Representation of Hegemonic Masculinity in Pakistani TV Dramas
Abstract
The study aims to analyze whether the most popular TV dramas aired in Pakistan reinforce the notions of hegemonic masculine attitudes and mindset. These masculine attitudes which perpetuate the notion of male superiority have been found to be the cause of many social problems. Using the theoretical framework of Hegemonic Masculinity developed by Connell as the foundation, the study thus aims to investigate the extent to which such notions are presented in dramas. The research is also aimed at exploring whether there has been a change in the depiction of masculinity over the years as well as judging the influence of the various demographic variables like age, class, education, marital status and place of residence on the representation of masculinity. Using quantitative methodology, the research analyzes 39 central male characters from 24 of the most popular television dramas aired in Pakistan in the five decades between 1968 till 2017. Findings show that although hegemonic masculine depictions are not the norm, some hegemonic traits such as authority and technical competence have been found to be more common as compared to other traits such as aggressiveness and subordination of women. Age, class, education, marital status and place of residence have been found to be significant influencers on the portrayal of hegemonic masculinity. Finally, contrary to expectation the depiction of masculinity did not follow a linear path, which indicates the need for further study of outside factors such as politics or economy in the form of market liberalization or government intervention.
References
Adil, F., Shahed, S. and Arshad, H. (2017). The Burden of Being a Man in a Patriarchal Society. Journal of Arts and Social Sciences, 7(4), 1-15.
Akca, E. B. & Ergül, S. (2014). The Representation of Masculinity in Television Series: Hegemonic Manhood and Struggle of Different Masculinities in the North South Array. Global Media Journal TR Edition, 4 (8), 13-39.
Ali, R. & Batool, S. (2015). Stereotypical Identities: Discourse Analysis of Media Images of Women in Pakistan. Multidisciplinary Journal of Gender Studies, 4(1), 690-717. http://dx.doi.org/10.17583/generos.2015.1502
Ashcraft, K.L. & Flores, L.A. (2012). Slaves with White collars: persistent performance of Masculinity in Crises. In Mary Celeste Kearney (Ed.) The Gender and Media Reader, New York: Routledge
Aullette, J. W., Wittner, J. & Blakely, K. (2009). Gendered Worlds. New York: Oxford University Press.
Aurat Foundation (2016). Masculinity in Pakistan: A Formative Research Study
Ayça, E. (1987). Where is Turkish Cinema going? The Cinema (4).
Bhasin, K. (2000). Understanding Gender. Delhi: Women Unlimited.
Brandth, B. & Haugen, M.S. (2005). Doing Rural Masculinity - From Logging to Outfield Tourism. Journal of Gender Studies, 14(1), 13-22. https://doi.org/10.1080/0958923042000331452
Brown, J.A. (2002). The Tortures of Mel Gibson Masochism and the Sexy Male Body. Men and Masculinities, 5(2), 123-143.
Bustamante, L. A. (2019). Disabled Masculinity as a Metaphor of National Conflict in the Cold War Era: Orson Welles' The Lady from Shanghai (1947). Revista de Estudios Norteamericanos, 23, 1-22. https://doi.org/10.12795/REN.2019.i23.01
Carrigan, T., Connell, R. & Lee, J. (1985). Towards a new Sociology of Masculinity. Theory and Society, 14(5), 551-604. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00160017
Chopra, R., Osella, C. & Osella, F. (Ed.) South Asian Masculinities: Context of Change, Sites of Continuity. Delhi: Women Unlimited.
Connell, R. W. (1987). Gender and Power: Society, the Person and Sexual Politics. Cambridge: Polity.
Connell, R. W. (1995). Masculinities. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Connell, R.W. (1996). The Politics of Changing Men. Australian Humanities Review, 6, 53-73.
