Masculinities

This page contains literature references and abstracts on the topic of masculinities. Of every book, article and report the abstract is given. If a book, article or report publicly accessible on the internet I have provided a link to where it can be found. If there is no link it means that there is a paywall. Where there is a paywall I recommend to look up the article on researchgate.net, often the author can be approached there and one can request the full-text via a private message.

The literature references and abstracts below are in four groups: literature on norms on masculinity; literature on masculinities and homophobia; literature on masculinities and violence and, literature on working with men to increase gender equality and reduce violence.

Introduction

Just like norms on what it means to be a woman differ between cultures and eras, what it means to be a “real” man can be equally diverse. This leads to us talking about masculinities – using the plural – and not the singular, masculinity. The past 10-15 years there has been a rise in research on masculinities. This research is to a large extent focused on what makes men violent – against women, each other, homosexuals, militarism etc – and how to change that. There is also research on how traditional, patriarchal norms on masculinity are negative for the men themselves and not only for women. These patriarchal norms on masculinity typically demand that men should take risks, that they should not talk about feelings, not ask for help etc. Also, these and other behaviours are related to facts such as men having more traffic accidents than women, are more likely to die in workplace accidents, more likely to commit suicide than women, less likely to go to see a doctor and more. Finally, there is also research on egalitarian masculinities – on paternity leave, equal sharing of household chores and unpaid care work, and on the benefits of these egalitarian relationships.

Theory

The basis for much work on masculinities is Connell’s concept of hegemonic masculinities (Connell, R. (1995). Masculinities. Cambridge: Polity Press). Hegemonic masculinities are the ideal masculinities in any given society and time which men strive (or are supposed to strive) to attain. Most men will not achieve this ideal leading to a hierarchy of masculinities. Hegemonic norms on masculinity are patriarchal in nature, constantly putting men above women but also some men above other men. In many parts of the world white men have managed to dominate non-white men and basically everywhere is more power and status given to heterosexual men than to homosexual ones. While the theory and concept of hegemonic masculinities have been criticised and further developed since it’s first was formulated – as the literature below will show – it remains a very important analytical tool.

The literature references below are gathered in four groups:

·       Norms on masculinity

·       Masculinities and homophobia

·       Masculinities and violence

·       Working with men to increase gender equality and reduce violence

Masculinities: Literature references

Norms on masculinity

Men and masculinities. Whitehead, S. (2002). Cambridge and Malden: Polity Press.

Men and masculinities is one of the most comprehensive texts on the sociology of masculinity. Wide-ranging and accessible, it considers all the key themes, concepts and writings (up to 2002) informing the subject.

Starting with a discussion of the nature/nurture debate, Freudian and Jungian perspectives, and first-wave writings on men and masculinity, the book explores the work of key feminist and profeminist theorists such as Raewyn Connell, Jeff Hearn, Michael Kimmel, Michael Messner, Peter Nardi and Lynne Segal.

The book covers topics such as masculinity and materiality, masculinity in crisis, sexuality, male power, identity, the politics of masculinity, and the male role in management, relationships and families.

Guyland: The perilous world where boys become men. Kimmel, M. (2008). New York: Harper Collins.

The passage from adolescence to adulthood was once clear. Today, growing up has become more complex and confusing, as young men drift casually through college and beyond – hanging out, partying, playing with tech toys, watching sports. But beneath the appearance of a simple extended boyhood, a more dangerous social world has developed, far away from the traditional signposts and cultural signals that once helped boys navigate their way to manhood – a territory Michael Kimmel has identified as “Guyland”.

In mapping the troubling social world where men are now made, Kimmel offers a view into the minds and times of America’s sons, brothers, and boyfriends, and he works towards redefining what it means to be a man today – and tomorrow. Only by understanding this world and this life stage can we enable young men to chart their own paths, stay true to themselves, and emerge safely from Guyland as responsible and fully formed male adults.

The wimp factor: Gender gaps, holy wars, and the politics of anxious masculinity. Ducat, S. J. (2004). Boston: Beacon Press.

In this landmark exploration of how male anxiety has come to define our political culture, Stephen J. Ducat shows the link between the desperate macho strutting of male politicians, the gender gap in voting behaviour, and fundamentalist holy wars. He argues that a direct association exists between the magnitude of a man’s femiphobia – that is, his terror of being perceived as feminine – and his tendency to embrace right-wing political opinions.

From the strenuous efforts by handlers to counter George H.W: Bush’s “wimp factor” to the swaggering arrogance that led to the moral and military quagmire in U.S:-occupied Iraq, anxious masculinity has been a discernible subtext in politics. Ducat shows how this anxiety has been an underlying force in public life throughout the history of Western culture and also explores why and how certain political issues get gendered. Analysing various aspects of popular culture and drawing on pioneering research on the gender gap, The wimp factor is a fascinating exposé that will alter our understanding of contemporary politics.

