Masculine identity confers advantages over the feminine ‘other’, but works differently and in a twofold way. ‘Man’ as the generic representation of ‘the human’ is only apparently de-gendered or gender-neutral. It is in fact gendered masculine and defined within heteronormativity and homophobia. However, there are also overtly gendered roles for men, though these are characteristically represented in selective and flattering ways. Men therefore have little need for an ‘identity politics’ to work against an oppressive norm. Rather they are positioned against each other within competitive hierarchies, which are co-defined with the values and structures of militarism and capitalism.
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14 The Vatican is re-articulating its conception of the masculinity suitable for its priests, namely heterosexual orientation but sexual celibacy, as against any ‘deep-seated homosexual tendencies’ (never mind continuing practices), stating categorically that gay men are obstructed from ‘properly relating to men and women’. Ian Fisher and Laurie Goodstein, ‘In Strong Terms, Rome is to Ban Gays as Priests’, New York Times, 23 November 2005, http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/23/international/Europe/23vatican.html (accessed 25 November 2005).Google Scholar
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16 This is memorably enacted in the Monty Python's Flying Circus sketch of male soldiers in close-order but highly ‘camp’ (and therefore feminized) drill routines.Google Scholar
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26 See the resources at the Center for the Study of Sexual Minorities in the Military, www.gaymilitary.ucsb.edu.Google Scholar
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29 This methodology is discussed and deployed in Carver, Men in Political Theory, passim.Google Scholar
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32 For economic and/or personal reasons, many female-to-male trans-sexuals do not proceed to penoplasty, the final stage of reconstructive surgery. For a close analysis of the co-constitution of the state and kinship, see Jacqueline Stevens, Reproducing the State, Princeton, Princeton University Press, 1999.Google Scholar
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