The Transcendent Metrosexual: Affirmations of Hegemonic Masculinity in Press Coverage of the Birth of Tom Brady's Son

A textual analysis was performed on articles from major U.S. newspapers about Tom Brady and actress Bridget Moynahan, her pregnancy, and the birth of their son with hegemonic masculinity is the theoretical backdrop. Recent reevaluation of the concept (Connell & Messerschmidt, 2005) has not drastically changed its core idea: the "social ascendancy of a particular version or model of masculinity that, operating on the terrain of 'common sense' and conventional morality, defines 'what it means to be a man'" (Hanke, 1990, p. 232). As Harris and Clayton (2007) suggest, journalists covering Brady deployed the concept of metrosexuality to "explain and disparage" behaviors "that fall outside of the circle of legitimacy of patriarchy" (p. 160). It was a "misdirection play," a single dimension of Brady's masculinity inserted by journalists to direct attention away from Brady's foibles and to reinforce a more conventional construction of masculinity. Brady seems to embrace the metrosexual trappings that come with his global celebrity, but for journalists he is a man's man.