Men of the world. Genders, globalizations, transnational times. Hearn, J. (2015). London: Sage.

What have men and globalization got to do with each other? How are men shaping and being shaped by globalization? How is globalization gendered? Why do many books on globalization fail to discuss gender relations? And why do many of those that do omit an explicit and developed analysis of men and gender relations?

Men of the world brings together autobiographical reflections and memories on changing personal locations, contemporary empirical studies on major power processes, and up-to-date theoretical development. It considers the implications of debates on globalization, transnational change and transnational patriarchies, as part of engagement and critique focused on the global North.

Specific chapters address diverse transnational issues: transnational bodies and emotions in violence, violation and militarism; transnational organizing across states, big business, global finance, and activism; transnational movements in the environment, migration, and information and communication technologies and sexualities; and finally, challenges to the gender category of ‘men’.

Feminism & men. Van der Gaag, N. (2014). London: Zed Books.

Feminism has changed the world; it is radically reshaping women’s lives. But what about men? They still hold most of the power in the economy, in government, in religions, in the media and often in the family too. At the same time, many men are questioning traditional views about what it means to be a man. Others resent the gains women have made and want to turn back the clock. Feminism & men asks how feminism might improve the lives of men as well as women.

Caring masculinities: Theorizing an emerging concept. Elliott, K. (2015). Men and Masculinities.

A space has emerged for theorizing caring masculinities as the concept has increasingly become a focus of European critical studies on men and masculinities (CSMM). In this article, I present a practice-based framework of the concept. I propose that caring masculinities are masculine identities that reject domination and its associated traits and embrace values of care such as positive emotion, interdependence, and relationality. I suggest that these caring masculinities constitute a critical form of men’s engagement and involvement in gender equality and offer the potential of sustained social change for men and gender relations. I draw on CSMM and feminist care theory to construct the framework proposed here. In doing so, I offer a feminist exploration of how masculinities might be reworked into identities of care rather than domination.

Hegemonic masculinity/masculinities in South Africa: Culture, power, and gender politics. Morrell, R., et al. (2012). Men and Masculinities 15(1): 11-30.

The concept of hegemonic masculinity has had a profound impact on gender activism and has been taken up particularly in health interventions. The concept was part of a conceptual gendered vocabulary about men which opened up analytical space for research on masculinity and prompted a generation of gender interventions with men. Academic work focused primarily on relations between men, to the neglect of relations with women, while paradoxically acknowledging the power that men had over women. Interventions that drew on theories of masculinities focused on the content of hegemonic masculinity, identifying hegemony with oppressive attitudes and practices. Hegemonic masculinity was considered singular and universal, with little acknowledgment given to research-based work that argued for a model of multiple hegemonic masculinities. An unintended consequence of efforts to promote gender equity through a focus on men and hegemony has been a recent popular discursive backlash. In this, Jacob Zuma and Julius Malema, presidents of the African National Congress (ANC) and the ANC youth league respectively, have sought to valorise an African masculinity that is race-specific, backward-looking, and predicated on the notion of male superiority. In this article, the authors argue that the concept of hegemonic masculinities retains a utility in both scholarship and activism but that its use needs to be located within a broader gendered understanding of society which in turn needs to confront race and class-based national realities.

Engendering gendered knowledge: Assessing the academic appropriation of hegemonic masculinity. Messerschmidt, J. W. (2012). Men and Masculinities 15(1): 56-76.

The appropriation of concepts long established as salient contributions to gender theory and research recently has come under scholarly scrutiny. In this article, the author contributes to this dissection of crucial gender concepts by assessing the recent academic appropriation of the reformulated concept of hegemonic masculinity and how this appropriation engenders gendered knowledge. The author first briefly revisits the concept of hegemonic masculinity as reformulated by Connell and Messerschmidt. Following this, the author examines selected studies to illustrate how hegemonic masculinity has been appropriated differently, how this dissimilarity is significant for the production of gendered knowledge, and how several new directions in the appropriations extend gendered knowledge on hegemonic masculinity. Finally, the author discusses the relevance of all his conclusions to the wider debates over the concept of hegemonic masculinity and posits how these conclusions arguably impact future feminist/gender research and theory construction.

Taking control of sex?: Hegemonic masculinity, technology, and internet pornography. Garlick, S. (2010). Men and Masculinities 12(5): 597-614.

