Survival narratives: Constructing an intersectional masculinity through stories of the rural/urban divide

摘要

This paper extends research emphasizing gender and gendered inequalities in rural communities are influenced by goods, jobs, and people moving between rural and urban contexts. Drawing from over 1,800?hours of participant observation in a rural community in the central United States, I analyze men's narratives about their trips to nearby cities to illustrate how they constructed and achieved an intersectional ideal of rural masculinity complicated by race, class, and sexuality. Through this analysis I stress the need to consider how multiple, intersecting dimensions of difference and inequality inform constructions of masculinities in rural contexts as rural communities are increasingly linked with cities. Second, and related, I illustrate perceived divisions between rural and urban spaces inform constructions of intersectional masculinities and inequalities even as rural and urban places are increasingly linked, materially, through political-economic processes such as labor markets and immigration.Highlights?Rural men constructed an ideal masculinity infused with race, class, and sexuality.?This ideal was associated with rural men through stories about urban men portrayed as deviant.?The need to address race, class, and sexuality in intersectional analyses of masculinities in rural contexts is emphasized.?The need to address both material links across and representational divisions between rural and urban spaces is emphasized.