Masculinity

Masculinity

Overthink · 2025-09-23
58:58

Performative males, hustle bros, sissies, and manfluencers. In episode 140 of Overthink, Ellie and David discuss masculinity. What does it mean to be a man, and how has the concept of masculinity changed over time? They look at the male loneliness epidemic, the current influx of male influencers spreading right-wing rhetoric on the manosphere, and some of the main features of masculinity. Is masculinity rooted in violence and homophobia, or is it possible to have a healthy model of masculinity? In the Substack bonus, your hosts get into the mythopoetic men's movement and the connection between haircuts and masculinity.

Works Discussed:

Robert Brannon and Deborah Sarah David, The Forty-nine Percent Majority: The Male Sex Role

Pierre Bourdieu, La domination masculine

R.W. Connell, Gender and Power

bell hooks, The Will To Change

James W. Messerschmidt, Hegemonic Masculinity

Joseph Pleck, The Myth of Masculinity

Todd W. Reeser, Moderating Masculinity in Early Modern Culture

Frans de Waal, Chimpanzee Politics: Power and Sex Among Apes

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Overthink

The best of all possible podcasts, Leibniz would say. Putting big ideas in dialogue with the everyday, Overthink offers accessible and fresh takes on philosophy from enthusiastic experts.

Hosted by professors Ellie Anderson (Pomona College) and David M. Peña-Guzmán (San Francisco State University).

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