It is widely acknowledged that gender is a key category in pornography, yet the relation of the latter to contemporary masculinities remains relatively obscure. Although there is a substantial critical literature on the positioning and treatment of women in pornography, the connection between the consumption of pornographic images and the social construction of hegemonic masculinity has been more often presumed than examined. This lacuna becomes more apparent when juxtaposed with the profusion and proliferation of Internet porn in recent years. Rather than enter into existing anti-porn or pro-porn debates, this article seeks to pose a different set of questions about the relationship between masculinity, technology, and pornography. It suggests that the Internet produces a qualitative change in the way in which viewers are affected by pornography and that this has implications for contemporary gender relations. Beyond men’s control over women’s bodies, Internet porn participates in the larger drama of a technological confrontation between men and nature one in which control and the meaning of masculinity is perpetually at stake.

Hegemonic masculinity and the possibility of change in gender relations. Duncanson, C. (2015). Men and Masculinities 18(2): 231-248.

Hegemonic masculinity was introduced as a concept which, due to its understanding of gender as dynamic and relational, and of power as consent, could explain both the persistence of male power and the potential for social change. Yet, when hegemonic masculinity is applied in empirical cases, it is most often used to demonstrate the way in which hegemonic masculinity shifts and adopts new practices in order to enable some men to retain power over others. This is especially so in feminist International Relations, particularly studies of military masculinities, where shifts toward “softer” military masculinities such as the “tough and tender” soldier-scholar demonstrate to many feminists merely the “flexibility of the machinery of rule”. In this article, I challenge the pessimism of these accounts of military masculinity. My particular contribution is to build on an emergent and underdeveloped strand of Connell’s work on hegemonic masculinity: how change might be theorized. I argue that hegemonic masculinity remains a useful concept, but that the process through which hegemony may fail requires rethinking. I make this argument by exploring and working through empirical material on military masculinities, drawing on both my own research and critical analysis of the literature.

Masculinities at the margins of “Middle Adulthood”: What a consideration of young age and old age offers masculinities theorizing. Bartholomaeus, C. and A. Tarrant (2015). Men and Masculinities.

The intersections of masculinities and age have attracted relatively little theorizing. This article examines the theoretical implications of young/old age and masculinities by bringing together two bodies of literature (young age and masculinities and old age and masculinities) and two research studies (one with pre-teenage school students in Australia and one with grandfathers in the United Kingdom). We focus on two key themes: caring practices and relations and the divide between physical activity and intellectual pursuits. Drawing on these themes, we show how age allows for gender transgressions and practices of gender equality and how young boys and old men can also uphold a discourse of hegemonic masculinity, despite age-related tensions. We conclude by arguing that a consideration of age has much to offer in terms of thinking about how gender is socially constructed and illuminates the complex power relations of age and gender categories.

Performing hypermasculinity: Experiences with confined young offenders. Bengtsson, T. T. (2015). Men and Masculinities 19(4): 410-428.

In this article, young people’s hypermasculine performances of gender in a Danish institution for young offenders are analysed. Through the ethnographic method of detailed observations of two situations of young people, one male and one female, entering an institution for young offenders, it is demonstrated that hypermasculinity is created as a collective frame of meaning creating both possibilities and restraints in concrete situations. Hypermasculinity is often discussed in relation to criminality as an intensification of hegemonic understandings of what constitutes a “real man” and thus as part of male offender’s identity formation. In this article, the relational analysis shows that hypermasculinity is not alone to be understood as the expression of the individual young person’s performances but rather as the dominating institutional frame guiding all gender performances. The observed hypermasculine frame comprises notions of a real man based on performances of overt sexuality, the willingness to commit violence, and the limitation of subversive performances.

Silenced husbands: Muslim marriage migration and masculinity. Charsley, K. and A. Liversage (2015). Men and Masculinities 18(4): 489-508.

In both Denmark and Britain, legal and policy discourses have relied on a range of problems implicitly or explicitly linked to transnational marriages involving ethnic minorities in order to control and change the character of spousal immigration. These discourses often focus on the vulnerability of Muslim women, while Muslim men appear as patriarchal figures abusing their power over co-ethnic women. In this article, we use qualitative data from semi-structured interviews with Pakistanis in the United Kingdom and Turks in Denmark to explore gendered challenges for Muslim migrant husbands and demonstrate experiences inconsistent with the assumptions that underpin regulation. Attention to intersecting identities reveals weaknesses in such men’s relational positions and multiple arenas in which their masculinity is problematized or denigrated. In combination, these representations function to limit such men’s ability to give voice to their vulnerabilities and the challenges they face and thus to reinforce assumptions of male hegemony.

Sticky masculinity: Post-structuralism, phenomenology and subjectivity in critical studies on Men. Berggren, K. (2014). Men and Masculinities 17(3): 231-252.

