Remembering Patriarchy through Hegemonic Masculinities: A Connellian Reading of Suleri’s Boys Will Be Boys

Abstract

This study aims to discover the socialization of boys and the politics of masculinity in Sulehri’s memoir Boys Will Be Boys and attempts to discover the extent to which the writer has projected the critique of masculinity regarding the patriarchal structures in socio cultural traditions of Pakistan. The dominance of boys is accepted in society because of the gender roles in the family, religion, and cultural traditions. The study further attempts to locate the critique of this formative process because of which patriarchy sustains and normalizes itself. The study draws upon Connell’s theory of hegemonic masculinity, which postulates that manhood is equated with authority and aggression that consequently devalues feminine traits. By employing this framework, the study explores the cultural practices that lend legitimacy to male dominance. The study employs the method of textual analysis to identify the key themes of power, sexuality, and resistance, which make it not only a personal narrative but also a critique of culture in Pakistan. The research becomes significant as such and contributes to masculinity and feminist studies because the memoir destabilizes the natural masculinity dominance and shows it as rather a manufactured phenomenon that promotes inequality between genders. Gender, class, and cultural privileges all join hands and intersect in shaping masculinity. The writer, therefore, highlights the necessity to re imagine the equitable model of manhood as an alternative. When read in this sense, the memoir becomes not only a personal account but also a political narrative to challenge the cultural mythologies sustaining the dominance of masculinity in Pakistan.