No full-text available
To read the full-text of this research,
you can request a copy directly from the authors.
Troubling Masculinities: Changing Patterns of Violent Masculinities in a Society Emerging from Political Conflict
Studies In Conflict & Terrorism
Abstract
Men's dominance of the political and military dimensions of the Northern Ireland conflict has meant that the story of the conflict has generally been a story about men. Ethno-nationalist antagonism reinforced men's roles as protectors and defenders of ethno-national groups and shaped violent expressions of masculinities. Due to the primacy of ethno-nationalist frameworks of analysis in research on the conflict, the relationships between gender and men's violence have been under-theorized. This article employs the framework of Critical Studies of Men and Masculinities to examine these relationships and also explores the changing patterns of men's violence in Northern Ireland.
... Understanding the "geographies of masculinities" is a crucial starting point for any contextual study of the performance of masculinities in a society, culture, or setting (Gorman- Murray & Hopkins, 2014: 3). It involves examining dominant models of masculinity and considering what it means to be a man in particular places (Ashe & Harland, 2014;Ward et al., 2017). For the purpose of this book, one of the most significant contextual factors is the Good Friday Agreement (GFA), which triggered a series of significant changes in NI after 1998, including paramilitary ceasefires, increases in inter-community cohesion, and reform of policing. ...
... Although there has been a shortage of research on young men and masculinities in NI, the literature that does exist has shown that young men from areas of multiple deprivation experience poverty, educational underachievement, social marginalisation, persistent violence, and unwelcome interactions with paramilitaries. Their masculinities are being constructed in violent and hostile communities that continue to be deeply influenced by the conflict (Ashe & Harland, 2014;Harland & McCready, 2014). ...
... Young men in NI continue to experience paramilitary 'policing', transgenerational trauma, and sectarianism (McAllister et al., 2009). They have been raised in an environment where mural "representations of hard men cover urban spaces" (Ashe & Harland, 2014: 752) and celebrate balaclava-wearing gunmen as individuals who protected their community (Ashe & Harland, 2014). The role of 'protector' or 'defender' provided the previous generation of young men with feelings of power, respect, and purpose in the community (Murray, 1995). ...
Chapter 4 is the first of five chapters that draw on empirical findings from the primary research conducted in Hydebank. Chapter 4 situates the formation of masculinities in NI’s wider socio-political environment. In doing so, it looks at how community-based issues permeated the prison walls, impacted young men’s prison experience, and contributed to the reconfiguration of masculinities in the prison. Four sections each examine a key community-based issue that shaped masculinities in Hydebank. The first discusses young men’s experiences of powerlessness and social marginalisation in communities in NI. The second focuses on the peer regulation of masculinity. It examines how the young men within this study were socialised into stoical expressions of masculinity and how these values were expressed in the prison setting. The third explores NI’s history of violent conflict and how this contributed to violent expressions of masculinity. The final section considers young men’s perspectives on paramilitary organisations, how they interacted with them in NI communities, and the impact of those interactions on young men’s masculinities.
... The perceived (and real) social exclusion of excombatants by elected officials and their more general "limits of legitimacy" (Mitchell 2008) help sustain the former's political disaffection and underscore the importance of cultures of paramilitarism in male excombatants' efforts in maintaining power and control on neighborhood levels. The research identifies structural forces which constitute male excombatant alienation and help shape their social agencies of "resistance," which are underscored by desires for autonomy and recognition and channeled by cultural, gendered scripts rooted in both violent and "nonviolent reconstituted" or "peacebuilding masculinities" (Ashe 2009;Ashe and Harland 2014). Accordingly, the study traces the forms and limited extent of transition in excombatant masculinities, linking them to broader problems of exploitation by ethnopolitical elite. ...
... Moreover, ethnopolitical elite, by their unwillingness or inability to promote social inclusion and reconciliation on the one hand, and exclusion of exprisoners from legitimate institutions, on the other, ensure not only the reliance of the latter on grassroots peacebuilding positions for income and social status but also sustains the very paramilitary networks to which they are variably linked and thus their capacity-paradoxically-to disrupt broader peacebuilding processes. Former paramilitary prisoners remain both "inside" and "outside" the political apparatus, deprived of formal channels of social mobility yet active in processes of informal-and sometimes violent-social control (see also Ashe and Harland 2014). Due in part to perceptions of the reformed judicial process as too slow and generally ineffective, there is some-albeit limited-support for violent vigilantism, which is used by paramilitary elements as much to reassert control over local communities, settle personal disputes, or provide cover for criminal activities (e.g., extortion) as to exercise some anachronistic form of justice (Knox 2002;Harland 2011;Ashe and Harland 2014). ...
... Former paramilitary prisoners remain both "inside" and "outside" the political apparatus, deprived of formal channels of social mobility yet active in processes of informal-and sometimes violent-social control (see also Ashe and Harland 2014). Due in part to perceptions of the reformed judicial process as too slow and generally ineffective, there is some-albeit limited-support for violent vigilantism, which is used by paramilitary elements as much to reassert control over local communities, settle personal disputes, or provide cover for criminal activities (e.g., extortion) as to exercise some anachronistic form of justice (Knox 2002;Harland 2011;Ashe and Harland 2014). In some instances, young people charged with "antisocial behavior" are beaten and/or shot in the knees and ankles; many have also been forced to leave the country or face the prospect of being killed. ...
This study critically examines how masculinities and intersecting ethnonational and social class identities underscore the social and political agencies of excombatants in Northern Ireland and in the specific context of community-based peacebuilding. The authors draw on interviews with female and male leaders in grassroots and governmental organizations, which illustrate how state-led practices of exclusion reshape such intersectional identities and increase the instrumentality of hypermasculinist, pseudo-paramilitary practices in maintaining excombatants’ status and control on neighborhood levels. The research documents how structural dynamics of excombatants’ social class locations and political disaffection help shape their social agencies of “resistance,” underscored by desires for autonomy and recognition, and channeled by ethnogendered scripts rooted in both violent cultures of paramilitarism and nonviolent peacebuilding masculinities. The implications on women of male excombatants’ takeover of leadership roles in the community sector are also discussed.
... The anchoring message of the women's mural reads: "Dedicated to the brave women of Belfast who stood up to the might of the Britishdedicated to all those who faced up to military aggressionoppression breeds resistance-resistance brings freedom." Unlike the men, the women are drawn rather than photographed, making it impossible to identify any individuals (Ashe, 2012;Ashe and Harland, 2014). The denotative and connotative reading of the murals uncover how this mural emphasizes the resilience of the republican community, with the women portrayed as united and determined in their resistance against the British soldier. ...
