LITMIR.BIZ

In late October 2013, the Miami Dolphins’ player Jonathan Martin walked out on his team and checked into a mental health institution. The original story implied that Martin could not take the professional pressure. Within days, the story changed. News sources reported that Martin’s teammates had repeatedly bullied him and as a result, the twenty-four year-old African American player suffered serious depression. The response was skeptical, and many opined the harassment involved was simply locker room banter that all players endure; essentially, that boys will be boys. Masculinity at Work uses the Jonathan Martin case and others to analyze Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 through the lens of masculinities theory. Illustrating how harassment and discrimination can occur because of sex even if the gendered nature of the behavior remains unseen to onlookers, this book educates readers about the invisibility of masculine structures and practices, how society constructs concepts of masculinity, and how men (and sometimes women) perform masculinity in different ways depending on their identities and situational contexts. Using a sophisticated mix of legal, gender, and social science analysis, the author demonstrates how masculinities theory can also offer significant insights into the behaviors and motivations of employers, as well as workplace structures that disadvantage both men and women who do not conform to gender stereotypes. Both a theoretical disposition and a practical guide for legal counsel and judges on the interpretation of sex and race discrimination cases, Masculinity at Work explains how this theory can be used to interpret Title VII in new, liberating ways.

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According to masculinities theory, masculinity is not a biological imperative but a social construction. Men engage in a constant struggle with other men to prove their masculinity. Masculinities and the Law develops a multidimensional approach. It sees categories of identity—including various forms of raced, classed, and sex-oriented masculinities—as operating simultaneously and creating different effects in different contexts. By applying multidimensional masculinities theory to law, this cutting-edge collection both expands the field of masculinities and develops new thinking about important issues in feminist and critical race theories. The topics covered include how norms of masculinity influence the behavior of policemen, firefighters, and international soldiers on television and in the real world; employment discrimination against masculine cocktail waitresses and all transgendered employees; the legal treatment of fathers in the U.S. and the ways unauthorized migrant fathers use the dangers of border crossing to boost their masculine esteem; how Title IX fails to curtail the masculinity of sport; the racist assumptions behind the prison rape debate; the surprising roots of homophobia in Jamaican dancehall music; and the contradictions of the legal debate over women veiling in Turkey. Ultimately, the book argues that multidimensional masculinities theory can change how law is interpreted and applied.

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