“Felawe Masculinity”

Abstract

This chapter explores how men in same-sex contexts use obscenity to denigrate women and perpetuate rape culture. It argues that this paradigm, sometimes, taught men to have as much sex as possible and to ignore women's nonconsent for the purpose of producing narratives for their peer group, as in the code of “felawe masculinity” embraced by a group of pilgrims in Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. Chaucer's portrayal of the “felawe faction” sheds light on how the telling of violent sexual jokes enacts the violence they ostensibly trivialize, as obscenity creates a gendered social dynamic teaching a set of values and relations among men that results in violence and harm. This brand of masculinity is prominent in Fragment I of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, where three men tell fabliaux featuring the obscene verb “swyve.” The chapter then shows how “swyve” creates gendered pedagogical community and teaches men that sexual aggression is both necessary and laudatory. Ultimately, the chapter explores the relationship between masculinity and obscenity that is central to the teaching of “felawe masculinity,” and examines the pedagogical practices of a group of male characters.