The Role of Hegemonic Masculinity in Sexual Assault of Women

This essay evaluates the role of hegemonic masculinity in sexual assault of women and justifies such criminal behavior as an expression of masculinity. It discusses the concept of hegemonic masculinity, its origins, and its influence on gender roles and power dynamics. The essay also explores the connection between hegemonic masculinity and sexual assault, citing research and statistics. It concludes by emphasizing the need to address violence against women and promote gender equality.

Running head: GENDER CRIME
GENDER CRIME
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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The concept of hegemonic masculinity was propounded by R.W. Connell and was first
originated through research on social inequality in Australian Schools. The early phases of 1980s
saw substantial research and studies relating to masculinity and gender discrimination in the
societies. In studies relating to gender issues and societal role of gender, the concept of
hegemonic masculinity by R.W. Connell is a ground breaking work that reflects the past and the
current conceptions about gender roles and domination of the one gender over other in terms of
social status, occupation and power. The theory by Connell revolves around the gender order
theory and recognizes the various masculinities that are practiced in the society around us and is
expanded over time, culture and geography. The hegemonic masculinity is generally attributed
by expression of power through forms of violence, discrimination or domination. It is defined as
a practice legitimizing the dominant act of expression by men and justifies the subordination of
women and other non general ways of masculine expression, mostly feminine expression of men.
The concept of hegemonistic masculinity explains the reasons why and how men dominate social
roles over women and other gender identities which are generally categorised as feminine in a
prejudiced society (Demetriou, 2001). Though the concept of the hegemonistic masculinity as
proposed by R.W. Connell brings in a lot of criticism as expected but has influenced gender
studies across the globe.
The traditional modern society has continuously evolved but the basic aspects and tenets
that have identified the role of gender have remained same. The social constructs have evolved
from prejudiced social interpretations and the major sections of the American and the European
societies have developed on the standardized roles of gender. The description of a perfect
machoistic male person is identified with certain traits while the women are similarly associated
with certain role that acts as a basic framework for individuals to follow. The societal pressure

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influences the man and the woman to align themselves with these social constructs and be an
ideal representation of the standards. Thus the masculine hegemony is not just an expression of
male dominance or superiority but is actually an evolution of the prejudices that have created
such social constructs and forces a male gender to perform the role hat aligns with such
constructs and thus give rise to hegemonic masculinity. The reflection of the male power
domination and superiority is thus expressed in forms of sexual assault over the inferior women,
or effeminate men and children to some extent.
As a purview of sociology the concept of hegemonistic masculinity is originated from the
tenets of cultural hegemony first brought forward by Antonio Gramsci, a Marxian theorist who
has described the difference in power among the social classes in the society. The term
‘hegemony’ is derived from the social segregation of power and is derived from the distinction
of power among different sections of the society. The origin of hegemonistic masculinity in the
society has not developed in a day but has evolved over time by idealizing the norms of
masculine traits that has been laid down through time and most importantly the way they have
been represented as a standard of manhood with traits and attributes that contradict certain
normal psychological expressions. Though many sociologists have criticized the way
hegemonistic masculinity is defined as a fixed character type limited by its analysis of character,
it fails to define or describe the complexity of the male character and the different forms of
masculinity that are prevalent yet can neither be regarded within the given hegemonistic
definition of masculinity and therefore is criticized on grounds of incompetent explanation. The
psychosocial dynamics of the male gender and the gender hierarchy has been excluded while
defining hegemonistic masculinity in various forms and across geographies and thus
reformulation of the concept has been done by the proposer of the theory.

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This essay will evaluate the role of hegemonistic masculinity in sexual assault of women
and justifies such criminal behaviour as an expression of masculinity. The context of such
violence will be understood through the various contexts of hegemonistic masculinity and the
way it has been put forward by R.W. Connell. The following sections will look into various
atrocities and sexual violence against women, and the way they have been treated with respect to
the masculine society. The growing resent among the feminism and feminist theories have
actually derived, from the increasing discrimination and hegemony practiced by the societies for
a considerable amount of time. The influence of hegemonistic masculinity has been observed in
criminology and information from various sources reveal most of the conventional crimes have
been committed by men and boys as compared to girls and women. According to Newburn and
Stanko, (1995), specific crimes against women were noted such as rapes in Switzerland and
domestic violence in Europe and America specifies the gender biased crime and are attributed to
hegemonistic masculinity. A survey conducted by the International Violence Against Women
Survey or the IVAWS, conducted in Australia records a total of 6.677 women belonging from
the age group of 18 to 69 gives an overview of the atrocities against women by men. The report
reveals that the around 57% of the women has faced sexual harassment. or physical violence in
the past one year and around twenty nine percent of the respondents had reported of experiencing
physical or sexual violence below the age of 16. 23 % of the respondents revealed that they faced
violence from known male partners or relatives which strongly projects the hegemonistic
masculinity prevalent in the society. The several other incidents that refer to instances of male
hegemony and sexual assault relates to the expression of dominance and power over other
sections of the gender. During the adolescence period, major cases of sexual harassment or
offences happen with time. The gender is constructed over time and the schools and

