3. Electronic Theses and Dissertations (ETDs) - All submissions
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Item "It's uncomfortable for us to be called sisters": an exploratory study into the experiences of male nurses in a Johannesburg hospital, South Africa(2016) Kalemba, JoshuaThe aim of this study is to understand the experiences of male nurses as they work in women-dominated workplace. The focus of other studies has been on: the ‘glass escalator’ and the hidden advantages for men in the so called ‘female’ professions; masculinity at work; the experiences of men in female dominated occupations and the experiences of men in caring professions. In South Africa, many studies on masculinity have been carried out that focus on the gender issues of southern Africa such as, causes and prevention of intimate partner violence; young men and the construction of masculinity, implications for HIV/AIDS, conflict, and violence; contemporary masculinities particularly the gendered cultural politics and hegemonic masculinities/masculinity in South African: culture, power and gender politics. But there is a dearth of literature on the issue of men in gender concentrated occupations, like nursing, in South Africa. This study seeks to fill the gap in understanding of how South African men experience their masculine gender identity in the context of engaging in work which is supposedly feminine by employing a qualitative, semi-structured interview approach of 15 male nurses of a hospital in Johannesburg, South Africa. This study argues that male nurses tend to portray hegemonic masculinity as their gender identity is simultaneously being configured, misconfigured and reconfigured in the workplace.Item Discourses of destiny: a multimodal analysis of 2014 issues of Destiny Man magazine(2016) Leopeng, BertrandThis thesis took an interpretive approach to analysing content as presented in the print media. The focus of this study was Destiny Man magazine, a six year old lifestyle publication aimed at middle-class men in South Africa. This thesis explored how black middle-class men are presented by looking at the latent content from an interpretive stance. Therefore, a psychosocial approach was adopted to understand how political, socio-economic, and gender interact with one another at the psycho-social level. A total number of 35 articles were analysed using interpretative psychoanalytic methods and relevant critique. In addition to these 54 images were chosen to be analysed and included in an overall contextual framework relating to topics such as race, masculinity, economics, alcohol, and sport. This content was chosen from the eight 2014 issues of Destiny Man magazine. In analysis, the history of colonialism, apartheid, and the development of neoliberal capitalism was taken into account regarding how black middle class men negotiate their masculine identities in the new South Africa. The development of neoliberal capitalism and a multimodal discourse on the male psyche is explored in-depth, with the resultant social analysis. Overall, the basis of this research was to critically analyse African middle class masculinity in post-apartheid South Africa taken many factors into account. The key themes identified in the analysis include narcissism, domination, and denial of feminity, fatherhood, alcohol consumption, and performances of gender. The interactions of all of these factors have been shown to have an impact on our understanding of contemporary African middle class masculinity, affecting the construction and definition of this concept in a complex and dynamic way. Destiny Man magazine is a poignant example of how these interactions are presented in the media.Item Constructions of masculinity and masculine identities among male adolescent rugby players.(2014-02-27) Stephenson, JustinThis study explored the negotiation of masculine identities among male adolescent rugby players within South Africa, using the brief of "What it means to be a young man in South Africa today". Of particular interest was the way in which young men engaged with concepts of hegemonic masculinity and how they positioned their own and others' gender identities in relation to this. A total of 14 adolescent boys participated in two focus groups with the topic of masculinity as a discussion point. The research was situated within a qualitative research paradigm which allowed for the exploration, description and interpretation of the data generated during the focus groups. Two focus groups were held, with 10 and 4 participants in each group respectively. The focus group discussions were recorded and transcribed verbatim. The data was analysed using a critical thematic analysis, in order to establish central themes within the data. Four prominent themes were indentified: the male body; aspirational role models; engagement and interaction with the feminine; and negotiation of alternative masculinities. Each theme was discussed and expanded on using appropriate theory. The study highlights how the young men actively engaged with the negotiation of their gendered identities, raising critical questions regarding the acceptance of many hegemonic or dominant forms of expression of masculinity. It was also noted that while there was engagement and debate surrounding the construction of gender identities, a rather conventional hegemonic form of masculinity was still largely regarded as the ideal. An interesting finding in the study was that while many of the young men prized a more hegemonic conception of masculinity, alternative forms were engaged and identified with, and at times were incorporated into a more fluid understanding and expression of gender identity.Item Exploring high-performing male psychology students' narratives of identity : telling tales of men defying hegemony.(2014-02-21) Townsend, AnthonyThis study explores high-performing male psychology students’ narratives of identity. The rationale for undertaking this study is that men presently represent a shrinking minority within the academic and professional practice of psychology in South Africa. While much quantitative research has noted gendered trends within the field, there remains a paucity of qualitative data on these men’s thoughts and experiences within the South African context. A narrative research design, underpinned by an interpretative phenomenological epistemology, was employed to explore this topic in a participant-led manner. The unique life stories of the six male participants, recruited from third-year, honours and masters psychology courses, were explored through an open-ended narrative interview that was later followed by a semi-structured interview. Both interviews were audio-recorded and the interview transcripts were subjected to a two stage inductive thematic analysis in which emergent themes were interrogated both for each participant and between participants. The first round of data analysis yielded thirty thematic codes according to which these participants’ narratives of identity could be interpreted and during the second stage of analysis these codes