I no longer recognise your masculinity

Men, violence, class, and sexuality in the links between the 1970s and today

Abstract

The article investigates negotiations of masculinity in Danish literature and culture. Contemporary refusals of patriarchal masculinity and vindications of vulnerable ways of being a man lie in continuation of literary explorations of masculinity in the 1970s. We draw lines from writers such as Glenn Bech and Mads Ananda Lodahl to Christian Kampmann. An essential affinity is autobiographical experiences of homosexuality and vulnerability as deviant forms of masculinity. These are used in literary projects that counter conventional gender norms. Violence is the general motive of the negotiation of masculinity in the text corpus. This is not least the case in autobiographical texts about masculinity in the outskirts of Denmark’s social geography. Firstly, in the concrete suburbs portrayed by writers of different genders and ethnicities, secondly, in the provinces portrayed by white male homosexual writers. In both cases, forms of masculine violence are connected to belonging to the working class or underclass outside larger cities. In rap lyrics – another format where gender, class, place, and ethnicity intersect – the traditional aggressive masculinity is contradicted by more vulnerable male rappers and by female rappers. However, traditional masculinity is also intensified by male rappers that use real acts of violence as artistic devices.