Achieving masculinity through sexual predation: the case of hogging

Abstract

Hegemonic masculinity in the contemporary United States involves control, domination, competition, aggression, and the devaluing of women. Hogging, a practice whereby men seek out women they deem unattractive or fat for sexual purposes, has been largely overlooked by scholars. Therefore, the purpose of the present study is to explore hogging from a sociology of masculinities perspective. Interviews and content analyses were conducted to learn about why men hog and what they are able to achieve from this behavior. These data indicate that most men who participate in this behavior are concerned with how hogging affects their relationships with their male peers. Men who hog achieve status in their peer groups by gaining sexual access to women they see as ‘easy’. Even men who do not engage in sexual activity gain from the sexual encounters of their peers, by either participating in ‘bets’ or being entertained by the stories their peers tell them about hogging. Hogging, then, is less about the encounters with women and more about homosociality.

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