The dilemma of masculine identity
This dilemma is exacerbated by how these men view their masculinity. A poststructuralist
view of identity formation posits the effect of discourse on gender identity construction
(Hughes, 2000). For example, parental and director discourse regarding the
importance of male role models may lead to an expectation that male teachers and caregivers
fill the vacuum. According to Cameron (2001), men in these roles are both
encouraged to take on the male role model while at the same time discouraged from
parental modes of interaction that may be suspect to signs of child abuse. One aspect
of this conventional gender template is withholding emotion to demonstrate manliness.
Nordberg (2004) presents a Nordic perspective in referring to this discourse as ‘the traditional
man’ contrasted to the ‘new man’ who is ‘nice and emotional’ but should act
and look like a ‘real man’. Ambivalence about initiating physical contact occurs for
both of these extremes. The resulting contradiction places men in what Sargeant
(2004) calls ‘between a rock and a hard place.’
Gender as a socially constructed reality expresses itself in four dimensions: power,
production, emotion and symbol (Connell 2009). Men who work in ECEC define