The Making of the Muscular Farmer
As automation transformed agriculture, advertisements increasingly celebrated physical strength and traditional masculine ideals.
Inventing “Machismo” in the US
Academics and media turned “machismo” into a cultural stereotype during the Cold War.
A Brief History of Men Showing Leg
The story of the modern suit begins with tight pants, as men’s legs became markers of class, civility, and sexuality.
Of Heights and Men
Given its strong gendered associations, it may be surprising that height hasn’t been well studied by historians.
Making Music Male
How did record collecting and stereophile culture come to exclude women as consumers and experts?
Masculinity, Boxing, and the “Wild Brawl” That Changed the Sport
Bennie “Kid” Paret and Emile Griffith were both ready to fight, but it was unlikely either boxer was prepared for the outcome of their final bout.
How Upper Lips Got Stiff
The truism that “boys don’t cry” is a Western social convention. Colonialism and imperialism made sure it spread East.
Gatekeeping Psychology
In the mid-twentieth century, psychologist Edwin Boring attributed the limited role of female psychologists to issues other than discrimination.
Nostalgia for Manly Men in Seventeenth-Century Spain
Moralists found it easy to criticize Spanish men, particularly the high-born among them, for all sorts of supposed failures of masculinity.
How Computer Science Became a Boys’ Club
Women were the first computer programmers. How, then, did programming become the domain of bearded nerds and manly individualists?