Despite the consolidation of critical studies on men or “masculinity studies” in recent years, critics have pointed to a kind of feminist theory deficit due to the relative lack of engagement with contemporary developments of feminist theory. By focusing on post-structuralist feminist and feminist phenomenological accounts of subjectivity, this article seeks to contribute to the emerging body of work that brings such theories into critical studies on men. I argue that making use of these perspectives is not only a matter of replacing dominant theories, but rather offers possibilities for creative rereading of earlier work on masculinity, which may not have been sufficiently appreciated from the viewpoint of dominant structural perspectives. My argument proceeds through a reading of John Stoltenberg as a post-structuralist feminist, and a reading of Victor Seidler as a feminist phenomenologist. I suggest that the study of masculinity can benefit from both traditions, and as an example I consider Jonathan Salisbury’s and David Jackson’s work on “boys’ work”. Drawing in particular on Sara Ahmed’s innovative combination of post-structuralism and phenomenology, I suggest an understanding of masculinity as “sticky”.

New ways of being a man: “Positive” hegemonic masculinity in meditation-based communities of practice. Lomas, T., et al. (2015). Men and Masculinities 19(3): 289-310.

Connell’s concept of hegemonic masculinity is often reduced to a singular construct, consisting of “toxic” traits viewed as detrimental to well-being. However, the concept allows for variation in hegemony, including the possibility of forms more conducive to well-being. Through in-depth interviews with thirty male meditators in the United Kingdom, we explored the social dimensions of meditation practice to examine its potential implications for well-being. Most participants became involved with communities of practice centred on meditation that promoted new local hegemonies, and these included ideals experienced as conducive to well-being, like abstinence. However, social processes associated with hegemony, like hierarchy and marginalization, were not overturned. Moreover, participants faced challenges enacting new practices in relation to the broader system of hegemonic masculinity outside these communities, reporting censure. Our findings are cautionary for professionals seeking to encourage well-being behaviours: that is, there is potential for adaptation in men, yet complex social processes influence this change.

The complex associations between conforming to masculine norms and religiousness in men. Ward, A. Z. and S. W. Cook (2011). Psychology of Men & Masculinity 12(1): 42-54.

This study sought to challenge the common conclusion that masculinity is only associated with decreased religiousness in men. The current investigation predicted more complex associations among these constructs, where both positive and negative associations would exist between masculinity and religiousness. To examine this, 154 male undergraduates completed a comprehensive measure of 11 masculine norms and measures of 5 aspects of religiousness: religious commitment; intrinsic, extrinsic, and quest religious motivations; and religious fundamentalism. Results indicated that both positive and negative associations exist between masculinity and religiousness. Three aspects of traditional masculinity (winning, power over women, and disdain for homosexuals) were positively correlated with various aspects of religiousness, and 3 aspects of traditional masculinity (emotional control, violence, and playboy) were negatively associated with various aspects of religiousness. Furthermore, 3 significant canonical functions were interpreted linking various aspects of masculinity to (a) traditional religiousness, (b) nondogmatic religiousness, and (c) both intrinsic and extrinsic religiousness.

Money has more weight than the man: Masculinities in the marriages of Angolan war veterans. Spall, J. (2014). IDS Bulletin 45(1): 11-19.

This article discusses how male Angolan war veterans navigated the sudden shift from the rigours of military discipline to life in a civilian society they no longer recognised, where money had become a dominant social value. Based on a year of participant observation and interviews with war veterans in the city of Huambo, it traces their life histories and their post-war struggles to develop the necessary creativity and initiative to make a profit in a disordered, war-torn economy, where masculine status and authority had come to depend crucially on monetary income. I analyse their reaction to the crumbling of the relative certainties of the patriarchal orders of both pre-war society and military life, and the associated anxieties around living up to a senior masculine archetype of the wise, authoritative provider whilst attempting to ensure that their wives’ behaviour conformed to the family model that accompanies this archetype.

Men and gender equality: European insights. Scambor, E., et al. (2014). Men and Masculinities 17(5): 552-577.

In this article, some of the most important findings of the European research project The Role of Men in Gender Equality (2011-2012) are discussed. This project was the first systematic research study of all European Union member states and associated European Free Trade Association states regarding men and gender equality in the fields of education and paid labour, the involvement of men in care and domestic work responsibilities, men’s health, gender-based violence, and men’s participation in gender equality policy. The main objective of the study was to gain better knowledge on the role and positioning of men concerning gender equality. A number of themes were emphasized. First, as the situation of men and women in societies is relational, the role of men cannot be understood, if the role of women is neglected. Second, a perspective on men as a heterogeneous social group was chosen in order to gain insights into men’s privileges as well as disadvantages according to class, ethnicity, disability, and other social indicators. This study shows that caring masculinity emerges as a central path forward, and one that is increasingly taken up in practice, together with women’s increasing education and professional role, and rising expectations of gender-balanced task divisions. But there is a need for further research on the complex relationship between caring masculinities and gender-equal roles, including marginalized and unemployed groups and men who turn their frustrations against gender equality and women’s new roles.

