Special Issue: ‘Urban Masculinities: Representations, Practices and Performances’

This introduction to the Special Issue begins by tracing the emergence and development of the fields of urban studies, masculinity studies (and its forerunners) and their interrelations in broad strokes. Building on this research, it examines the intertwined dynamics of gender and space, emphasizing the value of a gender-sensitive lens in analyzing urban environments while highlighting the spatialized constructions of masculinities within complex sociocultural and political power structures. The introduction advocates an intersectional cultural studies approach attentive to the heterogeneous configurations of urban masculinities. To understand urban masculinities, this approach considers how they intersect with sexuality, race, class, ability, age and nationality, and how they are represented, enacted and performed across diverse cultural forms – from literary and filmic texts to digital media and embodied everyday practices encompassing sexual, sporting and culinary acts.