Delicate Encounters Between The Critic and The Critiqued: Investigating Masculinities in Trabzon with a (Pro)Feminist Perspective

In a “typical” feminist research, trying to understand their respondents (who are generally women) by establishing empathy, the female feminist researcher(s) aim to contribute their empowerment and emancipation by utilizing feminist methodologies. On the other hand, if a (pro)feminist and male researcher establishes empathy with the respondent men, who are the primary agents and beneficiaries of patriarchy, creates deeper conflicts both with himself, the approach he adopts, and with the methodology he utilizes, in terms of a feminist research. In this article, the methodological difficulties of investigating masculinities with a (pro)feminist approach is discussed, focusing on the story of a field research conducted between 2010-2011 by a (pro)feminist male researcher in the city of Trabzon (Turkey) which frequently came to the forefront with a number of patriarchal and rightist incidents in the last years.