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Cited by 217Gender and Feminist StudiesHistorical Gender and Feminism StudiesGender Roles and Identity Studies

The DOI matches its Crossref record; 38 of the 39 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.

The Limits of “The Male Sex Role”: An Analysis of the Men's Liberation and Men's Rights Movements' Discourse

MESSNER, MICHAEL A.·1998·Gender & Society
DOI 10.1177/0891243298012003002
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Abstract

Some feminists have seen sex role theory as limited, even dangerous; others see it as useful mid-range theory. This article sheds light on this debate through an examination of the discourse of the men's liberation movement of the 1970s. Men's liberation leaders grappled with the paradox of simultaneously acknowledging men's institutional privileges and the costs of masculinity to men. The language of sex roles was the currency through which they negotiated this paradox. By the late 1970s, men's liberation had disappeared. The conservative and moderate wings of men's liberation became an anti-feminist men's rights movement, facilitated by the language of sex roles. The progressive wing of men's liberation abandoned sex role language and formed a profeminist movement premised on a language of gender relations and power. The article ends with a discussion of the implications of this case for debates about sex role theory, and urges the study of contemporary organizations whose discourse is based on the language of sex roles.

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Research works printed but not linked: 22

  1. Andersen, D. 1977. Warren the success object. In For men against sexism, edited by Jon Snodrass. Albion, CA: Times Change Press.
  2. Baumli, Francis , ed. 1985. Men freeing men: Exploding the myth of the traditional male. Jersey City, NJ: New Atlantis.
  3. Brannon, Robert . 1981-82. Are the “Free Men” a faction of our movement? M: Gentle Men for Gender Justice 7 (winter).
  4. Doyle, R. 1985. Divorce. In Men freeing men: Exploding the myth of the traditional male, edited by Frances Baumli. Jersey City, NJ: New Atlantis.
  5. Farrell, Warren . 1974. The liberated man. New York: Random House.
  6. Free Men . 1997. National Coalition of Free Men. Web Page.
  7. Gerzon, Mark . 1982. A choice of heroes: The changing faces of America's manhood. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
  8. Goldberg, Herb . 1979. The new male: From macho to sensitive but still all male. New York: Signet.
  9. Haddad, R. 1985. Concepts and overview of the men's liberation movement. In Men freeing men: Exploding the myth of the traditional male, edited by F. Baumli. Jersey City, NJ: New Atlantis.
  10. Hanisch, C. 1975. Men's Liberation. In Feminist revolution, edited by Redstockings. New York: Random House.
  11. Reprint, in Men and masculinity, edited by J. H. Pleck and J. Sawyer. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
  12. Henley, Nancy . 1970. Male chauvinism: Attitudes and practices. Newsletter of the New University Conference. Chicago.
  13. Logan, D. 1985. Men abused by women. In Men freeing men: Exploding the myth of the traditional male, edited by F. Baumli. Jersey City, NJ: New Atlantis.
  14. Men's Consciousness-Raising Group . 1971. Unbecoming men. Washington, DC: Times Change.
  15. Messner, Michael A. . Forthcoming. Radical feminist and socialist feminist men's movements in the U.S. In Feminism and men: Toward a relational feminism, edited by S. Schacht and D. Ewing. New York: New York University Press.
  16. Nardi, P. 1994. Do ask and do tell: Stonewalling men's studies. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Pacific Sociological Association, San Diego, CA, April.
  17. Nichols, Jack . 1975. Men's liberation: A new definition of masculinity. New York: Penguin.
  18. Panghorn, K. 1985. The murdered husband: Family violence and women's lib. In Men freeing men: Exploding the myth of the traditional male, edited by F. Baumli. Jersey City, NJ: New Atlantis.
  19. Pleck, J. H. 1974. Men's power with women, other men, and in society: A men's movement analysis. In Women and men: The consequences of power, edited by D. V. Hiller and R. Sheets. Cincinnati, OH: University of Cincinnati, Office of Women's Studies.
  20. Sawyer, Jack . 1970. The male liberation movement. A workshop presented at the Women's Liberation Teach-in, Northwestern University, 8 March. Published in revised form in 1970 as “On male liberation,” Liberation (August-September-October).
  21. Snodgrass, Jon . 1977. For men against sexism. Albion, CA: Times Change.
  22. Straton, Jack C. 1994. The myth of the “battered husband syndrome.” Masculinities 2:79-82.

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Metadata

Authors
MESSNER, M. A.
Affiliations
University of Southern California (US)
Corresponding author
MESSNER, MICHAEL A.
Venue
Gender & Society
Publisher
SAGE Publications
Published
1998-06
Volume
12
Issue
3
Pages
255-276
ISSN
  • 0891-2432 (ISSN-L)
  • 1552-3977
DOI
10.1177/0891243298012003002
OpenAlex
W1980606485
Cited by
217
References
39
Citations by year
2026: 17 · 2025: 14 · 2024: 16 · 2023: 14 · 2022: 13 · 2021: 17 · 2020: 17 · 2019: 15 · 2018: 10 · 2017: 6 · 2016: 8 · 2015: 7 · 2014: 6 · 2013: 3 · 2012: 2
FWCI
11.84
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Licence
journals.sagepub.com/page/policies/text-and-data-mining-license (tdm)
Locations
Gender & Society (publishedVersion)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Gender Studies › Gender and Feminist Studies
  • Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Historical Gender and Feminism Studies
  • Social Sciences › Gender Studies › Gender Roles and Identity Studies
Keywords
sex-role theory, men's rights movement, masculinity, gender relations, middle-range theory, institutional privilege, gender and power, 1970s counterculture, organizational discourse

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