Will the Real Joseph Gelfer Please Stand Up: Multiple Masculinities and the Self

Abstract

A discourse of multiplicity in the study of masculinities has identified and given voice to an ever-increasing spectrum of both men’s and women’s experiences. This chapter extends the concept of multiple masculinities not by continuing to identify the experiences of diverse constituencies whose masculine performances have yet to be heard but by identifying multiple masculinities/identities within the individual self. Singular masculine identities such as ‘gay man’, ‘profeminist’ or ‘men’s rights advocate’ rarely communicate the subtlety of a person’s genuine beliefs: they are more of a caricature than a representation of the truth. Rather than seeking ‘balance’ between aspects of the gendered self or a ‘middle ground’ between different approaches to the study of masculinities, via an auto-ethnographic analysis of the themes of sexuality and style, this article views the masculine self and the study of masculinities in a more rhizomatic fashion, noting there are multiple positions with multiple connections to one another that comprise the greater whole.