The Valley Boiz: Re-Traditionalizing Masculinity

Abstract

In the opening chapters of this book, I outlined how the South Wales Valleys were once major contributors to the British coal industry, but due to economic restructuring in the 1980s, there has been a drastic transformation in the relationship between employment and masculinity. Men once earned respect for working arduously, and these roles were often seen as heroic, with punishing physical labour that involved different degrees of manual skill and bodily toughness, creating a strong, stoic masculinity. Male camaraderie, which was established through physicality and close working conditions underground or at steel furnaces, also developed through joking around, storytelling, sexist language and banter at the work site. One’s life often depended on friendships in these dangerous industries. These relationships were further supported through organizations such as miners’ institutes, trade unions, chapels, pubs, working men’s clubs and sports. Rugby Union in particular (and to a lesser extent boxing and football) still maintains a powerful positions in the culture of the locale and the Welsh nation as a whole, influencing those who play it, those who watch it, those who reject it and those who are deemed unfit for it (Holland and Scourfield, 1998; Howe, 2001; Harris, 2007). A strong division of labour accompanied these communities, and the ability to maintain a distance from anything ‘feminine’ was essential for a strong masculinity that would enable the communities to survive (Walkerdine, 2010).