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neighbourhoods are highly responsible in influencing the gender construct of males and females.
The several cases that develop through time reflect the hegemonistic masculinity in these
adolescent boys during their periods of growing up. Though it is not always a sharp demarcation
of hegemonic masculinity, but complicit masculinity is also responsible to a great extent in
aiding to violence against women (Connell & Messerschmidt, 2005). The repeated instances of
violence created by adolescent males are fragmented representation of dominant masculinity.
One of the infamous incidents of male hegemony is the ‘Lisa Olson’ locker room
incident, where by Lisa a sport’s journalist was sexually harassed by the Team members of New
England Patriots in their Locker room which is generally known as a place of male dominion.
The threat of Olson’s presence in the locker room was an intrusion into the sphere of male
dominion which was treated with “care” by the players which expressed male superiority over
the inferior female. Thus male hegemony continues to express its forms in our daily lives
expanding from sexual harassment to mental harassment. The presence of Olson in the locker
room threatens the sanctity of the locker room symbolizing male dominance and superiority
which was replied with sexual advances from the team mates to prove their domination in the
zone. One of the major attributes of masculine hegemony is the sexual objectification of women
and therefore sexual assault of women is one of the most important attribute of hegemonic
masculinity (Kane & Disch, 1993).
According to Murnen et al (2002), the expression of masculine gender role is attached to
the perpetuation of sexual assault against women which is an expression of dominant and
aggressive and is more of an dictate to teach women about their inferiority and that they are
worthy of victimization. The socio-cultural construct of the male chauvinism is linked with male
ideologies which reflect the hostile masculinity and hyper masculinity and promote sexual

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aggression. According to research by Malamuth, Sockloskie, Koss, & Tanaka in 1991 along with
researches of Mosher & Sirkin in 1984 reveal that hyper masculinity and hostile masculinity
were used as a measure of masculine hegemony and their association with sexual aggression was
revealed through the researches. The research was intended to find out the amount of association
of male ideologies with respect to sexual aggression. Similar researches by Mahoney, Shively
and Traw in 1986 that the common adherence to typical masculine gender is reflected by sexual
assault which is treated as a normative expression of the gender role and is often encouraged by
peer pressure, lack of social conscience, irresponsibility and situational influences such as
alcoholism and intoxication. The sexual role of male is more of power than of a biological or
social. This association of the male domination through sexual assault is the typical machoistic
male identity created by the society. The traditional or typical gender roles encourage men to be
violent, stoic and aggressive and are defined as masculine traits and dictates women to be
sexually passive reflecting femininity. These are in fact social constructs that have been
attributed within the gender roles and are developed like basic instincts within an individual.
The traditional sexual script as described by Byers in 1996 discusses about the way men
are projected in their role of delivering masculine qualities by expressing aggression, without any
emotional attachment during their sexual conquests and are taught to not accept a negative
response with respect to their sexual advances. Any such response has to be treated with
aggression and sexual assault and thus the establishing their dominance by expression of sexual
coercion. The most alarming context is the legitimization of these aggressive responses and
sexual assaults in the name of masculinity and the justification of these crimes as expression of
masculinity. According to Warsaw and Parrot in 1991 states that women and girls in our
hegemonic society are taught to be submissive and supposedly yield to the needs of others,

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specifically their male counterparts. They are taught to be relied on men, and look up to men to
provide security and sustenance. Warshaw has also reflected that most boys are steered on the
path of aggression and are taught to segregate empathy and kindness as girlish traits and to treat
any conflict with physical aggression or response. This gives the origin of the masculine
hegemony resulting in the birth of sexual entitlement and social superiority over women.
The sexual assault is also related to the community one belongs to and it has been
observed that the rate of sexual assault depends on the proneness of a community to be highly
rape prone or less rape prone. The rape prone cultures mostly observed in the societies of the
United States have been experienced with traditional gender role attitudes among men in these
societies. Thus sexual assault is a part of the age old tradition from which it derives as a cultural
inheritance.
However, according to Fisher and Good in 1998, it has been examined that there are
different forms of masculine ideology by using Thompson and Plenck’s Male Role Norms Scale
and five different male ideologies were identified. These include the moderately traditional, the
high status and low violence, the non-traditional high violence or moderately traditional and
traditional in general. The moderately traditional and traditional groups of men saw greater
tendencies of performing sexual assault compared to other groups (Thompson et al., 2015).
Finally, it can be concluded that the necessity to address violence against women in any
form is of utmost importance. It has to be taken into consideration that the hegemonic
masculinity is detrimental for the growth of the society and also issues regarding gender bias
needs to be addressed within a guided framework to reduce sexual assault of women in face of
social prejudices. Referring to the Connell’s concept of hegemonic masculinity further studies

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and restructuring should be made in order to fully understand the concept of masculinity in its
various forms. The growing sexual assault on woman as a reflection of masculine power should
be treated with adequate social construct of gender roles and gender equality and should be
entitled within the framework of education and workplace.

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