This article explores the representation of the cost of war in mainstream and dissident republican murals in Northern Ireland by examining depictions of bodily sacrifice in three historical rebellions. The study highlights how psychological resilience is valorized alongside physical sacrifice, reinforcing identity hierarchies within republicanism. This challenges assumptions of republican solidarity, revealing competitive dynamics within and between mainstream and dissident factions. Murals as expressions of the republican identity and collective memory show how cultural violence is embedded in the republican collective memory, legitimizing past violence while marginalizing dissenting perspectives. This perpetuation hinders societal healing, as these narratives exclude those who challenge the justification of violence, complicating efforts to address the mental health crisis stemming from the Troubles. The article underscores the critical role of visual culture in shaping collective memory and identity, perpetuating societal hierarchies and cultural violence. It also identifies the potential for reinterpretation of sacrifice, offering a path toward inclusive understandings of the Troubles.
... The themes raised here are echoed in the research on masculinities affected by long-term occupation and protracted conflict and its aftermath (e.g. Ashe & Harland, 2014;Chiovenda, 2015;Dery et al., 2022;El-Bushra & Gardner, 2016;Enria, 2016;Gokani et al., 2015;Hollander, 2014; see also Bagaporo, this volume). ...
... Whilst Northern Ireland has changed considerably and has become more socially progressive since the Good Friday Agreement, the dominance of narrow religious views, ranging from Roman Catholic conservatism to Evangelical fundamentalism, not only created a deeply religious and conservative society but also engendered a restricted masculinity sustained by patriarchal social norms (Doyle & McWilliams, 2019). These social norms hold that men should be strong, powerful, intelligent and mature, as well as in control, dominant, aggressive, competitive, powerful and heterosexual (Ashe & Harland, 2014). Northern Ireland is still dominated by 'male institutions, rituals, organizations, standpoints, and styles of political engagement' (Ashe, 2012, p. 233). ...
In this paper, I discuss rape myths and mythologies, their negative effects on rape and sexual assault complainants, and how they prejudicially construct women qua women. The backdrop for the analysis is the Belfast Rugby Rape Trial, which took place in 2018. Four men, two of whom were well‐known rugby players, were acquitted of rape and sexual assault in a nine‐week criminal trial that dominated local, national and international attention. The acquittal resulted in ‘I Believe Her’ rallies and protests across Northern Ireland. Of concern were the deeply sexist and misogynistic text exchanges among the acquitted about the complainant and women more generally. One month after the trial, the Criminal Justice Board of Northern Ireland commissioned an independent review of the arrangements to deliver justice in cases of serious sexual offences. The Gillen Review proposed 16 key recommendations, among them measures to dispel rape myths and the role that Relationship and Sex Education in schools could play in combatting these myths. I will explore these issues using Miranda Fricker's construction of epistemic injustice. I argue that there is little appreciation of the profound impact that routine testimonial injustice—where the credibility of a speaker is deflated or undermined on account of her social identity—can have on the wellbeing of speakers and how it ramifies with other forms of injustice. To illustrate, I draw on neurological explanations to show why attributions of sexual consent are unjustly sustained in cases of rape and sexual assault.
... The inference is that young men experienced more exposure to violence than young women (Reilly, Muldoon, and Byrne 2004). It has been suggested that men's more visible roles in the political and military dimensions of political conflict in Northern Ireland 'has meant that the story of the conflict has generally been a story about men' (Ashe and Harland 2014). ...
Despite a growth in analysis of women and conflict, this has tended to overlook the specific experiences of young women. Likewise, in research on youth, conflict and peace, the term ‘youth’ is often short-hand for young men. Young women’s experiences are regularly absent from research and policy discourse, and as a consequence, also absent from public understanding and practice responses. In this paper, we prioritise the views of and on young women to forefront their experiences of one specific form of conflict-related violence – paramilitary violence. We demonstrate that forefronting young women’s experiences, and adopting an understanding of violence beyond that which privileges physical violence, unearths the multiple ways in which conflict-related violence is experienced. We further demonstrate how adopting an intersectional lens that prioritises age and gender can surface the specific experiences of young women, and the various ways in which these become silenced by cultures that omit, coerce, reduce and minimise.
... Men's gender identities, or their masculinities, are constituted through social discourses and practices; they are not biologically determined (Ashe & Harland, 2014). This is important is understanding the complex ways in which adolescent males construct their understanding of masculinity. ...
Since the latter part of the twentieth century there has been increasing recognition of the need for more effective approaches to engaging adolescent boys. Much of the focus in youth work practice and research has previously been dominated by attempts to better understand young male bio-social and cognitive development through examining high risk issues such as offending, violence, substance use, anti-social behaviour and mental health. The recent interest in critical studies of masculinities have further highlighted complex and contradictory ways in which traditional notions of becoming a man impact, often negatively, upon male behaviour and development. Despite increased awareness and concern about adolescent male development, practitioners across various professions frequently report finding it difficult to engage positively with certain young men and admit to lacking the confidence and skills to develop meaningful practice. This paper draws upon thirty years’ experience of youth work practice and social research carried out by the authors with adolescent boys within a divided and contested political context. However, while the article draws upon local research findings and practice experiences from Northern Ireland, we believe the learning will be of value to educators and practitioners working with adolescent boys in other societies and contexts.
... In times of transitions from war to peace, what are the effects of masculinities in peace negotiations? While the number of studies are growing, for instance, on militarized masculinities and conflict (Hearn 2003;Ashe and Harland 2014) there are still very few theoretical and empirical studies on masculinities and diplomatic negotiations. ...
This article argues that the (re-)constitution of diplomacy is intimately linked to gender and the practices of exclusion and inclusion of women and men over time. While the big debates in both academia and among practitioners concern the change and continuity of diplomacy in the last hundred years, gender has received scant, if any, attention. The overarching aim of this article is therefore to advance a new research agenda, which can spur future gender studies and contribute to rethinking diplomacy. It presents an original narrative about three distinct bodies of diplomatic scholarly work that focus on (1) diplomatic history; (2) descriptive representation; and (3) gendered institutions. We conclude that first there is a need to move out of Europe and North America to provide greater focus on Africa, Asia and Latin America. Second, there is a need to move beyond the descriptive single case studies towards more systematic comparisons, which can trace change in institutional gender dynamics over time. Ethnographic work can provide novel insights to gendered micro-processes and the daily mundane institutional practices. Third, as part of the gender turn in the field of diplomacy international feminist theory can generate significant theoretical contributions to the transformation of diplomacy.
... Women's VAWG activism is a key influencer of human rights policy and practice (Feitz 2016;Htun and Weldon 2012). Protracted periods of conflict, violence, and societal division can influence the types and prevalence of violence inflicted on women, whilst narrowing the space and opportunity for activism to challenge such violence (Akawa and Gawanas 2014;Ashe and Harland 2014;Buckley-Zistel and Zolkos 2012;Ní Aoláin et al. 2011). This feminist research responds to the need to conceptualise women's collective VAWG activism in post-conflict settings. ...
