Sex and Straight Young Men: Challenging and Endorsing Hegemonic Masculinities and Gender Regimes

Young men are considered to have power and to be powerful in many social settings and in particular within the realm of sexual relations. This article details research that directly asks young men how they perceive, interact with, and deploy power within intimate heterosexual relationships. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 13 Canadian-based young men (aged 17-22 years) to explore how power was understood and enacted within their intimate heterosexual relationships. A social constructionist gendered analysis was used to inductively derive themes and situate the experiences of the participants within societal discourses of hegemonic masculinities and gender regimes. Power within relationships was most often described as operating equitably, with a few participants describing the deployment of power in coercive/controlling ways. Results reveal that the use of power by men can be understood as challenging or endorsing hegemonic masculinities and traditional heterosexual gender regimes. By including young men's voices in such discussions, our research contributes important understandings and some traction towards describing what might constitute more equitable gender and power relations.