“You can go fuck yourself!”: Precarious Masculinity, Emasculation, Sexuality, and Violence in Breaking Bad

This paper examines how emasculation as a fallen status within the gender order reinforces narrowly defined masculine expectations of behavior based on violence and power in the show Breaking Bad. Since masculinity is precarious, it is fragile and constantly has to be proven to other men. The male characters in this show deal with their emasculation by using violence towards others to re-establish their position within the gender order (Vandello and Bosson 2013; Connell 2005). The exception, Jesse (played by Aaron Paul), fails to recover and prove his masculinity and becomes the “permanent fag” as he struggles with the emotional turmoil associated with violence (Pascoe 2005). Since someone’s masculine status within the gender order is based in relation to age, social class, race and/or ethnicity, these are discussed as well. Furthermore, as masculinity is defined in opposition to femininity, the subornation of women assists in confirming one’s masculinity. Finally, the death of main characters reinforces normative gender constructions of masculinity as they fall victim to the violence inherent in patriarchal systems that equate violence with status. This examination is particularly important as the violence of white men in U.S. society becomes commonplace and normalized. This paper does not examine Breaking Bad from a Criminological standpoint but instead focuses on masculinity and violence as social practices that reinforce the gender order