Nastoiashchie Muzhiki and Depleted Masculinity in Kyrgyzstan

While demonstrating the intersection of gender, power, and ideology, this article centers on a particular model of masculinity in Kyrgyzstan – depleted masculinity – expressed by polygynous males (i.e., those married to more than one person). I argue that a nastoiashchii muzhik’s (real man’s) sense of masculinity is depleted when one of its crucial attributes (in this case, earning wages) disappears but other crucial attri- butes (in this case, governing the family and the state) remain. Adverse consequences of Kyrgyzstan’s economic transition laid the roots for the emergence of depleted mas- culinity among some men in Kyrgyzstan. By analyzing gender stereotypes held by a small subset of polygynous men in Kyrgyzstan, I offer a glimpse into familial and soci- etal roles these men think they should play and familial and societal roles these men think local women should play.

Author

• Commercio, E., Michele

DOI

•  https://doi.org/10.30965/22142290-bja10034

Keyword

• gender
• stereotypes
• Central Asia
• Kyrgyzstan
• masculinity
• norms

Date created

• 2022

Related url

•  https://brill.com/view/journals/caa/caa-overview.xml

Type of Work

• Article

Source

• 22142290-bja10034

License

• All rights reserved

Rights statement

• In Copyright

GW Unit

• Central Asian Affairs Journal

Persistent URL

•  https://scholarspace.library.gwu.edu/work/gb19f651g

In Collection:

• Central Asian Affairs

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