Masculinity as Moments of Becoming: an interdisciplinary account

It is generally accepted that the socio-political changes in late modernity have resulted in a massive revision of
masculinity. Several theoretical positions have been put forward in order to account for this revision, among them the
abandonment of the polarity masculine/feminine. Yet the outcome of the revision and whether masculinity is actually reinforced
or subverted in the process remains an open question. The present paper addresses this question from the perspective of
‘reflexivity’ and the ‘reflexive ordering of self-narratives’, the main mode or production of identities in late modernity. It
is argued that from a methodological perspective, the combination of reflexivity with the cultural term ‘fantasy’ may produce
a more versatile model for the decoding masculinity. ‘Moments of becoming’ in this dual framework are turning points
which do not simply produce consciousness or similarities-based femininity but anticipate the failure of all the presuppositions
and practices that support traditional masculinity.

Citation:
Voela, A. (2005) ‘Masculinity as Moments of Becoming: an interdisciplinary account’ International Journal of Interdisciplinary Social Sciences, 1(2), pp.85-92.