and I think I finally got part of it, which is that masculinity is hegemonic in idealized and romanticized images of labor and is kind of the “bone” capital threw male labourers (especially white male) so they’d throw the rest of us under the bus.
Like construing manual labor as romantic and the work of “real men” as well as using it as the hegemonic image of labor itself both denies women and other working class people in non-masculine fields the label “worker” (which can help undermine class consciousness and solidarity) and also serves as a way for male workers of this sort to see the bourgeois as insufficiently masculine and thus inferior so they can feel comfortable in their subordinate position (sort of)
Also keeping hegemonic masculinity and other power structures would prevent the formation of a truly revolutionary society, as if we say keep patriarchy, men will develop hierarchical power structures to maintain patriarchy, and if we keep white supremacy we’ll develop power structures to maintain it, which will lead to the recreation of a class system, I think.
Wow, you’re on a roll today! I’ve been trying to deprogram myself of the Protestant work ethic for some time, and it’s really slow going because it often supports key points of my self-image as a man. I thought I had it down because I no longer devalue “women’s work” (AKA crucial household maintenance, and food), but I recently found that I don’t respect types of endeavour not coded as “work” under this hegemony. For instance, even though I know it’s important to work on my relationships, this type of work tends to get shoved down the priority list because it’s not producing anything tangible. Still figuring out what to do about this, but it’s definitely tied to the capitalist-chauvinist disdain of “women’s work.”
I’ve spent the past two weeks buried in books on gender performance and class, I have so many ideas and it’s so exciting
Thoughts From The Peacock Angel 