Hey everyone, I’m currently doing research for a project on the history of masculinity. How did we get from the “hunter gatherer” trope to what's being called toxic masculinity in the 21st century. I think there’s a lot of interesting stand out points like how a lot of Louis XIV wore tights and heels that seem to make the evolution of masculinity a lot less Point-A-to-Point-B than most people think.
Does anyone here have any recommendations on resources for this history and evolution of masculinity? Or even things that disprove ideas of why men are the way they are? (Or even disprove some of the things I just said)
I appreciate it so much! Thank you!
I mostly do women's history, but I have a couple of suggestions:
The Three-Piece Suit and Modern Masculinity: England, 1550-1850 by David M Kuchta, University of California Press (2002) - This, as the title implies, discusses how men's clothing changed over the period, and how that interacted with ideologies about masculinity and broader social and political history as relevant.
"Pulled Tight and Gleaming: The Stocking's Position within Eighteenth-Century Masculinity" by Elisabeth Gernerd in Textile History (vol. 46) - As this is an article, it's more a deep dive into one specific aspect of the topic: how the stocking was used in textual and visual representations of men in the period to say something about their roles as men.