As Ricoeur argues, giving of the self or even giving one's life may be the ultimate expression of one's belonging, in friendship, devotion or loyalty. This may not only be cause for concern about the risks of caregivers, the result of an unequal distribution of power, but it may as well be a chance for affirmation of one's identity, of self-attestation. However, caregivers may also find themselves in situations that demand sacrifices, even to the point where their own self is at stake. By using ‘caring masculine agencies’ as an alternative to ‘masculinity as reactive anti-femininity,’ we are proposing a paradigm shift that hopefully is flexible enough to respect the dynamism inherent to any act of gender identificationĪccording to the ethics of care, practices of care are sources of moral knowledge that take human relatedness into account. We also engage with Raewyn Connell’s discourse on masculinity and, more specifically, hegemonic masculinity. We use Paul Ricoeur’s anthropology to describe the self as relational, as well as Joan Tronto’s recent perspective on care, which fits well with a Ricoeurian reconstruction of the self. Since contemporary feminisms are not simply anti-essentialist but, more importantly, polyphonic, we believe that it is far more appropriate to talk about ‘masculinities’ as opposed to ‘masculinity.’ We are proposing a revised understanding of the self in which the self is not defined primarily in the dichotomous, categorical one-other relationship. Our paper focuses on the philosophical perspective of constructing active (as opposed to reactive) caring masculine agencies in the contemporary feminist discourse.
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