This methodology paper recommends that, when possible, qualitative research on activism should be designed to enable each participant to choose between using a pseudonym and one's actual name. The stance is informed by life history data collection encounters with women in post-conflict settings whose activism seeks to eliminate violence against women and girls (VAWG). The benefits of accommodating a mix of names make this a viable alternative to the prevalent practice of obscuring all participants' identities with pseudonyms. Writing about participants in a way that does no harm to them depends on the care and attention with which the researcher ascribes or dissociates data to or from them, regardless of the name used. Process consent is desirable as participants' consent is not fully informed prior to data collection. One aspect of informed consent worthy of attention is the need to explain the methods of data analysis and presentation of findings to life history participants. The above practices help ensure that negotiating informed consent with participants whilst acting towards the principle of doing no harm are tailored to the particular features of the life history method.
... Yet few of these organizations intend to form new, political crosscommunity relations (McAuley et al. 2010;Edwards and McGrattan 2011). working-class young men fester, and are expressed via hypermasculine, ethno-political and sectarian practices (see also Ashe and Harland 2014;Creary and Byrne 2014b). Such feelings potentially contribute to the growing problem of suicide and domestic violence as well. ...
Through analysis of interviews with community leaders and newspaper reports and police data on sectarian violence, this study identifies dynamics and conditions which underscore fluctuations in ethno-political tensions and violence in Northern Ireland. Findings suggest that political provocations which promote such tensions are facilitated by the economic marginalization of communities historically susceptible to violence, ongoing community influence of paramilitary factions and disjuncture between the political priorities of upper- and lower-classes within each ethno-political community. More generally, the research highlights how a lack of investment in social and economic modes of reconstruction undermines the development of new political forms of cross-community cooperation and contributes to the reconstitution of intergroup division.
... including funding ? are skewed towards dealing with the continuing effects of violent masculinity (Ashe and Harland, 2014 ). Despite this, constitution building in post-war settings potentially grant fresh spaces for equality within which sexual minorities can claim their rights. ...
Existing research on consociationalism largely debates whether or not it exacerbates ethnic cleavages. Yet, although power sharing in some circumstances can harden ethnonational identities, a correlative consequence may be to further marginalise groups outside the bounds of official inclusion. While an emerging corpus of literature looks at women and power sharing, little research has been done regarding the implications of power sharing for sexual minorities. I argue in this article that consociationalism does impact on sexual minorities in complex ways. To account for variations in types of consociationalism, I examine two divergent forms – liberal and corporate – that demonstrate differences in relation to sexual minorities. Thus, I compare sexual minorities within Northern Ireland’s liberal structure with those in Lebanon’s corporate form. I find that differences between liberal and corporate consociations generate important, albeit complicated, implications for sexual minorities.
Experts increasingly agree that the impacts of climate change are likely to create new violent conflict risks and exacerbate existing ones. However, the extent of this link and the specific causal pathways are much less clear, and the role of gender in this process is under-examined. This paper theorizes that gendered norms, especially the expectations of how men perform their masculinities, are an intervening variable that might explain some of this relationship. In doing so, it engages with the emerging debate around the extent to which climate change influences the evolution of violent conflict, theorizing with an illustrative observation of the events of the Arab Spring in Tunisia and Syria. I find that there are plausible explanations for climate–conflict links involving gendered expectations of men’s behaviour serving as an intervening variable between climate change and violent conflict and discuss the implications of this for moving away from securitized approaches, future study and peacebuilding work.
This paper presents successive phases of Taking Boys Seriously (TBS), a longitudinal participatory action research initiative bringing together diverse educational bodies and indigenous educators across a highly stratified education system in a contested society. The voices and everyday life and school experiences of adolescent boys are positioned firmly at the centre of a research methodology aimed at re-engaging, empowering, and learning from marginalised boys. We discuss how a collaborative and reflexive process co-produced with a committed steering group has been vital in pursuit of systemic change. New concepts of compounded educational disadvantage, relational education, and an educational ecosystem have been co-theorised and applied in practical ways to counter deficit narratives and support holistic approaches and new partnerships across educational settings in Northern Ireland. Strengths and limitations of our participatory approach are considered, particularly in relation to the role and participation of boys in the research process.
This article contributes to contemporary scholarship on gender, violence, and global politics by exploring how the figure of the terrorist is produced within mainstream media obituaries. It offers three arguments. First, the genre overwhelmingly positions the terrorist as a masculine figure. This positioning takes place, we demonstrate, in a variety of ways including through constructions of the character, family life, and “career” of those designated terrorist. Second, this masculinized figure is, importantly, a heterogenous one that negotiates “fighter,” “strategist,” and “leader” archetypes. These templates can co-exist, we argue, because of their common structural differentiation to the feminine: a position inhabited by supporting characters including wives and other male terrorists. The article's third argument is that the stability of this dominant figuration of the terrorist is also disrupted in obituaries via juxtaposition to more masculine figures, and through feminization of the deceased through constructions of cowardice, passivity, and vanity. In making these arguments, the article offers the first analysis of the masculinized storying of terrorism and terrorists in this almost entirely neglected genre. In so doing, it sheds new light on the obituary as an important mnemonic site for the everyday reproduction and problematization of global politics.
The prevailing representation of Muslim masculinity is often profiled in negative stereotypes or regarded as toxic and violent owing to their religion or racial heritage. Using Raewyn Connell’s theory of gender hegemony and orientalism paradigm, this paper investigates the remake of an original Hollywood blockbuster, RoboCop (2014). Following a textual analysis, this aims to answer some questions concerning the power dynamics between various male characters in the movie and how masculinity is playing part based on geographical racial orientation; more specifically, how masculinity could be traced in white western men vs. brown eastern men. Moreover, this paper pays particular attention to the characteristics of these characters’ masculinity vs. their western counterparts since the involvement of Middle Eastern characters was the most fundamental change in RoboCop (2014).
Although widely applauded for its female centrality, Derry Girls (2018-19) also problematises the displacement of masculine subjectivities in a period when the peace process and the effects of globalisation permeated the renegotiation of the discursive notions of masculinity in Northern Ireland. Intergenerational relations are key to understanding this displacement of male characters like Granda Joe (the hard man), Da Gerry (the new man), or James. With an emphasis on the carnivalesque, liminality, space, and emasculation, this article will investigate the extent to which male characters, who are caught amidst the rapid cultural changes caused by the spatial and cultural negotiations of the ceasefire, represent the collapsing structural dimensions of the social constitution of gender in pre-ceasefire Northern Ireland.
Northern Ireland has a deeply divided education system with demarcation most notable along ethno/religious and social class lines. The former is largely attributable to the historical organisation of the schools estate based on religion, and the latter is associated with a system of academic selection that filters children into grammar and non-selective post-primary schools according to their performance in tests taken during the final year of primary school. Academic selection, and the grammar school system that underpins it, has come under some considerable scrutiny, with much of the research evidence pointing to a negative relationship between the selective system and equality of opportunity in education. The suitability of this system in a transitioning society that has become more ethnically diverse in post-conflict years has, however, received less attention. Drawing on social cohesion theory, we reflect on the grammar school system to argue that the cross-community class interests animating it not only perpetuate inequalities within respective communities but may also present a significant barrier to peacebuilding efforts in education, and ultimately impede progress towards a more socially cohesive society.
