2015/03/09 by Jonathan A. Allan · 53 citations
Social Sciences · Psychology · #Posthumanist Ethics and Activism #Gender, Security, and Conflict #Historical Gender and Feminism Studies #Phallic stage #Affect (linguistics) #Feeling #Phallus (fungus) #Social psychology #Masculinity #Psychology #Function (biology) #Conversation #Gender studies #Sociology #Psychoanalysis #Communication
paper · doi:10.1177/1097184x15574338
published in Men and Masculinities 19(1), 22-41 (SAGE Publishing)
openalex publication_date 2015/03/09 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/02
The men’s rights movement and its academic offshoot “New Male Studies” are considered in light of the turn to affect. I argue that affective utterances, “I feel,” become phallic in the men’s rights movement and function in a defensive mode. Unlike the phallus as guarantor of masculinity, which is currently up for debate, the affective utterance cannot be denied—that is, affect is wholly subjective. However, we can, as theorists, ask questions about how and why affect is being used.