S3 Workshop: Heroic Masculinities – Intersectional Perspectives

Our ideas of the heroic have an impact on our understanding of masculinity. The ideas of masculinity that are transported and conveyed through the heroic significantly shape the relationship between the sexes. An intersectional perspective shows that ideas of masculinity also have hierarchizing effects. Intersectionality describes the interplay of different social processes of inclusion and exclusion. Based on the thesis that heroic masculinity represents an ideal that only few can achieve, but which also has an impact on those who do not live up to it, this workshop will explore the intersectional interplay and relations between heroism and masculinity. We will discuss the role of masculinity in processes of heroization and examine to what extent characteristics such as age, race, social origin, sexual orientation, denomination and (dis)ability determine who can or cannot be heroized in different cultural contexts.