Please join us for the next instalment of the 2020-21 Faculty of Arts Speaker Series. Dr. Jonathan Allan (English & Creative Writing) presents:

“‘Green Your Groin!’ Sustainability, Men’s Underwear, and Ecomasculinities” 

• https://zoom.us/j/91317739372?pwd=bnMwV3NORjlpTEtHTlovRGx1TktQUT09

Meeting ID: 913 1773 9372

Passcode: FASS2020!

“Green Your Groin! Let Your Parts Do Their Part” announces Duluth Training for their new underwear for men Eco-Cheeks. Bluebuck declares that they are “a brand for the man who combines the rugged and the natural; who has a keen sense of environmental responsibility aligned with a strong sense of self.” And Saxx sells a pair of underwear “made for the guy that is never without his reusable bag.”

This paper draws on hybrid masculinity theory, a recent theoretical innovation in the critical study of men and masculinities, which studies performative progressivism. This theoretical position argues that as men become more liberal or more socially attuned, these advances are largely performative or stylistic, rather than structural. To these ends, I study how men’s underwear producers discursively present their underwear in advertisements and on their webpages, and how this becomes a project of progressive activism while maintaining ideas of masculinity.