Contemporary Western societies are currently witness to a “crisis of masculinity” but also to an intriguing diversification of images of masculinity. Once relatively stable regimes of masculine gender representation appear to have been replaced by a wider spectrum of varieties of masculine “lifestyles” taken up by the media and the market, to produce new and immensely flexible forms consumerised gender hegemony. The essays in Subverting Masculinity concentrate on contemporary film, literature and diverse forms of popular culture. The essays show that the subversion of traditional images of masculinity is both a source of gender contestation, but may equally be susceptible to assimilation by new hegemonic configurations of masculinity. Subverting Masculinity maps out the ongoing relevance of gender politics in contemporary culture, but also raises the question of increasingly unclear distinctions between hegemonic and subversive versions of masculinity in contemporary cultural production. Subverting Masculinity will be of interest to students and teachers of gender, cultural, film and literary studies.

Table of Contents:
Russell WEST: Men, the Market and Models of Masculinity in Contemporary Culture: Introduction. Part I: Cinema Elisabeth KRIMMER: Nobody Wants to Be a Man Anymore? Cross-Dressing in American Movies of the 90’s Russell WEST: “This is a Man’s Country”: Masculinity and Australian National Identity in Crocodile Dundee Stefan BRANDT: American Culture X: Identity, Homosexuality and the Search for a New American Hero Neil BADMINGTON: Disclosure’s Disclosure Part II: Literature Stefan HERBRECHTER: From Trainspotting to Filth – Masculinity and Cultural Politics in Irvine Welsh’s Writings Madelena GONZALEZ: The Moor’s Last Sigh (Salman Rushdie): Marginal Alternatives, the Reconstruction of Identity through the Carnival of Indetermination. Monika MÜLLER: From Hard-Boiled Detective to Kaspar Hauser?: Masculinity and Writing in Paul Auster’s The New York Trilogy Peter MIDDLETON: Patriarchal Poetry: Fathers and Sons in Contemporary Poetry Part III: Diverse Cultural Forms Eleanor HOGAN: “Manhood,” “Boyhood” and Reading the Melbourne Weekend Papers: the My(th)op(oet)ic Consumption of Family Life Rainer EMIG: Queering the Straights: Straightening Queers: Commodified Sexualities and Hegemonic Masculinity Frank LAY: “Sometimes We Wonder Who the Real Men Are” – Masculinity and Contemporary Popular Music Ruth MAYER: The White Hunter: Edgar Rice Burroughs, Ernest Hemingway, Clint Eastwood, and the Art of Acting Male in Africa Notes on Contributors CLASSIFICATION TERMS: Gender / Masculinity / Cultural Studies