"A cult of masculinity" : En kvalitativ innehållsanalys av träning och kön i Michelle Dowds berättelse om hennes tid i sekten The Field

Sammanfattning

Cults and closed religious communities have long been a debated subject in both public discourse and academic research. Ritual practices in such environments can function as tools for legitimizing and maintaining power, authority and social order. This study examines the American doomsday cult The Field, focusing on how physical training and conceptions of gender and masculinity emerge in Michelle Dowd’s account of her upbringing within the group. The aim of the study is to describe Dowd’s story and subsequently conduct a theoretical analysis of how the military-like physical training and conceptions of gender and masculinity in The Field can be interpreted. The study is guided by three research questions: how Dows describes the training and gender expectations, how the training can be analyzed as a ritualized practice based on Catherine Bell’s theory of ritualization and how the training can be analyzed as a practice that legitimizes ideals of masculinity and a male-dominated order based on Raewynn Connell’s theory of hegemonic masculinity. The study is conducted as a qualitative content analysis with a deductive approach. The empirical material consists of a transcribed podcast episode from the Swedish podcast Spöktimmen, in which Dowd recounts her experiences. The analysis is based on Bell’s concepts of differentiation, ritual mastery and hegemonic order, combined with Connell’s theory of hegemonic masculinity. The results show that physical training in The Field functioned as a central tool for discipline and control. Through ritualization, the training became a prioritized and meaningful practice through which norms of obedience, pain endurance and self-control were internalized. The study also shows that the training was clearly gender-segregated and contributed to legitimizing a patriarchal order by shaping ideals of strength and physical dominance in boys, while simultaneously regulating and restricting the bodies and agency of girls.