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Machismo and Masculinity in Londonstani
Gautam Malkani
United KingdomGALLERYCONVERSATION
What struck me was the extent to which ethnic, racial and religious identities were, and still are, used as proxies for the...
This fight often occurred in households dominated by mothers who fiercely resisted their son's maturation into men. Hence the hyper-masculinity – boys defining themselves as men in opposition to overbearing mothers rather than in relation to their fathers (who were often too emotionally disconnected from their sons to provide adequate masculine role models).
The importance of gender identity was most apparent when I asked kids to provide tangible definitions of 'coconuts' - a derogatory term of abuse among South Asian kids that signifies those deemed to have assimilated too far with mainstream society and thereby become white on the inside despite being brown on the outside.
In the research and resulting novel, the hyper machismo and misogyny in hip-hop culture ultimately reinforces the misogyny inherent in the traditional South Asian culture of our parents. Accordingly, the young British South Asian women in my novel end up being caught in a pincer movement between hip-hop- influenced British South Asian youth culture and traditional South Asian cultural values treat them as second class citizens.
Despite its outward appearance, the new identity wasn't so much about fighting back against racial discrimination or economic deprivation, so much as fighting to be a man.

This fight often occurred in households dominated by mothers who fiercely resisted their son's maturation into men. Hence the hyper-masculinity – boys defining themselves as men in opposition to overbearing mothers rather than in relation to their fathers (who were often too emotionally disconnected from their sons to provide adequate masculine role models).

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