Paper short abstract:

In this paper, I explore the ways in which social media configure Pentecostal constructions of heterosexual masculinity in South Africa in the context of civil society driven programs to fight sexual and gender-based violence and the spread of HIV.

Paper long abstract:

In this paper, I explore the ways in which social media configure Pentecostal constructions of heterosexual masculinity in South Africa in the context of civil society driven programs to fight sexual and gender-based violence and the spread of HIV. Critically engaging with the concept of hegemonic masculinity and the sociological literature on gender relations in conservative Christian communities, I examine how Pentecostal communities in the townships of Cape Town negotiate their model of masculinity in the context of the prevailing hegemonies of "traditional" and "liberal" masculinity. Such negotiations occurred, for instance, in the context of sexual scandals involving Pentecostals pastors that led to law suits and the mobilization of diverse political, cultural and religious constituencies. Based on ethnographic observations and qualitative interviews with Pentecostal men I specify the mechanisms whereby Pentecostalism both contributes to transform but also to reproduce rather than undermine hegemonic masculinity, and the ways in which social media shape such processes.