Networked masculinities in South Africa: the #MensConference as a case study

ABSTRACT The role of digitally mediated networked publics in the co-production and negotiation of contemporary masculinities has not been widely researched in an African context. This paper explores networked masculinities on South African Black Twitter via the hashtag #MensConference, a fictional conference organized by men as a humorous rejection of Valentine’s Day. Drawing on a critical thematic analysis of a selection of tweets through the lens of critical masculinity studies, we uncover a wide range of masculinity discourses under the hashtag, across the traditional-liberal spectrum. While expressions of sexism and misogyny were widespread throughout the sample, men also upheld alternative and progressive models of manhood. The affordances of social media provided men with a space to express themselves, but also to police and contest notions of masculinity through in-group dynamics that worked to reinforce patriarchal hegemony. However, the interactions between black South African men on Twitter were defined by their specific social, economic and cultural context. The analysis demonstrates the critical role of social media, and Black Twitter in particular, as a key vehicle for both the reproduction and contestation of hegemonic masculinities in South Africa.