Constructing masculinity in women's worlds: Men working as pre-school teachers and hairdressers

Abstract

In late modernity masculinity and gender differences might be seen as commodities in the labour market. This article discusses from a poststructural perspective different concepts of masculinity and gender equality among men working as pre-school teachers and hairdressers in Sweden. The men both reproduce and renegotiate gender relations. The same man uses different, sometimes arbitrary, discourses. Stereotypes linked to the occupations and the male body are actualizing the heterosexual matrix in the workplace. Two strategies are found. Some men do not stress gender as a categorization and emphasize similarities between men and women while other men actualize gender difference.