‘So I Thought “Bollocks to It”’: Men, Stories and Masculinities [2000]

Abstract

My aim in this chapter¹ is to look at the way masculinity is constructed in conversational narrative, that is, in stories told in spontaneous conversation involving male friends. Narrative is an important resource for speakers in the construction of self (Bruner 1990; Kerby 1991; Linde 1993). Telling stories not only allows us to give shape to our lives and to maintain our sense of self; it also allows us the possibility of exploring alternative selves. And given that the self is gendered (Benjamin 1990; Jukes 1993: xxiii), then narrative is a key resource for speakers in the construction of gender.