Research in the psychology of men and masculinity using the gender role strain paradigm as a framework. Levant, R. F. (2011). American Psychologist 66(8): 765-776.

This article introduces the specialty area of the psychology of men and masculinity to the broader community of American psychologists, focusing on research conducted using the gender role strain paradigm. The review covers the rationale for and aims of the psychology of men and masculinity and the gender role strain paradigm. It provides an extensive discussion of masculinity ideologies-the core construct in the strain paradigm-including the definition of masculinity ideology and considerations of masculinity ideology versus masculinity ideologies, traditional masculinity ideology, the measurement of masculinity ideologies, the Male Role Norms Inventory-Revised, women’s and adolescent’s masculinity ideologies, and conformity to masculine norms. It then takes up the 3 types of masculine gender role strain (discrepancy, dysfunction, and trauma) and the normative male alexithymia hypothesis. Finally, it considers future research directions.

Poor man’s patriarchy: Gender roles and global crises. Kelbert, A. and N. Hossain (2014). IDS Bulletin 45(1): 20-28.

This article argues that rapid recent global economic shocks have revealed a poor man’s patriarchy; a washed-out version of ancient male privileges, but yoked to responsibilities poor men can rarely meet. At the same time, norms that helped keep women at home in unpaid care roles have weakened and paid work is an ambition for more and more. Drawing on original research into experiences of food price volatility in ten developing countries in 2012, this article argues that in this destabilising of old gender roles, there may be some emancipatory potential. Present conditions of poor man’s patriarchy suggest some scope for cross-gender coalitions with progressive, redistributive political agendas.

Towards an intersectional approach to patriarchy: Male homosociality in an American context. Karioris, F. G. (2014). IDS Bulletin 45(1): 104-110.

This article seeks to begin an exploration of the ways that male homosociality can be investigated and talked about using a multidimensional and intersectional lens. In doing this, it puts to the fore an understanding and discussion of patriarchy, while simultaneously situating the discussion amidst current American visions of masculinity. The article aims to provide a further starting point for theorising about men’s homosocial relations and the various factors which impact on the nature of these relations and the role that these relations can play in perpetuating or undermining larger social structures which further inequalities. To do this it briefly looks at various elements of these relations, specifically related to power, silence and intimacy.

Men, masculinities, and the demise of a state: Examining masculinities in the context of economic, political, and social crisis in a small town in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Hollander, T. (2014). Men and Masculinities 17(4): 417-439.

This article explains why Connell’s classification of masculinities is inadequate for the analysis of clear crisis situations. Based on a study in a small town in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, the author found two ways in which men renegotiated their masculinities after the war broke out and closure of a sugarcane factory caused 3,000 people to lose their jobs. Some men adopted a victim identity; they placed the blame of their situation outside themselves, and became idle, aggressive, suspicious toward others and non-self-reflective. Other men renegotiated their masculinities and accepted a lower status within the family and society. The latter renegotiation was more conducive for the survival of individuals and families; it decreased sexual and gender-based violence and increased gender equality and general levels of cooperative behaviour. Examining men in terms of “victimized” and “effaced” masculinities increases our understanding of how men respond differently to emasculation and it can also inform humanitarian and developmental responses.

Who gets the daddy bonus?: Organizational hegemonic masculinity and the impact of fatherhood on earnings. Hodges, M. J. and M. J. Budig (2010). Gender & Society 24(6): 717-745.

Using the 1979-2006 waves of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, we investigate how the earnings bonus for fatherhood varies by characteristics associated with hegemonic masculinity in the American workplace: heterosexual marital status, professional/managerial status, educational attainment, skill demands of jobs, and race/ethnicity. We find the earnings bonus for fatherhood persists after controlling for an array of differences, including human capital, labour supply, family structure, and wives’ employment status. Moreover, consistent with predictions from the theory of hegemonic masculinity within bureaucratic organizations, the fatherhood bonus is significantly larger for men with other markers of workplace hegemonic masculinity. Men who are white, married, in households with a traditional gender division of labour, college graduates, professional/managerial workers and whose jobs emphasize cognitive skills and de-emphasize physical strength receive the largest fatherhood earnings bonuses.

Hegemonic masculinity and beyond: 40 Years of research in Sweden. Hearn, J., et al. (2012). Men and Masculinities 15(1): 31-55.

