Hegemony & Masculinity

The artificial link between hegemony and masculinity is an aspect of the male gender that is slowly coming to light as less natural than originally assumed. However, hegemony has gone hand in hand with the male gender for so long that it is difficult to ignore the clear influence this assumption has had on our society as well as our world. For example, very few politicians or world leaders are female. In fact, American Presidents have been exclusively male. Thus, the male gender has dominated the political sphere and had an undeniable prevalence over global interactions. Beyond male dominance in this area, the concept of the “alpha male” has caused men to feel the need to put themselves in constant competition with each other. Our society’s emphasis on the ideology that men must be tough and in control leads to this competition and the struggle that men go through in order to achieve the title of “big man on campus” or “the boss” or, as I previously said, “alpha male” – which ever designation is most appropriate.