Men’s Thoughts about Themselves and Other Men

Abstract

This chapter examines the responses from both the dating men and the pickup artists on the subject of men, and notes any differences between the two groups. It argues in many ways, the men's heterosexuality is performed to help create their homosociality and if the heterosexual desire overrides the homosocial desire it can threaten the status of homosocial connections. Hegemonic masculinity theory (HMT) posits male camaraderie as key to the social organisation of men, often to the detriment of heterosocial relationships. Unlike within the men's rights activists (MRA) and the rest of the men's rights online space known as the manosphere, the potential for confusion between homosociality and homosexuality was acknowledged to a degree within pickup artists (PUA). As physical attraction often plays an important part of dating interactions between many men and women. Sexual harassment usually focuses on male-on-female abuse.