This article discusses the status of the concept of hegemonic masculinity in research on men and boys in Sweden, and how it has been used and developed. Sweden has a relatively long history of public debate, research, and policy intervention in gender issues and gender equality. This has meant, in sheer quantitative terms, a relatively sizeable corpus of work on men, masculinities, and gender relations. There is also a rather wide diversity of approaches, theoretically and empirically, to the analysis of men and masculinities. The Swedish national context and gender equality project is outlined. This is followed by discussion of three broad phases in studies on men and masculinities in Sweden: the 1960s and 1970s before the formulation of the concept of hegemonic masculinity; the 1980s and 1990s when the concept was important for a generation of researchers developing studies in more depth; and the 2000s with a younger generation committed to a variety of feminist and gender critiques other than those associated with hegemonic masculinity. The following sections focus specifically on how the concept of hegemonic masculinity has been used, adapted, and indeed not used, in particular areas of study: boys and young men in family and education; violence; and health. The article concludes with review of how hegemonic masculinity has been used in Swedish contexts, as a gender stereotype, often out of the context of legitimation of patriarchal relations; other than dominant, white middle-class Swedish, equated with outmoded, nonmodern, working-class, failing boy, or minority ethnic masculinities; a new masculinity concept and practice, incorporating some degree of gender equality; and reconceptualized and problematized as a modern, heteronormative, and subject-centred concept.

From hegemonic masculinities to the hegemony of men. Hearn, J. (2004), Feminist theory. 5(1), 59-72.

This article evaluates the usefulness of the concept of hegemony in theorizing men. The discussion is located within the framework of ‘Critical Studies on Men'(CSM), in which the centrality of power issues is recognized, rather than that of ‘Men’s Studies’, where it is frequently not. Recent uses, as in ‘hegemonic masculinity’ in the analysis of masculinities, are subjected to a qualified critique. Instead a shift is proposed from masculinity to men, to focus on ‘the hegemony of men’.

Gendering global finance: crisis, masculinity, and responsibility. Griffin, P. (2013). Men and Masculinities 16(1): 9-34.

This article examines the relationship between discussions of responsibility in and for financial crisis and the locations and effects of gendered power and privilege in the global political economy. Most of these discussions have absented the ways in which power in the global political economy was, is and might continue to be gendered, which has served to reinforce the “natural fact” of economic liberalization, integration and human progress through the expansion of Western-style financial capitalism and has obscured the highly masculinized and ethnocentric model of human activity on which this has been built. This article suggests that accounts of crisis that do not interrogate the ways in which organizations, actors, ideas and norms interact to actively construct the social setting(s) of financial discourse will fail to see contributory factors to crisis as a whole. This article takes seriously the effects of the culture of privilege, competitive success and masculine prowess that contemporary financial discourse has created and sustained and interrogates, against the abstractionism of contemporary neoliberalism and its advocates, where gendered configurations of power, knowledge, representation and identity have enabled contemporary global financial discourse to configure and reproduce ideas and practices of individual, collective and moral responsibility.

Men, sex, and homosociality: How bonds between men shape their Sexual relations with women. Flood, M. (2008). Men and Masculinities 10(3): 339-359.

Male-male social bonds have a powerful influence on the sexual relations of some young heterosexual men. Qualitative analysis among young men aged eighteen to twenty-six in Canberra, Australia, documents the homosocial organization of men’s heterosexual relations. Homosociality organizes men’s sociosexual relations in at least four ways. For some of these young men, male-male friendships take priority over male-female relations, and platonic friendships with women are dangerously feminizing. Sexual activity is a key path to masculine status, and other men are the audience, always imagined and sometimes real, for one’s sexual activities. Heterosexual sex itself can be the medium through which male bonding is enacted. Last, men’s sexual storytelling is shaped by homosocial masculine cultures. While these patterns were evident particularly among young men in the highly homosocial culture of a military academy, their presence also among other groups suggests the wider influence of homosociality on men’s sexual and social relations.

Who are those guys? Constructing the oilfield’s new dominant masculinity. Filteau, M. R. (2014). Men and Masculinities 17(4): 396-416.

Slippages between dominant-nonhegemonic masculinities and hegemonic masculinities obscure and confuse the importance of these masculinities for understanding the hierarchical gender order. This article uses in-depth interviews (N = 22) with oilfield workers, and observations at drilling sites to clarify how men can construct a socially dominant-nonhegemonic masculinity and subordinate a previously hegemonic masculinity. This study shows how a recursive relationship between industry and organizational safety policies enable men to construct a new dominant masculinity predicated on safety at work, while socially dominant men remain complicit with hegemonic masculinity in the domestic sphere. The discussion underscores the importance of distinguishing between dominant-nonhegemonic and hegemonic masculinities, which promotes our understanding of the hierarchal relationship among masculinities, femininities, and the struggle for gender dominance.

Dialogical mmasculinities: Diverse youth resisting dominant masculinity. Kahn, J. S., J. R. Holmes, et al. (2011). Journal of Constructivist Psychology 24(1): 30-55.

