| Young adult males and females are given many images of masculinity, whether in popular culture contexts or in curriculum materials. Literature textbooks for grades 7 through 12, adopted by the Tennessee Department of Education in 2000 for 2000 to 2006, displayed a diversity of masculine images through the representation of male central characters and textbook design features. Through an analysis of randomly chosen samples from textbooks from the Prentice Hall, Holt, McDougal Littell, Glencoe, and EMC Paradigm companies, this study assessed the variety of masculine representation with the Bem Sex Role Inventory instrument (BSRI) and through qualitative content analysis. The study used one-way ANOVA and Chi-Square test of independence calculations to compare textbooks.;In the study, research question 1 examined the representation of masculinity among textbooks of the same grade level, and research question 2 examined the representation of masculinity among grade levels to note statistical difference derived from the BSRI. Using one-way ANOVA calculations of the masculinity and femininity scores, no statistical difference was noted at any grade level among the textbooks, and no statistical difference was noted between grade levels. A considerable variety of male behavior was noted through wide standard deviation scores. In research question 3, key words were catalogued from the questions accompanying the sample selections that were studied in questions 1 and 2. A number of key words such as "understanding" and "feelings" were observed as attempts to focus attention on less dominant aspects of representation in the male central characters. Research question 4 examined textbook pictorial and organizational patterns as larger structural principles conveying meaning relative to the representation of masculinity. At this level, the most dominant and hegemonic representation of masculinity was noted.;The study determined that while there was a diversity of images of masculinity presented, the dominant image was one of strong masculine presence. Attempts in recent decades to present students with writings from various cultural/ethnic groups has been successful; however, this study showed that with only a few exceptions, the image of masculinity remained dominant, hegemonic, and at times, lacking in cultural diversity. |
