overall negative

ignore or avoid the disclosure to help the

friend keep his masculinity in tact. Making

fun of friends was another strategy boys used

not only to demonstrate their own masculin-

ity but to help other boys learn to assert their

masculinity by standing up for themselves.

A variety of instruments measure sources

of male gender-role strain, one of which is the

Male Role Norms Inventory (Levant & Fischer,

1998). It measures strain from seven male

role norms: avoidance of appearing feminine,

homophobia, self-reliance, aggression, seek-

ing achievement and status, restrictive emo-

tionality, and interest in sex. Part of the social

constructionist view of gender is that different

social forces affect different groups of men—

not only men in different cultures, but also

men of different age groups and men of dif-

ferent racial backgrounds. Thus the nature of

gender-role strain will differ. African American

men score higher on this inventory than White

men, with Latino men falling between the two

groups (Levant & Richmond, 2007). Men from

other cultures such as China, Japan, Pakistan,

and Russia score higher than American men.

Scores on this gender-role strain measure are

SIDEBAR 2.1: Multiple Masculinities

Robert Connell argues that there are multiple versions of masculinity—a masculinity for men of

color, a masculinity for gay men, and a masculinity for working-class men. The dominant form

of masculinity, however, is aggressive, not emotional, heterosexual, andnotfeminine. This is

referred to as hegemonic masculinity (Connell & Messerschmidt, 2005; Peralta, 2007). The main

goal of hegemonic masculinity is to legitimize male dominance or patriarchy. Hegemonic mas-

culinity may not be the most common masculinity, but it is still depicted as the ideal masculinity

in our culture. It involves physical and intellectual strength and supremacy and denigrates any

masculinity that does not conform to these standards. Evidence of hegemonic masculinity can

be found among white-collar crime involving men, the media’s representation of men in sports,

the military, male risk-taking behavior, excessive alcohol use, and the gender-based hierarchy of

most organizations. In each of these cases, hegemonic masculinity appears to be advantageous to

men but is linked to mental and physical health hazards.

M02_HELG0185_04_SE_C02.indd 62 6/21/11 1:02 PM