Constitutions reflect national values and set out the foundational principles of governance. Traditionally, those values and principles have been male-defined. As such, constitutions often form the basis of the ‘gendered state’ with all its attendant inequities. Feminist constitutionalism challenges the wider domain of constitution-making to consider questions relating to gender inequality in constitutional debate, design and redesign. Through a case study approach, this article utilises a feminist lens to examine on-going constitutional debates in Northern Ireland that have been deepened by Brexit. Any new constitutional arrangements on the island of Ireland will drive multiple transformations in social, legal and economic life that will impact on the lives of women. Subsequently, this article explores the gender dynamics of current debates to contribute to the broader feminist literature on constitutional transitions in deeply divided societies.
Movement through spaces defined by segregation and mixing is a distinguishing feature of divided urban settings. Contributing to themes of the everyday and spatial understandings in peace research, this paper introduces civil sanctuaries. In divided urban settings these spaces of sanctuary are framed by civility, where people encounter one another across division while seemingly compartmentalising outward signs of disrespect. Through a case study of the Belfast Giants and SSE Arena, this article highlights clearly marked territory which differentiates itself from divisive norms and rhetoric, filtering who is welcome, and the notion of giving pause to routinised practices in divided settings.
In a futuristic, dystopian Australia, Max Rockatansky is a lone warrior struggling against the forces that have ripped his family, and society as a whole, to shreds. From rogue motorcycle gangs to violencebased legal systems, the Mad Max films depict a world in which the most toxic aspects of masculinity have poisoned society, mutating into something far more dangerous — something monstrous. The series presents a version of monstrosity that has sunk its claws into the very masculinity it usually serves to validate; in light of these subversions, this analysis utilizes monster theory in conjunction with gender studies to examine toxic masculinity in the Mad Max franchise
Recent years have seen an increase in the study of the relationship between gender and terrorism. This article analyzes the relationship between hegemonic masculinity and terrorism through the case of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (Partiya Karkerên Kurdistan or PKK) and its leader Abdullah Öcalan. Using the method of narrative analysis, the study first examines the concept of hegemonic masculinity. The study attempts to make sense of how the concept of hegemonic masculinity operates within the PKK. To achieve this goal, the study demonstrates the major functions of hegemonic masculinity within terrorist organisations. Accordingly, it is argued that the perspective of masculinity studies can be used to gain a better and highly instructive understanding of political violence and terrorism.
This chapter argues that three distinct ‘cultures of militarism’ continue to contribute to division and conflict in Northern Ireland: republican, loyalist, and British Armed Forces cultures of militarism. The chapter builds on scholarly feminist critiques, and analysis of interviews with Veterans for Peace (VFP) activists, to argue for the analytical value of the concept of cultures of militarism in post-Good Friday Agreement Northern Ireland. A cultures of militarism lens makes us more alert to the violence and military values embedded in Northern Ireland’s ethno-national identities. It allows us to see how the violence and militarism of the past continues to be reproduced through discourses, images, rituals, and symbols, as well as through institutions and structures. Ultimately, the chapter argues that for the transformation of cultures of militarism to take place, the inclusion of women’s perspectives also must be accompanied by changes in power relationships between women and men.
Three key elements structure this chapter on gender and terrorism movements. First, Brown demonstrates how gender features in the ideology and operations of terrorist organisations. Addressing the different ‘waves’ of terrorism sequentially, the chapter shows how for some groups women’s empowerment is central, while in others it is secondary or even to be denied. Claims about masculinity strongly influence groups’ operations. Second, she explores the roles of individuals within those movements; debates about ‘female suicide bombers’ are used to unpack core themes. Third, ‘Gender and Terrorist Movements’ investigate how gender features in state-level responses to terrorism. Counter-terrorism measures are replete with gender stereotypes, and have differing impacts on men and women. The chapter concludes by discussing future areas of research.
Explorations of Protestant, unionist and loyalist (PUL) women’s identities during the conflict suggested that they were less politically active than their Irish nationalist and republican counterparts. Throughout the conflict, they appeared to be suspicious of feminism and content to ‘do their bit’ to defend the Union within the regulatory gender structures of male dominated unionist politics and culture. Generally, unionism has been viewed as providing limited space for feminist reconstructions of PUL women’s identities. Certainly, in comparison to Irish nationalist and republican women, PUL women were less visible during the conflict. However, recent feminist research has illustrated that their political agency and gendered transgressions are diverse and shifting. This chapter employs a radical constructionist framework to explore the complex processes through which PUL gendered identities are constituted, disciplined and transgressed. This volume’s division of pro-unionist identities into the categories of Protestant, unionist and loyalist already recognises the necessity of mapping the effects of intra-communal differences on seemingly homogeneous groups. This chapter explores the concept of difference in the unionist community further by foregrounding the intersection of Protestantism, unionism and loyalism with gender. Throughout, it illustrates how extant feminist research exposes the challenges for PUL women in a context not only marked by contested political histories and processes of conflict transformation/management, but also the historical relationships of gender that have impacted women in both ethno-nationalist communities.
Consociational democracy has become the most influential paradigm in the field of power-sharing institutional design and post-conflict peacebuilding. Consociation institutes representation for certain formerly excluded groups. However, it simultaneously inhibits effective political representation for groups that do not align with the societal divisions that consociation seeks to accommodate, specifically the ‘additional’ cleavage of gender. Given the extensive use of the consociational model as a peacebuilding tool in divided states and the growing awareness of the disproportionate negative effect of conflict on women, there is a surprising lack of consideration of the effect that consociational power-sharing has on women’s representation. This article considers the specific impact that the consociational model has on women’s representation. We argue that because gender is an integral factor in conflict, it should therefore be integral to post-conflict governance. With empirical reference to contemporary Northern Ireland, it is illustrated that consociationalism is a ‘gender-blind’ theory.
This article attempts to problematise the disparate levels of attention paid to similar violences globally, whereby violence against women in the developing world is seen as a security concern to the West, and yet violence against women in the West is minimised or ignored. It will do this, first, by demonstrating that everyday violences, better known as everyday terrorism, in the West are subjugated knowledges within Terrorism Studies. To demonstrate this, Half the Sky, Sex and World Peace and The Better Angels of Our Nature serve as exemplar texts that reflect Western exceptionalism and non-Western savagery, particularly within Muslim societies, and deflect from everyday terrorism within the West. This reifies the West as an exceptional saviour and the non-West as a problematic savage. This article looks to flip that reification on its head by recognising that everyday terrorism happens everywhere and is not bound to non-Western identities.
