Comics and alternative masculinities beyond the macho: representing queer identities in graphic novels

Educational discourse increasingly acknowledges the importance of popular culture and Critical Studies on Men and Masculinities (CSMM) in understanding the cultural construction of gender identity. CSMM critiques the apparent neutrality of the dominant male role, highlighting its hegemonic nature and its marginalization of queer and non-canonical forms of masculinity. In shaping gender identities, media have a key role as they operate as influential tools for contesting or reinforcing cultural norms and gender standards. Within this framework, media representations function as crucial educational tools that bring non-hegemonic male subjectivities to light. This chapter specifically considers the graphic novel, a powerful hybrid of visual art and narrative, as particularly effective at portraying the complexities of queer identities. This paper uses these theoretical foundations to analyze the Italian graphic novel, Tutte le volte che sono diventato grande (2025) by Giulio Macaione. The study explores the work’s transformative power in challenging hegemonic masculinity and deconstructing gender stereotypes, by examining the depiction of an alternative, queer masculinity, focusing on the protagonist's personal journey of self-discovery against the backdrop of patriarchal expectations in Nineties Sicily.