Unveiling Whiteness: Reexamining Masculinity Through a Racial-Spatial Framework
What happens when the influence of whiteness is left unexamined in the study of masculinity? Dr. William Ming Liu and Dr. Rossina Zamora Liu, both from the University of Maryland, tackle this crucial question in their latest research. Published in Psychology of Men & Masculinities, the study applies their racial-spatial framework of systemic racism to highlight how whiteness shapes masculinity, urging scholars to be explicit when studying white men and their racialization. By exploring the intersection of whiteness with psychological constructs such as male role norms, precarious masculinity, relationships, and sexuality, this work challenges conventional approaches and deepens our understanding of the powerful role whiteness plays in shaping masculinity (full citation below).
Liu, W. M., & Liu, R. Z. (2024). Unexamined whiteness in the psychological study of men and masculinities: Situating research and practice within white space and white time. Psychology of Men & Masculinities. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1037/men0000484
What were the key questions you were addressing in this article?
This paper is part of ongoing research that Dr. Zamora Liu and I are working on that explores systemic racism, white supremacy, white privilege, racial capitalism, and anti-Blackness. In this paper, we applied our racial-spatial framework of systemic racism as a way to understand whiteness, especially within the study of masculinities. The major point for us in this article was the critical importance of studying and theorizing whiteness when we examine masculinity. Specifically, we should be explicit when studying white men and their masculinities and explore how their racialization is related to other psychological constructs and variables (e.g., male role norms, precarious masculinity, relationships, sexuality).
What were the main conclusions of your article?
In writing this paper, we speculate that in PSMM whiteness has also been largely unexamined and unexplored. When researchers talk about masculinity, the construct often reflects the experiences of white men. Certainly, some authors, as we noted in the article, have described whiteness as connected to European and western values and beliefs. But we argue that this description leaves out the all too important power that comes from the construction and perpetuation of whiteness, or what we refer to as racialization. In the paper, we offer the racial-spatial framework as one way to understand how whiteness is constructed, protected, and perpetuated within systemic racism, but we also know that there can be other theories and frameworks.
What are the key implications of your article for research, policy, or practice?
One of the key takeaways from our article is that scholars, educators, and practitioners need to theorize whiteness and how they understand it and study it. For instance, when it comes to men of Color, we might use theories like acculturation and/or racial identity to illuminate the ways that the man of Color comes to understand and make meaning of how racism (and thus race) is part of their experiences, worldviews, values, and beliefs. The same has not been done when we do research or do clinical work with men who are racialized as white. We also argue early in the paper that studying the power and agency of whiteness needs to be done intentionally, and that researchers cannot and should not fall into the problem of minimizing whiteness as one of many forms of “diversity.” Doing so, as we argue, deflects attention from the asymmetric power of whiteness in the U.S.
Where do you see this line of research heading in the future (i.e., what’s next)?
Our research on the racial-spatial framing of systemic racism examines the ways that people racialized as white learn to navigate, control, surveil, and police the physical spaces around them. From childhood onward, people racialized as white are socialized to see the spaces around them as theirs, and that control of that space is critical in how they form their identity, forge relationships, and navigate their world. In contrast, for some Black, Indigenous, Latine/x, Asian, and other people of Color, living in white spaces comes with expectations and demands that create stress and anxiety. Additionally, they may be frequently reminded about how they need exist in white spaces through their experiences with microaggressions and racist- traumas. Thus, we might consider how racialized spaces are related to our psychological studies of precarious masculinity, male role norms, or gender role conflict (to name a few). Moreover, we may also imagine that there needs to be more theoretical development centering the experiences of Black, Indigenous, Latine/x, Asian, and other men of Color.
How did you become interested in this line of inquiry?
Many years ago I was walking on a side-walk and came face-to-face with a group of white men who were walking in the other direction. One of the men looked at me, and without saying a word to me, I felt that he wanted me to move out of the way. He wanted me to move, even though I was walking within “my lane” on the sidewalk. I tell this story in workshops and in teaching, and people of Color often tell similar experiences. I wondered, “what kind of racism is this?” In my confrontation, the white man and I never spoke and we never made physical contact. But, as a man of Color, I felt his expectation and his contempt that I “stood in his way.” I also wondered, “where did this white man come to expect this?” So, with these questions, Dr. Zamora Liu and I developed this framework that puts racialized spaces at the center of systemic racism. And, with that framing, anyone can easily start to interpret the ways white men and women operate in their white spaces and how they socialize children to “dominate” these racialized spaces. One can also easily see how white supremacy and anti-Blackness functions in the ways that people are in these spaces (e.g., who asserts their places in line; who is able to be loud in some spaces). We hope that this framework helps us develop a better and more robust understanding of systemic racism and illuminates the ways that we can work to challenge and dismantle these harms.
William Ming Liu, Ph.D.
Professor and Chair
Department of Counseling, Higher Education,
and Special Education
College of Education
University of Maryland
willmliu@umd.edu
Rossina Zamora Liu, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Department of Teaching and Learning, Policy and
Leadership
College of Education
University of Maryland
rzliu@umd.edu