The meaning of the construct of masculinity differs culturally and changes over time. Although cultural constructions of the phenomenon change, at any given time hegemonic pressures promote participants’ compliance to masculinity norms. This hegemonic process often results in the underlying assumptions that masculinity is an essentialized unitary phenomenon and that conforming to cultural requisites is adaptive and healthy. In the field of psychology, past research investigating resistance to this hegemony and diverse constructions of masculinities categorized resistance as pathological and problematic. More recently, researchers have turned their attention to ways in which conforming to dominant hegemonic masculinity norms can be problematic and maladaptive, allowing for an understanding of the adaptive qualities that come with resisting and negotiating with hegemony. Specifically, there has been an interest in understanding diverse discourse constructions as sources of resistance to hegemonic masculinity. This project was focused on understanding the ways in which hegemonic-resistant masculinities were constructed with a group of young men who work on a youth team to prevent domestic violence. Using the constructivist framework of the dialogical self, we gleaned four distinct I-positions of masculinity that help to support a fluid and diverse process of negotiating a hegemonic-resistant and adaptive form of masculinity.

Hegemonic masculinities, the multinational corporation, and the developmental state: Constructing gender in “progressive” firms. Elias, J. (2008). Men and Masculinities 10(4): 405-421.

This article analyses how the mainstream study of multinational corporations (MNCs) reflects a set of gendered assumptions that construct the firm as a hegemonically masculine political actor. It is suggested that the same masculinist assumptions that are found in these writings on MNCs take shape within firms in the form of a masculinist managerialism that constructs women workers in terms of their “reproductive femininity”. There is an extensive literature on women’s employment in MNCs and their subsidiaries; the author suggests that this focus on women workers is only a starting point for developing a gendered understanding of global production. Importantly, a focus on “feminine” work and the role that masculinist managerial practices play in underpinning this construction provides insight into the gendered structures and institutions that support the workings of the global political economy.

Introduction: Undressing patriarchy and masculinities to re-politicise gender. Edström, J., et al. (2014). IDS Bulletin 45(1): 1-10. https://opendocs.ids.ac.uk/opendocs/handle/123456789/7311

Much has happened in debates, practice and policy on gender in development since the millennium, when an IDS Bulletin was first published on “Men, Masculinities and Development”. The present issue picks up on several developments in the interim, by drawing contributions from participants at a recent international symposium, “Undressing Patriarchy”. It explores the shifting field of men and masculinities in development and how the field’s often conflicted engagements with the feminist project of redressing gender inequalities might be radicalised through a deeper analysis of patriarchy and our relationship to it, as well as by linking it to other struggles for sexual and human rights, or social justice. The introduction sets the context and gives a brief background to our rationale for “undressing patriarchy” as our chosen approach. The authors then comment on the contributions to each section of the IDS Bulletin, and conclude with an outline of some future priorities.

The male order development encounter. Edström, J. (2014). IDS Bulletin 45(1): 111-123. https://opendocs.ids.ac.uk/opendocs/handle/123456789/7297

In order to more helpfully take the men and masculinities field forward within international development, we must reveal deep patriarchal structures of constraint to gender equality. This article frames an approach, by drawing on feminist thinkers, writers on masculinities and thinkers on power, to propose a set of considerations informing how patriarchy might be analysed in depth. Setting out four dimensions (representational, material, ideological and epistemological) in which to undress patriarchy, the article explores male centredness, male privilege, male supremacy and a concept of “male order”. The latter provides both the deep-level syntax and the inbuilt directionality of patriarchal power structures, through diffuse micro-technologies of gendered knowledge-power. The four dimensions are applied to a characterisation of recent policy discourse on the role of men in gender equality, to then conclude with priorities for research and highlighting the need for making the work more explicitly political as well as personal.

Sex and straight young men: Challenging and endorsing hegemonic masculinities and gender regimes. Doull, M., et al. (2013). Men and Masculinities 16(3): 329-346.

Young men are considered to have power and to be powerful in many social settings and in particular within the realm of sexual relations. This article details research that directly asks young men how they perceive, interact with, and deploy power within intimate heterosexual relationships. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 13 Canadian-based young men (aged 17-22 years) to explore how power was understood and enacted within their intimate heterosexual relationships. A social constructionist gendered analysis was used to inductively derive themes and situate the experiences of the participants within societal discourses of hegemonic masculinities and gender regimes. Power within relationships was most often described as operating equitably, with a few participants describing the deployment of power in coercive/controlling ways. Results reveal that the use of power by men can be understood as challenging or endorsing hegemonic masculinities and traditional heterosexual gender regimes. By including young men’s voices in such discussions, our research contributes important understandings and some traction towards describing what might constitute more equitable gender and power relations.

