The Costs of Exclusionary Practices in Masculinities Studies

Abstract

Feminist scholarship on masculinities ossified into a recognizable “subfield” of gender studies, in part, through systematically centering the work of a very small group of white men. This process of collective centering works as an effective “exclusionary practice” that I argue hinders both the scholarly and political potential of this field. This article examines the transformation of the status of the subfield alongside an examination of women’s contributions to feminist scholarship on masculinities, and an emergent politics of citation that works to reproduce inequality within this subfield. In addition to identifying the processes by which a small group of white men have accumulated a disproportionate amount of power and status within “masculinities studies” as problematic, I also question the lack of critical dialogue and debate between various subfields examining systems of power and structured advantage. Here, I put masculinities studies into conversation with whiteness studies, critical heterosexualities studies, research on elites, and more to argue that there should be more dialogue between scholars doing research in these areas. Disrupting exclusionary practices in masculinities studies with both political and practical intent will better situate feminist scholars of masculinities to adapt their scholarship to transformations in the character and form of durable systems of inequality as well as identifying emergent processes and mechanisms of social reproduction.