In Northern Ireland, parades have long been important carriers of politico-cultural identities and collective memories, as well as arenas of struggle and conflict. Taking as its starting point that these contests over meaning are always framed by their contexts of articulation both in temporal and spatial terms, this article examines the role of parades in the current ‘post-conflict’ phase of the peace process as it plays out in a particular location, namely North Belfast. Using theories of cultural and collective memory and examples from republican and loyalist parades in North Belfast, it is argued that there is fear of memory and identity collapse in particular communities on the margins of the peace process, leading to a conscious doubling of efforts to (re)articulate the hidden recesses of memory in the current transition. In this, the patterns of ‘competitive commemoration’ in parades should be understood both horizontally: as majority memory traditions move to minority memory positions, and vertically: in relation to the increasing dissonance between vernacular practices of conflict and the official post-conflict discourses in Northern Ireland. Central to these arguments is the recognition that parading traditions are at once presentist, competitive instruments and also emotional and embodied practices to ensure the continuity of identity. It follows that both dimensions must be recognised together, if cognitive and visceral templates of conflict are to be explained and shifted. This article applies a wide-angle memory studies lens to capture the two together and explore the changing parade-scape.
Statistics reveal that young men from working class communities are over-represented amongst victims of the Northern Ireland Troubles, suicides, crime, school suspensions, expulsions and academic underachievement. Despite a new political context of peacebuilding the relationship between violence and personal safety continues to be critical to marginalized young men’s everyday lives and experiences. Drawing upon primary research from a five year longitudinal study and previous studies carried out by the Centre for Young Men’s Studies, this article provides a critical analysis of young men born after the 1994 ceasefires, capturing their sense of alienation, perceived normality of violence, unwelcomed interactions with paramilitary members and restrictive notions of masculinity. These factors combined with attitudes of suspicion and distrust surrounding the role of the police leaves young men feeling confused about law and youth justice. This article argues the need for a more relevant school curriculum informed by, and aimed specifically at, engaging young men through a youth work methodology addressing the themes of youth justice, violence and masculinity. The authors acknowledge that whilst addressing the behaviour of certain young men can be very challenging, there is a need for those working with young men to more proactively engage young men through a ‘Balanced Approach’ of collaborative working between formal, informal and non-formal education.
Our objectives were to explore the use of rapid participatory appraisal (RPA) in defining the health and social needs of women, and to formulate joint action plans between the residents and service providers. RPA included review of existing data, focus groups and questionnaire. The study was set in the Ardoyne area of North Belfast. A response rate of 85% was obtained. Priorities identified reflected holistic definition of health and included issues relating to physical environment, social supports, as well as traditional epidemiological data. The use of RPA in this study has demonstrated a greater insight into unmet health and social needs in the area. It has exposed the level and extent of poverty, such as poor nursery provision for the under 5s, lack of safe play areas, fuel poverty for the elderly person, high dependence on prescription drugs such as valium and antidepressants, as well as lack of access to specific services due to political boundaries.
This article is an initial analysis and theorization of original ethnographic data gathered from young men who participated in the English riots of August 2011. The data consistently suggest that consumer culture supplied these young men with a compelling motivation to join the rioting after the initial localized response to the original incident had died down. The data are analysed in a way that builds a theory of the rioting as a product of objectless dissatisfaction. Drawing upon the resources of contemporary cultural and critical criminological theory, it argues that, in the current post-political vacuum, the rioters could not locate or articulate the objective structural and processual causes of their marginalization. Neither could they clearly recognize or ethically censure their structural antagonists. Thus, in the entire absence of truthful, comprehensible and unifying political symbolism, they had nowhere to go but the shops.
This article addresses the relationship of women's studies, gender research and men. In particular I ask the question: What are the implications of recent critical studies on men, for women's studies and gender research? I first outline some of the ways in which the social category of “men” has been taken for granted in the social sciences, and some of the broad features of critical studies on men. The implications of these studies are then examined, first in terms of the different political positions and discursive practices that may be adopted in studying men; second, the problematicizing and rethinking of research methods and methodologies; third, the kind of “results” of empirical research, and particularly the complexity of power relations; and fourth, the construction and possible transformation of academic disciplines ‐ including women's studies, traditional malestream disciplines, and interdisciplinary work. The article concludes with a brief discussion of issues that need future attention: the close monitoring of critical studies on men; the naming of men as men and the deconstruction of men; the transformation of the relationship of men's subjectivity and objectivity; and the specific areas of study that have been neglected. Examples from research on men's violence to women, and research on men in organizations and management are used throughout.
O conceito de masculinidade hegemônica tem influenciado os estudos de gênero em vários campos acadêmicos, mas ao mesmo tempo tem atraído um sério criticismo. Os autores traçam a origem do conceito a uma convergência de ideias no início dos anos 1980 e mapeiam as formas através das quais o conceito foi aplicado quando os estudos sobre homens e masculinidades se expandiram. Avaliando as principais críticas, os autores defendem o conceito de masculinidade como fundamental, uma vez que, na maioria das pesquisas que o opera, seu uso não é reificador nem essencialista. Entretanto, as críticas aos modelos assentados em características de gênero e às tipologias rígidas são sólidas. O tratamento do sujeito em pesquisas sobre masculinidades hegemônicas pode ser melhorado com a ajuda dos recentes modelos psicológicos, mesmo que os limites à flexibilidade discursiva devam ser reconhecidos. O conceito de masculinidade hegemônica não equivale a um modelo de reprodução social; precisam ser reconhecidas as lutas sociais nas quais masculinidades subordinadas influenciam formas dominantes. Por fim, os autores revisam o que foi confirmado por formulações iniciais (a ideia de masculinidades múltiplas, o conceito de hegemonia e a ênfase na transformação) e o que precisa ser descartado (tratamento unidimensional da hierarquia e concepções de características de gênero). Os autores sugerem a reformulação do conceito em quatro áreas: um modelo mais complexo da hierarquia de gênero, enfatizando a agência das mulheres; o reconhecimento explícito da geografia das masculinidades, enfatizando a interseccionalidade entre os níveis local, regional e global; um tratamento mais específico da encorporação1 em contextos de privilégio e poder; e uma maior ênfase na dinâmica da masculinidade hegemônica, reconhecendo as contradições internas e as possibilidades de movimento em direção à democracia de gênero.
This article describes an interview-based study of the effects of long-term imprisonment upon 18 Republican ex-prisoners and their families. The interviews followed a biographical, narrative format, drawing from experience of psychiatric assessments of released long-term prisoners. Interpretation of the material was influenced by the sociological literature on imprisonment effects and war trauma. The ex-prisoners had spent an average of 11 years in custody. They described complex experiences of loss, psychological change and social adjustment difficulties, together with persistent barriers to social integration, particularly in the area of employment. A decade after release some still had vivid difficulties in coming to terms with the losses of the past and finding purpose for the future. There were parallels between the experiences of this group and those of war veterans returning home. There is insufficient recognition of these phenomena in previous research on the psychological effects of imprisonment.
