Intersecting Identities: Navigating the Relationship Between Masculine Performativity and Feminist Ideology

As masculinities scholarship continues to explore how masculinity develops and how differing masculinities contribute to the lived experiences of masculine-identified subjects, it is important to understand how masculinity also intersects with other, salient identities for subjects. Literature related to masculine gender performance, liberatory feminist theory, and student development theory provide important lenses in approaching the topic of masculine intersectionality, but have not otherwise been synthesized to illuminate how masculine-identified students navigate intersectionality with feminism and feminist scholarship. This qualitative case study explored how one participant experienced and made meaning of zir masculine and feminist identities in the varying spaces on campus at Midwest Private University (MPU). MPU is a four-year private, liberal arts institution located in the Midwest region of the United States. Qualitative interviews were conducted utilizing three semi-structured interviews with one participant over the course of one academic week via Skype. Intermittent journal activities were completed by the participant between interviews and informed the semi-structured interviews. Overall findings indicate the participant’s experience making meaning of zir gender is consistent with existing models of masculinity development, and illuminated implications for practice when serving masculine-identified students as they develop as feminists and activists. Directions for future research are also suggested. Adviser: Elizabeth Niehau