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@article{187868,
        author = {Dr. Sovana Mukherjee},
        title = {Deciphering The Asymmetry in Gender Discourse: Femininity's Dominance and the Underrepresentation of Masculinity in Sociological and Media Studies},
        journal = {International Journal of Innovative Research in Technology},
        year = {2025},
        volume = {12},
        number = {6},
        pages = {6960-6965},
        issn = {2349-6002},
        url = {https://ijirt.org/article?manuscript=187868},
        abstract = {Contemporary gender studies have been profoundly shaped by the intellectual force of feminist scholarship, which succeeded in unveiling patriarchal structures that long controlled knowledge, representation, and institutional arrangements. Feminist interventions opened doors for women’s voices to enter arenas from which they had historically been excluded. Yet, in the course of rebalancing an inequitable system, gender scholarship inadvertently developed a conceptual asymmetry: femininity became the central lens through which gender is interpreted, while masculinity remained comparatively unexamined. This imbalance has shaped the ways sociology and media studies articulate gendered identities and power. Masculinity, frequently treated as the default or “unmarked” category, has escaped critical scrutiny even as feminist theory subjected femininity to rich analytical and empirical investigation. The invisibility of masculinity within academic discourse has limited the development of a genuinely holistic understanding of gender as a relational system.
This paper addresses this epistemic gap by examining how masculinity has been framed, muted, or stereotyped within sociological theory and media representation. It argues that masculinity, far from being a static or homogeneous category, is a social formation shaped by class, race, sexuality, and postcolonial experiences. Treating masculinity as a legitimate site of inquiry does not diminish the achievements of feminist scholarship; instead, it expands the terrain of gender theory by engaging with neglected dimensions of power, emotion, identity, and representation. The study proposes a dialogical model in which femininity and masculinity are understood as co-constitutive categories, each shaping and reshaping the other within specific social contexts. It also explores how media narratives, educational practices, and institutional arrangements have deepened the imbalance in gender discourse by diversifying portrayals of women while confining men to rigid stereotypes.
By situating masculinity within a broader sociocultural and theoretical framework, the paper contributes to gender studies by offering a foundation for epistemic symmetry. It encourages sociologists, educators, and media practitioners to adopt integrative approaches that recognize the plurality of masculinities and their embeddedness in intersecting structures of power. Ultimately, the study calls for an inclusive gender imaginary—one that moves beyond polarized binaries and opens space for transformative understandings of all genders.},
        keywords = {Gender Studies, Masculinity, Femininity, Dominance, Representation, Asymmetry, Sociology, Media},
        month = {November},
        }