A substantial body of empirical work suggests that young, economically marginalized males are the most likely perpetrators and victims of serious physical violence. Interpreting these findings in a historicized way that has been neglected by the criminological discourses of the moment suggests that physical violence has become an increasingly unsuccessful strategy in the quest for social power in liberal-capitalist societies. Although it has been displaced by symbolic violence as the principal domineering force in capitalism’s historical project, physical violence has not been genuinely discouraged but harnessed as a specialist practice in a pseudo-pacification process. From this perspective, violence has a complex relationship with liberal-capitalism. Can the concept of ‘hegemonic masculinity’ help criminology to deal with this complexity and inform violence reduction strategies? This article argues that, in the context of pseudo-pacification, the notion that violent males ‘rework the themes’ of an institutionally powerful ‘hegemonic masculinity’ inverts and distorts the concept of hegemony, which for Gramsci was the self-affirming cultural production of the dominant political-economic class. Thus the concept of ‘hegemonic masculinity’ tends to downplay political economy and class power, which suggests that it is too far removed from historical processes and material contexts to either justify the use of the term hegemony itself or explain the striking social patterns of male violence. This intellectual retreat is representative of a general political evacuation of capitalism’s global socioeconomic processes, a move that is allowing sparsely regulated market forces to continue the economic insecurity, specialist roles and corresponding cultural forms that reproduce the traditional male propensity to physical violence.
During the most recent three decades of conflict in Northern Ireland, the limitations of the Royal Ulster Constabulary's (RUC) policing of local working class communities has seen the parallel evolution of violent paramilitary systems of ‘punishment attacks’ and banishments. This paper explores the factors which underpin such punishments. It considers their relationship to the formal justice system and offers a critical analysis of the potential for Restorative Justice theory and practice to provide non‐violent community based alternatives to such violent punishments.
War is instrumental in shaping and negotiating gender identities. But what role does peace play in dispelling or affirming the gender order in post-conflict contexts? Building on a burgeoning international literature on representative landscapes and based on ethnographic fieldwork conducted in Northern Ireland between 2003 and 2006, this article explores the peacetime commemoration of the Northern Ireland ‘Troubles’ in order to explore the nuances of gender. Tellingly, the memorial landscapes cultivated since the inception of the paramilitary ceasefires in 1994 privilege male interpretations of the past (and, therefore, present). Gender parity, despite being enshrined within the 1998 Belfast Agreement which sought to draw a line under almost three decades of ethno-nationalist violence, remains an elusive utopia, as memorials continue to propagate specific roles for men and women in the ‘national project’. As the masculine ideologies of Irish Nationalism/Republicanism and British Unionism/Loyalism inscribe their respective disputant pasts into the streetscape, the narratives of women have been blurred and disrupted, begging the question: what role can they play in the future?
Our objectives were to explore the use of rapid participatory appraisal (RPA) in defining the health and social needs of women, and to formulate joint action plans between the residents and service providers. RPA included review of existing data, focus groups and questionnaire. The study was set in the Ardoyne area of North Belfast. A response rate of 85% was obtained. Priorities identified reflected holistic definition of health and included issues relating to physical environment, social supports, as well as traditional epidemiological data. The use of RPA in this study has demonstrated a greater insight into unmet health and social needs in the area. It has exposed the level and extent of poverty, such as poor nursery provision for the under 5s, lack of safe play areas, fuel poverty for the elderly person, high dependence on prescription drugs such as valium and antidepressants, as well as lack of access to specific services due to political boundaries.
The stereotype of masculinity embraces many qualities. To be manly one must be brave, daring, and cool under fire. A man must be physically strong - tough, skilful, dexterous. And one must also be honourable, honest, and courteous. A man must not complain. A man must not lose control of his emotions. A man must not cry. Even today, many men would accept these qualities as defining masculinity. But how did our idea of manliness evolve? How long have these qualities been the norm? And will they continue to be our basic image of man? In The Image of Man, noted historian George L. Mosse provides the first historical account of the masculine stereotype in modern Western culture. He reveals how stresses on physical beauty, courage, moral restraint, and a strong will originated in the tumultuous social changes of the eighteenth century, and describes how the manly ideal manifested itself in England and on the continent. The important role of women and the so called ‘unmanly men’ from Jews to homosexuals in maintaining the stereotype are also examined, as well as the possible erosion of the stereotype in our own time.
One of the first comparative reflections of its kind, this book examines the challenges that young men face when trying to grow up in societies where violence is the norm. Barker, who has worked directly with low-income youth and witnessed first hand the violence he describes, provides a compelling account of the young men's struggles. He discusses the problems these men face in other areas of their lives, including the difficulty of staying in school, the multiple challenges of coming of age as men in the face of social exclusion, including finding meaningful employment, and their interactions with young women, including sexual behaviour and the implications of this for HIV/AIDS prevention. The book presents examples of evaluated programs that have been able to aid young men in rethinking what it means to be a man and ultimately focuses on 'voices of resistance' - young men who find ways to stay out of violence and to show respect and equality in their relationships, even in settings where male violence and rigid attitudes about manhood are prevalent.
In this classic work of feminist political thought, Iris Marion Young challenges the prevailing reduction of social justice to distributive justice. It critically analyzes basic concepts underlying most theories of justice, including impartiality, formal equality, and the unitary moral subjectivity. The starting point for her critique is the experience and concerns of the new social movements about decision making, cultural expression, and division of labor--that were created by marginal and excluded groups, including women, African Americans, and American Indians, as well as gays and lesbians. Iris Young defines concepts of domination and oppression to cover issues eluding the distributive model. Democratic theorists, according to Young do not adequately address the problem of an inclusive participatory framework. By assuming a homogeneous public, they fail to consider institutional arrangements for including people not culturally identified with white European male norms of reason and respectability. Young urges that normative theory and public policy should undermine group-based oppression by affirming rather than suppressing social group difference. Basing her vision of the good society on the differentiated, culturally plural network of contemporary urban life, she argues for a principle of group representation in democratic publics and for group-differentiated policies. This is a superb book which opens up many new vistas for theorists of justice. Young makes a number of insightful arguments both about the issues that need to be addressed by a theory of justice, and about the kind of theory capable of addressing them.
The abstract for this document is available on CSA Illumina.To view the Abstract, click the Abstract button above the document title.
The concept of hegemonic masculinity has influenced gender studies across many academic fields but has also attracted serious criticism. The authors trace the origin of the concept in a convergence of ideas in the early 1980s and map the ways it was applied when research on men and masculinities expanded. Evaluating the principal criticisms, the authors defend the underlying concept of masculinity, which in most research use is neither reified nor essentialist. However, the criticism of trait models of gender and rigid typologies is sound. The treatment of the subject in research on hegemonic masculinity can be improved with the aid of recent psychological models, although limits to discursive flexibility must be recognized. The concept of hegemonic masculinity does not equate to a model of social reproduction; we need to recognize social struggles in which subordinated masculinities influence dominant forms. Finally, the authors review what has been confirmed from early formulations (the idea of multiple masculinities, the concept of hegemony, and the emphasis on change) and what needs to be discarded (onedimensional treatment of hierarchy and trait conceptions of gender). The authors suggest reformulation of the concept in four areas: a more complex model of gender hierarchy, emphasizing the agency of women; explicit recognition of the geography of masculinities, emphasizing the interplay among local, regional, and global levels; a more specific treatment of embodiment in contexts of privilege and power; and a stronger emphasis on the dynamics of hegemonic masculinity, recognizing internal contradictions and the possibilities of movement toward gender democracy.