were clustered into six master themes which were mapped onto the secondary research questions informing this study. Thematic analysis revealed: (1) active efforts by the participants to defy hegemonic gender norms and (re)define masculinity through engagement in what is traditionally defined as “women’s work” in their adoption of a care-giver role by providing emotional support to others while also attempting to redefine psychology as a profession that is not exclusively feminine. (2) These participants reported selecting their career option on the basis of passion as opposed to pragmatics by valuing their desire to engage in this field over hegemonic concerns with prestige and earning-potential. However, such considerations were peripheral rather than absent in their narratives. (3) Consistent with previous findings, these men all reported experiencing life struggles as a route to developing empathy and therefore exhibited elements of the wounded-healer model. (4) Those men who are pursuing careers neuropsychology and industrial psychology showed an interest in humanity (scientists) fostered by feelings of difference while those in therapeutic orientations report developing a desire to help (helpers) based on experiences of marginalisation. While the participants differed as to whether they were more inclined towards the more traditionally masculine values of science or the more traditionally feminine values of care, they all reported a desire to both help and understand as professional psychologists. (5) While diversity and difference were reported by these men to contribute to an enhanced sense of empathy and social interest, they mentioned such a sense of difference having developed from the experience of early geographic movement and exposure to multiple cultures. This seems to have fostered a keen social awareness that contributed to a growing interest in the different lifestyles that people and communities enjoy which they now study and work with as aspiring psychologists. (6) Furthermore, their dynamic and changing world is suggested to have garnered a love of variety and iterative sense of self which has permitted continuing development in professional psychology as they report finding the personal growth and development endemic to the field to be an important part of how they understand themselves. Findings of the research which may broadly map directions for future research include a lack of conflation by these men of sexual orientation and masculinity suggesting that homosexuality is not necessarily understood as a contravention of masculine norms not suggested by previous research findings. Importantly, while feelings of difference were explored in this study, race was a shared silence during the interviews and further investigation into the experiences of black men aspiring to become male psychologists in the South African context is considered vital to enhancing our understanding of the diverse body of professionals in South African psychology.Item Young men's responses to media portrayals of masculinity : a South African qualitative investigation.(2014-01-15) Israelstam, JarrodThe media has always been an institution inseparable from the rest of society – where they have been societies, there have been ways of discussing and representing information that is key to constituting those societies through media. Specifically, it has been argued that gender identities are informed by social representations in the media, but relatively little research has focused on male gender identities. The importance of understanding male gender identity in South Africa cannot be overstated as this identity shapes men’s interactions with women and other men. For example, beliefs around male dominance and aggression may lie behind woman abuse, homophobic behaviour, and the spread of HIV (Dunkle & Decker, 2012; Engh, 2011). For example, South African women suffering intimate partner violence or in gender-unequal relationships have a higher risk of HIV infection (Dunkle & Decker, 2012). In this context, a sample of 52 male undergraduate students from a large university in Johannesburg, South Africa, completed an open-ended survey after viewing video clips taken from popular media. The three clips showed men carrying out non-stereotypical male activities, such as ballet dancing, nursing, and striptease. The participants were asked to give their feelings about the clips, the importance of being male and about masculinity in general. A thematic content analysis of the data gathered illuminated the dominant social representations regarding masculinity in contemporary South Africa, which were primarily interpreted with reference to the theory of hegemonic masculinity and Moscovici’s social representations theory. Some themes which emerged were around heteronormativity, the high status of male identity, male defensiveness and the constant flux of masculine identity. The appearance of these themes shows the complex interplay of sexuality and gender, the diversity of masculinity, and the power that men continue to hold. This serves to illuminate the relationships between hegemonic and non-hegemonic masculinities in South Africa. Beyond its theoretical significance, this study may also inform gender-education campaigns. There are several university societies for which the results would be useful, such as the LGBQTIA society, Wits Activate. National social programmes that may be able to act on these results include the Brothers for Life campaign, which seeks to change masculine stereotypes. Changing attitudes such as male superiority and defensiveness may be key to the prevention of gender-based violence as well creating greater gender harmony in South Africa. Some hope is created by tolerant attitudes and resistance to hegemonic social representations this study, but the results presented are divergent.Item Constructions of masculinity and violence in a popular daily tabloid newspaper.(2013-05-22) Matoushaya, FadzaiThe research was premised on the notion that gender is a social construct that is inextricably linked with masculinity and violence. This view of gender was used in an attempt to understand how masculinity and violence are constructed in the tabloid newspaper, the Daily Sun. The research used a discourse analysis, specifically looking at the various subject positions that are afforded to both men and women in this publication and how such positions foreclose other ways of thinking about and understanding gendered violence. The data set consisted of 23 information rich articles that were selected through the use of a purposeful sampling strategy. Results suggest while the Daily Sun positions itself as a medium that aims to ‘educate’ men (particularly working class men) against committing gendered violence, the Daily Sun may serve to reinforce the system of patriarchy that it claims to want to dismantle. In particular, the report highlights the problematic nature and implications of providing individual psychological explanations for gendered violence without acknowledging the contextual issues that are at play.