- Title
- Exploring the social construction of masculine identity as it relates to rape in the Buffalo City Municipality
- Creator
- Matshikwe, Noluthando https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0439-0766
- Subject
- Masculinity
- Subject
- Gender identity
- Subject
- Sex role
- Date
- 2024-01
- Type
- Master's theses
- Type
- text
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/10353/28595
- Identifier
- vital:74454
- Description
- In South Africa, rape is a pandemic that is persistent and pervasive in unprecedented amounts. The construction of masculinity is understood to be a contributing factor to the rape pandemic in the country, as its construction focuses on power, dominance, and control of the less masculine individual. This study explored the social construction of masculine identity related to rape in the Buffalo City Municipality. The study sample consisted of a mixed-gendered focus group interview of eight participants (four males and four females). In addition, the study utilised six individual virtual interviews (three males and three females) who were all students at a local university. When analysing the data received from the participants, the study adopted Willig’s six stages of Foucauldian discourse analysis outlined in her book “Introducing Qualitative Research in Psychology” (2008, p. 118). The Foucauldian discourse analysis utilised in this study allowed for answering research questions through direct analysis of the extracts selected for this study. The results of this study indicated that masculinity is a socially constructed phenomenon synonymous with dominance and power. Hegemonic masculinity was constructed as synonymous with manhood, resulting in an individual being entitled to social privileges. Subordinate subjects were constructed as vulnerable to the expression of these qualities by being dominated, controlled, and raped. This construction of masculinity continues to construct robust and powerless subjects, where the powerless subject is subjected to the hegemonic male power, dominance, and control, creating an imbalance of social power and an unjust social hierarchy of. The construction of masculinity is linked with the rape pandemic faced by the country, as it constructs hegemonic forms of masculinity associated with domination and violation of other members of society, through sexual assault.
- Description
- Thesis (MSoc) -- Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, 2024
- Format
- computer
- Format
- online resource
- Format
- application/pdf
- Format
- 1 online resource (174 leaves)
- Format
- Publisher
- University of Fort Hare
- Publisher
- Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities
- Language
- English
- Rights
- University of Fort Hare
- Rights
- All Rights Reserved
- Rights
- Open Access
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View Details Download | SOURCE1 | Noluthando.pdf | 1 MB | Adobe Acrobat PDF | View Details Download |