The episodic dissident republican activity evident in Northern Ireland since the Good Friday Agreement has been accompanied by regular assertions from the police, politicians and commentators that dissidents have no backing. This article examines the historic importance of mandates and support for previous and contemporary republican armed campaigns. It explores whether violent republicans have ever enjoyed widespread support in Ireland and assesses the extent to which a lack of backing has precluded violent campaigns. The piece analyses the evidence regarding the lack of sympathy for current dissident violence, assessing the degree to which armed republicanism has reached a new level of isolation.
The young people who are the focus of this article grow up in communities ravaged by poverty and conflict. School is where they spend most of their time, but their experience of school is, generally, not motivating and increases their feelings of social exclusion; almost one in ten young people whose family depends on benefits leaves school with no educational qualifications and the future they see is bleak. Small wonder, then, that so many suffer from emotional and mental health problems and engage in self-harming behavior. This article will use qualitative data from two studies carried out over the past 5 years to explore the experiences of young people growing up in poverty in Northern Ireland and look at the extent of their exclusion from the norms of society. It will argue that this exclusion is such that some of them feel “outsiders” even within their own, disadvantaged, community, and this is dangerous in a society which is still emerging from conflict.
This article discusses violent male youth culture in Northern Ireland within the context of a society emerging from a prolonged period of political violence toward peacebuilding. Specifically, the article focuses on the findings from a qualitative study carried out by the Centre for Young Men’s Studies with 130 marginalized young men aged 13 to 16 from 20 different communities across Northern Ireland addressing themes of violence, conflict, and safety. Despite a changing context of peacebuilding, findings reveal that violence and paramilitary influence continue to perpetuate a male youth subculture epitomized by sectarianism and increasing racist attitudes. Underpinning this is an enduring cycle of suspicion, fear, and distrust of others and a confused state of mind that leaves these young men “stuck” somewhere between the ceasefire mentality of paramilitaries and the ambiguous messages of peacebuilding. This article concludes by stating the need for more realistic ways to engage and integrate marginalized young men into their communities.
This paper examines the relationship between dominant and subordinate masculinities in inner‐city residential areas of Belfast. It explores these relationships within the arena of the religiously segregated district, before exploring how these categories shift and mutate when transferred outside the local community. It examines how fear of violence among both dominant and subordinate men can be understood as a way of expressing masculinity. Through examining how men engage in spatial negotiations based on an assumption that they could be categorised as possible members of paramilitary organisations, the blurring of divisions between masculinities becomes obvious. Locational change can ensure that internal categories become blurred and indistinct, demonstrating the relational and contingent nature of gender. Drawing upon a literature on gender performativity, the paper argues that the categories of dominant and subordinate are merely ideal gender roles that are enacted daily by individuals constrained within these performative genres.
This article offers some reflections on the challenges posed by recent trends in social theory to the field of masculinity studies. The postmodern/poststructural turn in theory has led to a reappraisal of basic concepts in many fields of research and opened up new areas for investigation. The article outlines the relevance of this work for masculinity studies and draws some implications for the future development of the field. If scholars are to effectively challenge the power relations of gender, race, and sexuality, it is important that they critically examine the discursive frameworks that shape the fabrication of concepts, the definition of problems, and the formulation of research questions. The article concludes by proposing a revised and broadened agenda for research on men and masculinities, which pays greater attention to the politics of knowledge and makes greater use of historical methods to analyze power relations and the social constructions of masculine identity and the male body.
ABSTRACT This article examines the spatial construction of gender roles in a time of war. During a period of armed conflict both women and men are perceived as beings who exemplify gender-specific virtues. The relationship of gender and identity in this case is a paradoxical one: war-usually a catalyst of change-can often become an agent of conservatism as regards gender identities. This conservatism can be seen in the wartime spatial relegation of women to the private/domestic realm. When a society is in armed conflict there is a predisposition to perceive men as violent and action-oriented and women as compassionate and supportive to the male warrior. These gender tropes do not denote the actions of women and men in a time of war, but function instead to re-create and secure women's position as non-combatants and that of men as warriors. Thus, women have historically been marginalized in the consciousness of those who have researched the events of war. This article is largely based on interviews I conducted in the fall of 1993, in an Irish Catholic community in Belfast, Northern Ireland. I will offer both female and male interpretations of what women did and how they were affected by the upheavals of the Irish Nationalist struggle in Northern Ireland.
Inherent to the conflict in Northern Ireland has been the spatial segregation of men from women, whereby men go to prison and women are left to support and take care of their families. As a result of this segregation, a power relationship has been established that informs men's relationships both with women and with other men. While in prison, Irish men developed highly charged political friendships which reinforced the exclusion of women from the body politic. The eradication of women from the political discourses of the prison has been reincarnated years later in the spaces of Nationalist clubs. The private spaces of Long Kesh gave birth to a third space which is constructed from the traditional characteristics of both the private and the public spheres. This third space, unlike the impenetrable walls of the prison, represents an opening up of space whereby men no longer had to mirror the unrealistic image of the superhero. Instead this space represented a homeplace where these men could simply be themselves.
This article explores the intimate historical and modern connection between manhood and nationhood: through the construction of patriotic manhood and exalted motherhood as icons of nationalist ideology; through the designation of gendered 'places' for men and women in national politics; through the domination of masculine interests and ideology in nationalist movements; through the interplay between masculine microcultures and nationalist ideology; through sexualized militarism including the construction of simultaneously over-sexed and under-sexed 'enemy' men (rapists and wimps) and promiscuous 'enemy' women (sluts and whores). Three 'puzzles' are partially solved by exposing the connection between masculinity and nationalism: why are many men so desperate to defend masculine, monoracial, and heterosexual institutional preserves, such as military organizations and academies; why do men go to war; and the 'gender gap', that is, why do men and women appear to have very different goals and agendas for the 'nation?'
