Masculinities

This entry is focused on masculinity as it is constructed, maintained, and challenged by LGBTQ populations. The entry begins by providing gender development concepts and some of the theoretical orientations used to examine how masculinity has been constructed within various contexts (e.g., psychology, culture, society). The second section examines the historical and traditional definitions of masculinity in the United States through a Foucauldian-based analysis. This entry concludes [Page 746]by considering the transactional associations between masculinity and international LGBTQ communities. Throughout, the entry considers various ways in which people perform what is deemed “masculine,” and the varying ways such a performance may interact with other identities (e.g., race/ethnicity, socioeconomic status [SES], gender, sexual orientation, immigration status).