Deconstructing masculinized Punjab reconceptualising sex selection and gender based violence

Abstract

Masculinities have been an inextricable part of Punjab s societal fabric and have played a significant role in the pervasiveness of gender-based violence. This study delves into the intricate interplay between masculinities and gender-based violence in Punjab s context, aiming to explore the multifaceted nature of masculinities and their complex relationship with the various forms of gender-biased sex-selection and gender violence. Employing a multifarious methodological confluence, the study seamlessly interweaves metatheoretical approaches and quantitative and qualitative methods to meticulously assimilate comprehensive perspectives from a diverse social tapestry of respondents to understand the manifestation and contestation of masculinities over a sexual arena. Deconstruction and reconceptualization being the front wheels, the study locates masculinities in pre-colonial, colonial and post-colonial to contemporary settings, addressing multifarious masks augmenting and legitimizing various forms of gender-based violence through intricacies of gender and its intersection with the multiplicities of caste, religion, class-based social positioning of individuals, further compounding the vulnerabilities. It traces the conventional vis-à-vis contemporary attributes of masculine archetypes and locates them along with the causal factors augmenting gender-based violence. Unfurling a layered understanding of masculinities, the study addresses not only a shift in the expression and assertion of masculine identity and attributes but also in the forms of gender-based violence. The thesis unravels the profound influence of masculinities in legitimizing discriminatory practices, placing men in hegemony and women and other marginalized sexualities in subordination, along with suggesting non-toxic manifestation and alternative non-discriminatory attributes of masculinities. newline