Connell, R. W. (1997). Gender politics for Men. The International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy, 17(1/2), 62-78. https://doi.org/10.1108/eb013292
Connell, R. W. (2000). The Men and the Boys. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Connell, R. W., & Messerschmidt, J. W. (2005). Hegemonic masculinity: Rethinking the concept. Gender and Society, 19, 829-859. https://doi.org/10.1177/0891243205278639
Cornwall, A. & Lindisfarne, N. (1994). Dislocating Masculinity: Gender, Power, and Anthropology. In Andrea Cornwall and Nancy Lindisfarne (Ed.) Dislocating Masculinity: Comparative Ethnographies. London and New York: Routledge
Courtenay, W.H. (2000). Constructions of Masculinity and their Influence on Men's Well-being: A theory of Gender and Health. Journal of Social Science and Medicine, 50, 1385-1401. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0277-9536(99)00390-1.
deNeve, G. (2004). The workplace and the neighbourhood: locating masculinities in the south Indian textile industry. In R. Copra, C. Osella and F. Osella, (Ed.) South Asian Masculinities: Context of Change, Sites of Continuity. Delhi: Women Unlimited.
Donaldson, M. (1993). What is Hegemonic Masculinity? Theory and Society, 22(5), 643-657. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00993540
Fogel, J.M., (2012). A Modern Family: The performance of "Family" and Familialism in contemporary television series (Doctoral dissertation), The University of Michigan, Michigan.
Giaccardi, S., Ward, L. M., Seabrook, R. C., Manago, A., & Lippman, J. (2016). Media and modern manhood: Testing associations between media consumption and young men's acceptance of traditional gender ideologies. Sex Roles, 1-13. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-016-0588-z
Giaccardi, S., Ward, L.M., Seabrook, R.C., Manago, A., & Lippman, J. (2017). Media use and men's Accepted Manuscript 33 risk behaviors: Examining the role of masculine ideology. Sex Roles, 1-13. DOI 10.1007/s11199-017-0754-y
Greig, A., Kimmel, M. & Lang, J. (2000). Men, Masculinities & Development: Broadening our work towards gender equality. Gender in Development Monograph Series #10
Gul, M., Obaid, Z. & Ali, S. (2017). Liberalization of Media in Pakistan: A Challenge to Democracy. The journal of Humanities and Social Sciences, 25 (2), 37-54.
Gupta, C. (2001) Sexuality, Obscenity and Community, New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Gürkan, H. & Serttaş, A. (2017). The Representation of Masculinity in Cinema and on Television: An Analysis of Fictional Male Characters. European Journal of Multidisciplinary Studies, 5(1), 402-408. http://dx.doi.org/10.26417/ejms.v5i1.p402-408
Hadi, A. (2017). Patriarchy and Gender-Based Violence in Pakistan. European Journal of Social Sciences Education and Research, 4(4), 297 -304.
Hasan, M.H., Aggleton, P. & Persson, A. (2017). The makings of a man: social generational masculinities in Bangladesh. Journal of Gender Studies, 27(3), 347-361. https://doi.org/10.1080/09589236.2017.1388773
Hashmi, M. (2012) At the limits of Discourse: Political Talk in Drag on Late Night Show with Begum Nawazish Ali. South Asian History and Culture, 3(4), 511-531. https://doi.org/10.1080/19472498.2012.720065
Heise, L.L. (1997). Violence, Sexuality and Women's Lives. In R.N. Lancaster and M. di Leonardo (Ed.), The Gender Sexuality Reader: Culture, History, Political Economy, New York and London: Routledge.
Hu, L. (2018). Is masculinity 'deteriorating' in China? Changes of masculinity representation in Chinese film posters from 1951 to 2016. Journal of Gender Studies, 27(3), 335-346. https://doi.org/10.1080/09589236.2017.1399867
International Center for Research on Women (2012). Men, Masculinity and Domestic Violence in India.
Jordan, M. (2012). Marxism, Not Manhood; Accommodation and Impasse in Seamus Heaney's Beowulf and Chuck Palahniuk's Fight Club. Men and Masculinities, 4(4), 368-379. https://doi.org/10.1177/1097184X02004004006
Khan, A. (2015). Ideological Contestation(s): The "Televised" Cultural Politics of Gendered Identity. The journal of Humanities and Social Sciences, 23(2). 83-96.