In the past decade, feminists have produced a considerable and important literature that critically analyses the gendering of the state and state-centric nationalism. This article draws from and shifts the focus of these studies to examine nationalism not simply as gendered but as heterosexist. I first locate nationalism as a subset of political identities and identification processes, then take (heterosexist) gender identities as an indispensable starting point in the study of political identities. I next turn to early western state making and its writing technologies to materialize the normalization and practice (divisions of power, authority, labor). Finally, I chart five gender-differentiated dimensions heterosexist presumptions - and enduring problems. of (hetero)gender binaries in thought (western metaphysics/phallogocentrism) of state-centric nationalism that expose the latter's
This article analyses the development of feminist politics in Northern Ireland in the light of broader debates about the politics of difference. It argues that there have been numerous constraints on feminism in Northern Ireland, not the least of which has been the dominance of the 'two traditions' approach to understanding the Northern Irish problem. To counter these constraints, groups such as the Northern Ireland Women's Coalition have had to employ a 'strategic essentialism' whereby the objective of increasing the representation of women (and by women) has taken priority over the feminist concern for difference. Whilst this strategy is understandable, the article contends that it runs the risk of lapsing into a female essentialism whereby difference is only understood within the 'two traditions' paradigm. Thus it argues that any attempt to move beyond the political closure that has blighted Northern Irish politics will require feminists to confront their differences more openly and this offers the potential of a new dynamic in our understanding of 'the political' in Northern Ireland.
Community-based restorative justice (CBRJ) schemes emerged in Northern Ireland during the ‘peace process’ to provide an alternative to paramilitary systems of justice. These initiatives have received considerable academic attention. A complex and critical literature has now emerged in this area; however, extant explorations of CBRJ have tended to sideline issues of gender power. Feminists and international bodies, such as the United Nations, have highlighted the importance of addressing historical gendered inequities in terms of the design and evaluation of conflict transformation initiatives. Drawing on contemporary feminist frameworks this article exposes the importance of the category of gender in evaluations of CBRJ in Northern Ireland. Moreover, it scrutinises the theoretical processes through which issues of gender power have been filtered out of evaluations of community-based restorative justice schemes in the region.
This paper examines the gendering of unionist national identity in Northern Ireland through an analysis of organizations that are central to unionist politics today. While the commonplace observation that unionist women are ‘tea-makers‘ conveys a critical dimension of the gender order within unionism, it does not fully capture the significance of women's contributions to the establishment or maintenance of unionism. The article analyzes how Stormont constituted an ethno-gender regime, examines unionist women's political engagement during the Stormont era and under direct rule, investigates how the peace process and Good Friday (Belfast) Agreement have affected the unionist ethno-gender order and the gender politics of unionism, and explores the possibilities for political transformation.
The under-representation of women in judicial office has led to calls for greater female representation based on an argument that women offer a different voice from that of men. This argument has largely foundered, and a more recent rationale rests on the need for diversity in the judiciary. However, the disadvantage experienced by women applicants to judicial office is rooted in deeply entrenched structural discrimination and exclusion, imbricated in the constitution of the judge, judging, and judicial authority as male, masculine, white, heterosexual, able-bodied, and class-privileged. Arguments for wider representation in judicial office need to address more effectively how the judge, judging, and judicial authority are constituted. A survey of women holders of judicial office in Northern Ireland confirms this exclusion. While few respondents in the survey support the concept of a different voice, many identify distinctive approaches which can potentially enrich notions of judging and judicial authority.
There are ‘‘good reasons,’’ albeit di¡erent ones, why both women and men may interpret the question of the relationship of gender and social theory, and speci¢cally the gendering of social theory, as being largely a matter of increasing the presence of women in social theory. Increasing the presence of women may mean both increasing the theorizing of women and increasing the presence of feminists and feminism in social and political theory. 1 This article takes, however, a rather di¡erent approach to the question ‘‘Is theory gendered?’’ For gendering social theory also means considering the relationship of men and social theory. It is now widely recognized that conventional social theory has frequently ignored gender relations and has instead through its own practices reproduced patriarchal social relations. Changing this certainly means increasing women’s presence within social theory; it also means problematizing the silence that has persisted on both the category of men in social theory and men’s practices of theorizing. Instead of maintaining this silence about men, men need to be analyzed as gendered actors, both in theory and as theorists. To do this, it is necessary to examine the various ways in which men have been, and are now being, theorized. Some of this theorizing comes from outside the social standpoint of men, and the article begins with a brief discussion of feminist theorizing. However, it is also politically and conceptually important to consider how men theorize men, and this is the focus of this article. By examining the fundamental relationships between author and topic, six discursive practices are distinguished. After examining each of these, I conclude with some re£ections on how men’s critical theorizing on men can be further developed, and the implications of this discussion for the constitution of social theory.
Studies of the female partners of politically motivated prisoners have generally studied women via a caring paradigm. Less well observed are those women who privately transgressed and challenged masculine-centred renditions or political imprisonment. This lacuna in the research dedicated to such women has been constructed around stereotypical depictions of them as a barely visible support network. We argue that the relatively indiscernible appearance of women who challenged such typecasting is attached to a persistent process of gender blindness within which women remain peripheral to wider narratives of collectivity and ideological presentation. We chart how some women actively involved themselves in creating their own identity as active agents, especially when the effects of conflict entered the private sphere.
"A sophisticated and persuasive late-modernist political analysis that consistently draws the reader into the narratives of the author and those of the people of violence in Northern Ireland to whom he talked. . . . Simply put, this book is a feast for the intellect"â Thomas M. Wilson, American Anthropologist "One of the best books to have been written on Northern Ireland. . . . A highly imagination and significant book. Formations of Violence is an important addition to the literature on political violence."âDavid E. Schmitt, American Political Science Review
Peer Reviewed http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/43651/1/11186_2004_Article_243859.pdf
This article focuses on how ideas about gender function in academic analyses of the conflict in Northern Ireland. Part of the reason for doing this is to explore the paradox afflicting contemporary feminism, namely that in the midst of apparent success feminism still seems largely irrelevant to matters of political significance. A second reason involves a demonstration of the political value of poststructural feminism. To achieve these aims, I first consider the use and political aims of poststructuralist analyses, partly through an analysis of the use of poetry in social scientific analyses. The main site used to demonstrate the functions of gender and the political possibilities of poststructural feminism is John McGarry and Brendan O'Leary's book Explaining Northern Ireland: Broken Images. The sub-title of this book refers to a Robert Graves' poem, 'In Broken Images', a poem the authors use to explain their desire to 'break images' when explaining the conflict in Northern Ireland. I next reflect on and illustrate how ideas about gender function by focusing primarily on Explaining Northern Ireland: Broken Images. The final section re-considers the paradox of contemporary feminism, suggesting that feminism's own methodologies contribute towards its persistent marginalisation.
Dead Men 46. See Dermot Feenan Women Judges: Gendering Judging, Justifying Diversity
- Mcdowell
McDowell, " Dead Men. " 46. See Dermot Feenan, " Women Judges: Gendering Judging, Justifying Diversity, " Journal of Law and Society 35(4) (2008), pp. 490–519.
From Paramilitaries to Peacemakers
- Ashe
Ashe, " From Paramilitaries to Peacemakers. "
Taking Boys Seriously
- Harland Mccready
Harland and McCready " Taking Boys Seriously, " p. 65.
The Betrayal of the American Man (Hammer-smith: HarperCollins
- See
- Overview
- Susan
- Faludi
See for an overview, Susan Faludi, Stiffed, The Betrayal of the American Man (Hammer-smith: HarperCollins, 1990).