Patriarchal Masculinity (bell hooks)

Patriarchal masculinity is a term used by bell hooks to describe the dominant cultural model of manhood in patriarchal societies. She analyzes it extensively in her 2004 book The Will to Change: Men, Masculinity, and Love. For hooks, patriarchal masculinity is not a natural expression of male biology but a social construct that serves to maintain patriarchal power structures.

Key features of patriarchal masculinity include:

• Emotional stoicism: Men are expected to suppress emotions, especially those coded as vulnerable (sadness, fear, tenderness).
• Equating vulnerability with weakness: Emotional openness is seen as a threat to manhood.
• Privileging domination and control: Masculinity is defined through power over others.
• Rejection of the feminine: Traits coded as feminine are devalued and avoided.
• Competition over connection: Relationships are structured around hierarchy rather than intimacy.

hooks argues that patriarchal masculinity is harmful to everyone. It harms men by trapping them in the emotional straightjacket, leading to isolation, depression, and violence. It harms women by subjecting them to male domination and control. It harms society by perpetuating inequality and conflict.

hooks’ critique is notable for its insistence that patriarchal masculinity is not an inevitable feature of male existence. It is a learned system of norms that can be unlearned. She offers feminist masculinity as an alternative—a model of manhood based on vulnerability, connection, and love.

The term is closely related to hooks’ concept of the emotional straightjacket, which is the lived experience of patriarchal masculinity. Understanding patriarchal masculinity is essential for understanding hooks’ diagnosis of male loneliness and her prescription for change.

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