Kimmel, M. S. (2005). The Gender and Desire Essays on Male Sexuality. Albany: State University of New York Press.
Levant, R. F., & Richmond, K. (2007). A review of research on masculinity ideologies using the male role norms inventory. The Journal of Men's Studies, 15(2), 130-146. https://doi.org/10.3149/jms.1502.130
Lie, M. (1995). Technology and Masculinity: The Case of the Computer. The European Journal of Women's Studies, 2, 379-394. https://doi.org/10.1177/135050689500200306
Luyt, R. (2012). Representation of masculinities and race in South African television advertising: a content analysis. Journal of Gender Studies, 21(1), 35-60. https://doi.org/10.1080/09589236.2012.639176
Marwan, A. H., Jan, F. & Khan, A.U. (2017). Dominance of US Officials in the Pakistani TV Channels: A Case Study of the Media Coverage of Osama Bin Laden's Death. The Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences, 25 (1), 1-12.
Messerschmidt, J. W. (2000). Nine Lives: Adolescent Masculinities, the Body, and Violence. Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press
Moller, M. (2007). Exploiting Patterns: A Critique of Hegemonic Masculinity. Journal of Gender Studies, 16(3), 263-276. https://doi.org/10.1080/09589230701562970
Moore, H. (1994). The problem of explaining violence in the social sciences. In Penelope Harvey and Peter Gow (Ed.) Sex and Violence: Issues in Representation and Experience. London: Routledge.
Moura, T. (2005). Between micro-war and macro-peace: Masculinities and femininities in gang warfare in Rio de Janeiro, Presented at the Hegemonic Masculinities in International Politics Conference, Manchester University Centre for International Politics.
O'Hanlon, R. (1997). Issues of Masculinity in North India History. Indian Journal of Gender Studies, 4, 1-19. https://doi.org/10.1177/097152159700400101
Oppliger, P.A. (2007). Effects of gender stereotyping on socialization. In R.W. Preiss, B.M. Gayle, N. Burrell, M. Allen, & J. Bryant (Ed.), Mass Media Effects Research: Advances through Meta-Analysis. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
PEMRA Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority, 2010 Annual Report
Signorielli, N. (2003). Prime-time violence 1993-2001: Has the picture really changed? Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 47(1), 36-57. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15506878jobem4701_3
Signorielli, N. (2009). Race and sex in primetime: A look at occupations and occupational prestige. Mass Communication and Society, 12, 332-352. https://doi.org/10.1080/15205430802478693
Sink, A., & Mastro, D. (2017). Depictions of gender on primetime television: A quantitative content analysis. Mass Communication & Society, 20(1), 3-22. https://doi.org/10.1080/15205436.2016.1212243
Srivastava, S. & Roy, R. (2011).Understanding Masculinities: Culture, Politics and Social Change. South Asian Network to Address Masculinities.
Stets, J.E. & Burke, P.J. (2000). Identity Theory and Social Identity Theory. Social Psychology Quarterly, 63, 224-237. https://doi.org/10.2307/2695870
Swatay, Z.A. (2012). Analysis of the Pressures of Masculinity: The Case of Pakhtun Men/Boys in District Swat.
Tabasum, I.A. & Khan, M.K. (2015). Search for Conjugal Bliss in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences, 23(3), 73-82.
Talbot, I. (1998). Pakistan, A Modern Histroy, New York, USA: St. Martins Press.
Torre, E. (1990). Drama as a Consciousness-Raising Strategy for the Self-Empowerment of Working Women. Affilia, 5(1), 49-65. https://doi.org/10.1177/088610999000500104
Wajcman, J. (1991). Feminism Confronts Technology. Cambridge: Polity Press.
White, C., Oliffe, J.L. & Bottorff, J.L. (2012). From the Physician to the Marlboro Man: Masculinity, Health, and Cigarette Advertising in America, 1946-1964. Men and Masculinities, 15(5), 526-547. https://doi.org/10.1177%2F1097184X12461917
Full Text: PDF
Refbacks
- There are currently no refbacks.
