Maritime masculinity as the ‘common sense’

Abstract This article advances a new conceptualisation of maritime masculinity by arguing that it constitutes a distinct configuration of hegemonic masculinity operating through sexual hegemony. While the maritime industry has long been recognised as one of the world’s most masculinised sectors, existing scholarship has largely understood masculinity as an occupational identity or cultural characteristic. Drawing on Connell’s (1995) theory of ‘hegemonic masculinity’, Chitty’s (2020) concept of ‘sexual hegemony’, and Foucauldian analyses of discipline and subject formation (Foucault 1975, 1988), this article argues that maritime masculinity is more accurately understood as a regulatory regime through which authority, labour, sexuality, and organisational legitimacy become mutually reinforcing. Unlike hegemonic masculinity more broadly, maritime masculinity is not anchored to particular male bodies but reproduced through routinised performances of command, emotional restraint, endurance, and disciplinary authority that sustain the political and economic interests of maritime elites. The analysis draws on thirteen in-depth qualitative interviews with participants occupying diverse positions across the maritime sector, complemented by documentary analysis of international maritime regulatory frameworks. The findings demonstrate how maritime masculinity structures leadership, regulates identity and sexuality, shapes occupational belonging, and conditions access to authority across highly regulated and transnational maritime workplaces. Although heterosexual women, LGBTQ+ individuals, and other historically marginalised groups may gain access to positions of authority, such inclusion remains contingent upon reproducing the behavioural norms through which maritime masculinity is maintained.By conceptualising maritime masculinity as a form of sexual hegemony, the article extends scholarship on masculinities beyond interpersonal gender relations to demonstrate how sector-specific configurations of masculinity operate as technologies of labour governance within global capitalism. It contributes to debates on masculinity, sexuality, labour, and organisational power while establishing maritime masculinity as a distinct analytical category for understanding the reproduction of authority and inequality in transnational industries.