Hegemonic Male - John T.D. Murphy

The Hegemonic Male

This series of work centers on my fascination with the cult of the masculine. In 5th grade I trained myself to look and act more masculine and asked my parents to put me into speech therapy to sound “less gay.” I continue to believe this was not a rejection of my femininity or homosexuality but a sign of my admiration for the masculine. My dad was an athlete and my friends were all jocks. In college I joined a fraternity and was elected president. I’m surrounded by, but have always viewed myself as an outside observer of the masculine identity. My pinhole series explores my feelings of being an outsider looking in on the palpable fog of masculinity that I couldn’t quite capture in my own life, but whose colorful radiance captivated me.