Representations of Nation and Spanish Masculinity in Popular Romance Novels

The Alpha Male as “Other”

Datos Bibliográficos

ID12413014
AutoresMaría del Mar Pérez Gil (0000-0002-4656-0025, Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, autor de correspondencia), María del Mar Pérez-Gil (University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Las Palmas, Spain)
Año2018
Volumen27
Número2
Páginas169-182
Fecha de publicación2018-09-23
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaThe Journal of Men s Studies (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 1060-8265 • E-ISSN: 1933-0251
EditorialSAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/1060826518801531
OpenAlexW2894517948
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas2
Referencias citadas30

The alpha hero embodies the hegemonic masculinity that has long dominated romance fiction. The portrayal of this male type is, however, problematized when he is an exotic foreigner, as his hyper-heterosexualized masculinity is often associated with the gender backwardness of his country. This article is concerned with popular romance novels set in Spain in the 1970s. It explores how British authors rely on gender and national clichés that construct an essentialized image of Spanish men. The primitive and instinctual masculinity attributed to them reveals these novels’ complicity with the ideology of Britain’s superiority

Art · Complicity · Hegemonic masculinity · HERO · Ideology · Literature · Masculinity · Political science · Politics · Romance · Sociology · Gender Politics and Representation · Gender Roles and Identity Studies · Gender Studies · Gender, Feminism, and Media · History · Law