Understanding How Undergraduate Sexual-Minority Men Make Meaning of Their Masculine Identities Within the Context of the College Experience

Abstract

Dominant systems of White masculinity—or attitudes, behaviors, and ideologies rooted in White masculine dominance alongside homophobia, misogyny, and racism—within higher education impact how students frame and understand their identities and experiences during their undergraduate careers. For sexual-minority men and transmasculine individuals, these dominant systems pose significant challenges around creating a sense of belonging, finding community, dealing with microaggressions, and maintaining safety. Moreover, little is known around how White masculinity impacts sexual-minority undergraduate students’ discernment of their masculine identity. This study explores how sexual-minority men and transmasculine individuals make meaning of their masculine identity within the context of their experiences at a set of undergraduate postsecondary institutions in Minnesota. Utilizing a queer phenomenological research design, 19 participants from across the state were interviewed to understand how they have oriented themselves toward hegemonic masculinity, how and why that orientation has taken place, and how they have resisted conforming to those hegemonic standards. Conducting a critical thematic analysis on the transcripts, four major themes were found: (a) participants had an understanding of foundational elements of hegemonic masculinity upon matriculation; (b) participants felt oriented toward performing hegemonic masculinity on their campuses at varying times, though not without conflict; (c) participants navigated supports and safety in relation to hegemonic masculinity on their campuses; and (d) participants found agency and a desire to resist hegemonic masculine norms on their campuses. These findings provide student affairs practitioners and faculty some suggested avenues for policymaking, cocurricular programming, and curricular offerings to support sexual-minority students in their masculine identity development and to ameliorate the negative impacts of White masculinity. These findings also offer additional opportunities to explore these topics within future research studies.