CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2008
| Author | Doublekova, Pavlina Braykova |
|---|---|
| Title | "The Metrosexual Man" Appearance in Bulgaria: a Western Trend in a Post-state Socialism Context |
| Summary | Metrosexuality has become an influential form of masculine identity for young men in the globalizing word. It appeared in the Western world from the intersection between the development of consumer society and the shift of gender order. From the junction of this processes, the figure of the narcisstic young men, best symbolized in the figure of the soccer player David Beckham, who enjoys self-indulging and invests a lot of finances and efforts in his appearance, emerged. Inevitably, once established, this masculinity was transmitted in other contexts. This paper studies “metrosexual man” as a Western trend which appears in the post-state socialism context of Bulgaria and that determines its specific form of existence and nuances of meanings. In order to situate the study in the Bulgarian context, the paper investigates the post-state socialism legacy in the country, with a special accent on gender norms and constructions of masculinity. Then, through the method of discourse analysis, it reconstructs the media image of a popular Bulgarian metrosexual soccer player and compares and contrasts it with the representation of David Beckham. Lastly, through in-depth interviews and ethnographic participant observation, the study focuses on the young metrosexuals in the country and their construction of masculinity. Through the analysis of the gathered data, the paper shows that as an overarching trend, metrosexuality allows more flexibility in gender positioning. As for the Bulgarian context, it demonstrates that meanings of consumerism and male vanity are different in the country, and heterosexual normativity is still very strong, due to local historical and material conditions. |
| Supervisor | Cerwonka, Allaine |
| Department | Gender Studies MA |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2008/doublekova_pavlina.pdf |
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