Male Stereotypes in Turkish and Uzbek Proverbs

ABSTRACT: By examining the representations of male gender myths in Turkish and Uzbek proverbs, the article seeks to demonstrate that proverbs discursively inscribe and disseminate cultural conceptions about men. As distillation of collective wisdom, they reiterate very 496 often traditional expectations for men, including the identification with strength, courage, provider role, and social insignia. Utilizing a comparative linguistic and cultural methodological model, it analyzes thematic features and linguistic devices in the proverbs, which reveal how proverbs illustrate masculinity in these societies at that time and now. This methodology involves a qualitative thematic analysis and quantitative frequency counts of stereotypical expressions in order to systematically investigate how male identities are socially constructed through language. The findings indicate that while heterosexist performances of manhood persist across new media spaces, there are also performances of alternative male subjectivities in the making. By rubricizing proverbs under themes such as gender essentialism, stereotypical attitudes, and gender-role egalitarianism, this study exposes the dual-fold role of proverbs-while they perpetuate patriarchal discourses, they also hold great potential for re-reading. The contribution of these to the study of masculinity, to cultural linguistics and to gender discourse analysis can be highlighted in the light of the role of proverbs as cultural artefacts shaping thought and governance and the findings of this study. Given that it offers examples of how to unsettle stereotypical assumptions and support more inclusive interpretations of masculinities, this is particularly useful for educational and policy purposes in Central Asian cases.