Citation

Alonso-Recarte C. Men Masc. 2020; 23(5): 852-871.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2020, SAGE Publishing)

DOI

10.1177/1097184X20965455

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

This article explores the aesthetic and cultural connections between the hyper-masculinization inherent to hip hop culture (and particularly to gangsta rap), the pit bull dog breed, and dogfighting. Building on recent scholarship that has identified the racial and racist assumptions underlying the pit bull controversy, I provide further evidence and arguments on how the highly racialized and genderized hip hop discourses inoculate the pit bull body and suffuse it with multiple meanings reminiscent of America's traumatic encounter with otherness. As a palimpsest that attests to both mainstream and countercultural explorations of racialized masculinities, the pit bull body is made to "perform" its role as both an agent and a victim within the nation's compulsive need to control and monitor the "other."

Language: en

Keywords

black masculinity; dogfighting; gangsta rap; hip hop; pit bull