Jarheads, Girly Men, and the Pleasures of Violence

Abstract

This article explores the troublesome ways in which violence and pleasure become conflated for both hypermasculine and effeminate men. Using images from contemporary culture and incidents from the author's life, the article ponders how men might negotiate this unfortunate bind. I n the film, Jarhead, a group of Marines gang up on another member of their platoon. Held down, the targeted man is threatened with a branding, with burning into his skin the insignia of the Marines. We see his resistance, his fear, before learning this was just a joke. Later on in the film, another Marine who had gained the respect of the unit but is being discharged because of a previous criminal record, is branded, marked in the desire to be what a Marine often is, scarred into manhood.When Arnold Schwarzenegger calls his political opponents "girly men," he mistakenly believes that the phrase, taken from the Saturday Night Live parody of his hypermasculinity, is just a comic insult, without implications. But he is with each utterance of the phrase saying that people, men and women, who act like women are of questionable value, a step below, not to be taken seriously, dismissible. Schwarzenegger's use of the phrase is a strategy of control, of domination, an ongoing bid for power over others. It is taking pleasure in maintaining the privilege of masculinity. It requires forced submission.I dwell in the space between jarheads and girly men, between hypermasculinity and femininity, negotiating violence, its repugnancy, and its pleasures. I write to uncover how I have become trapped within a cultural logic that pulls me into a sadistic desire to be or identify with a person in power. Knowing that I have been both a jarhead and a girly man, I write so that I might maneuver without causing harm, without taking pleasure in violence. I write, offering a series of life examples and disclosing perhaps more than I should, to show how being a girly man can be a resistant strategy.

Exploring Gender-Related Experiences of Cancer Survivors Through Creative Arts: A Scoping Review

“…This is significant as Zebrack (2000) has suggested that these changes in identity narratives have clinical and psychosocial implications, affecting one’s ability to carry out roles and responsibilities, and, depending on the context, negatively affect overall QoL. As gender figures heavily in narrative and identity construction (Pelias, 2007, 2008), exploring the physical (e.g., hair loss) and psychosocial (e.g., feminine roles) reported aspects that contribute to constructions of the self through a gendered lens may be useful in promoting well-being after cancer. Interestingly, the studies exploring men’s experience with understanding gender focused largely on physical challenges (e.g., physical capacity, work; Morrison & Thomas, 2015; Oliffe & Bottorff, 2007).…”

Qualitative Inquiry and Family Therapist Identity Construction Through Community-Based Child Welfare Practice

“…By navigating truthfulness about biases, transparency with our vulnerabilities, and connectedness to the human experience, we sought to tell a story on ourselves (Allen & Piercy, 2005), offering glimpses of our local knowledge and ourselves in connection to others (Pelias, 2007). Our discussions and writings highlighted the multifaceted nature of the construction of MFT professional identity mandating participation in social justice advocacy and multidisciplinary collaboration.…”

Paradoxes of Sexuality, Gay Identity, and the Closet

“…An autoethnographer uses personal experience to make unique and unfamiliar aspects of a group familiar for insiders and outsiders, and, in so doing, say something about or motivate change in a particular culture(s) (e.g., Bochner 2002; Boylorn 2006; Ellis 2002, 2009; Pelias 2004, 2007). An autoethnographer may also interview cultural members (e.g., Ellis, Kiesinger, and Tillmann‐Healy 1997; Foster 2006; Marvasti 2006) and analyze cultural artifacts (e.g., Boylorn 2008; Denzin 2006), but does not apply predetermined, sense‐making criteria to her, his, or others' experience and the artifacts; rather, the person allows patterns to emerge, inductively, through analysis of the experience and artifacts.…”