Introduction

This chapter offers an introduction to the contents and rationale behind this book. While the first three Chapters (2–4) focus on an introductory and mostly theoretical perspective on the study of masculinities in general and on the study of hegemonic (i.e., white heterosexual) masculinity in particular, the following Chapters (5–7) concentrate on applying the theoretical findings on masculinities to the analysis of a select number of themes—namely, the politics of emotion (with a special emphasis on new fatherhood models), homosociality and friendships between men, as well as gender-based violence. This chapter shows how the themes were selected not only for their obvious relevance and for being key social issues but also for their central role in masculinity studies, including their cultural representations, many of which implicitly or explicitly address these aspects.