MASCULINITIES IN QUESTION: CRISES, NORMS ANDRESISTANCES IN THE FIELD OF GENDER STUDIES

Abstract

This paper aims to problematize the concept of masculinities from a critical feminist and intersectional perspective, emphasizing the articulations between power, body, violence, health, and education. Starting from the question "how are hegemonic masculinities constructed, reproduced, and can be destabilized in light of feminist critique?", the work mobilizes the theoretical frameworks of Connell and Messerschmidt (hegemonic masculinity), Judith Butler (body and performativity), Guacira Lopes Louro (pedagogies of sexuality), bell hooks (critical education), Michael Kimmel (violence and masculinity), and decolonial feminist authors such as Lélia Gonzalez and María Lugones. Methodologically, a critical review of national and international literature is adopted, emphasizing the articulation between power, discourse, corporeality, structural violence, men's health, and educational practices. The analyses indicate that masculinities are not fixed essences but relational configurations of power that can be transformed through pedagogical and political interventions committed to gender justice. The intersectional analysis reveals that male experiences are deeply crossed by markers of race, class, coloniality, sexuality, and disability, making homogeneous generalizations unviable. The results also point out that men's health – including alarming suicide rates among men – and structural violence are still underexplored dimensions in critical studies on masculinities, but are fundamental to a transformative agenda. It concludes that "putting masculinity into question" is a fundamental condition for dismantling patriarchy and constructing non-hierarchical, caring, non-violent, and anti-patriarchal forms of male existence.