Men, masculinities and children: some European perspectives, Hearn, J. and Pringle, K. (2006). Critical Social Policy, 26:2, 365-389.

Gender matters in child welfare partly by virtue of the relationship of men, masculinities and men’s practices to children, young people and childcare. This problematic is considered within a European context. The article sets out some of the major ways in which men relate, or do not relate, to children and young people. These include men’s care of, violence to and abuse of children and young people.

Recruiting men, constructing manhood: How health care organizations mobilize masculinities as nursing recruitment strategy. Cottingham, M. D. (2013). Gender & Society.

Despite broader changes in the health care industry and gender dynamics in the United States, men continue to be a minority in the traditionally female occupation of nursing. As a caring profession, nursing emphasizes empathy, emotional engagement, and helping others; behaviours and skills characterized as antithetical to hegemonic notions of a tough, detached, and independent masculine self. The current study examines how nursing and related organizations “mobilize masculinities” in their efforts to recruit men to nursing. Analysing recruitment materials, I assess the mobilization and construction of masculinities in the context of textual, spoken, and visual content. Results reveal how organizations simultaneously mobilize aspects of hegemonic and nonhegemonic masculinities through ideological gendering practices. I identify three distinct types of mediated mobilization: full hegemonic co-option, partial hegemonic co-option, and alternative construction of masculinities. Empirically, the study illustrates the content of nursing recruitment material aimed at men and the ongoing contradictions endemic to men’s entry into caring professions. Complementing existing structural and interactional approaches, the study advances theory on how the mobilization of masculinities operates as an ideological gendering practice at the organizational level.

Between women’s rights and men’s authority: Masculinity and shifting discourses of gender difference in urban Uganda. Wyrod, R. (2008). Gender and Society 22(6): 799-823.

Across the African continent, women’s rights have become integral to international declarations, regional treaties, national legislation, and grassroots activism. Yet there is little research on how African men have understood these shifts and how African masculinities are implicated in such changes. Drawing on a year of ethnographic research in the Ugandan capital Kampala, this article investigates how ordinary men and women in Uganda understand women’s rights and how their attitudes are tied to local conceptions of masculinity. The author argues that a new configuration of gender relations is evident in urban Uganda; one that accommodates some aspects of women’s rights while retaining previous notions of innate male authority. This article therefore illustrates the complex and often contradictory engagements with human rights that occur in local contexts and how such engagements are shaped by, and are shaping, gender relations, including conceptions of masculinity.

Men’s perception of women’s rights and changing gender relations in South Africa: Lessons for working with men and boys in HIV and antiviolence programs. Dworkin, S. L., C. Colvin, et al. (2012). Gender & Society 26(1): 97-120.

Emerging out of increased attention to gender equality within violence and HIV prevention efforts in South African society has been an intensified focus on masculinities. Garnering a deeper understanding of how men respond to shifting gender relations and rights on the ground is of urgent importance, particularly since social constructions of gender are implicated in the HIV/AIDS epidemic. As social scientists collaborating on a rights-based HIV and antiviolence program, we sought to understand masculinities, rights, and gender norms across six high HIV/AIDS seroprevalence provinces in South Africa. Drawing on focus group research, we explore the ways that men who are engaged in HIV and antiviolence programming can often be simultaneously resistant to and embracing of changes in masculinities, women’s rights, and gender relations. We use our findings on men’s responses to changing gender relations to make suggestions for how to better engage men in HIV and antiviolence programs.

The complex associations between conforming to masculine norms and religiousness in men. Ward, A. Z. and S. W. Cook (2011). Psychology of Men & Masculinity 12(1): 42-54.

This study sought to challenge the common conclusion that masculinity is only associated with decreased religiousness in men. The current investigation predicted more complex associations among these constructs, where both positive and negative associations would exist between masculinity and religiousness. To examine this, 154 male undergraduates completed a comprehensive measure of 11 masculine norms and measures of 5 aspects of religiousness: religious commitment; intrinsic, extrinsic, and quest religious motivations; and religious fundamentalism. Results indicated that both positive and negative associations exist between masculinity and religiousness. Three aspects of traditional masculinity (winning, power over women, and disdain for homosexuals) were positively correlated with various aspects of religiousness, and 3 aspects of traditional masculinity (emotional control, violence, and playboy) were negatively associated with various aspects of religiousness. Furthermore, 3 significant canonical functions were interpreted linking various aspects of masculinity to (a) traditional religiousness, (b) nondogmatic religiousness, and (c) both intrinsic and extrinsic religiousness.

Unpacking masculinities in the context of social change: Internal complexities of the identities of married men in Turkey. Boratav, Hale Bolak; Gler Okman Fişek & Hande Eslen Ziya (2014). Men and Masculinities 17(3): 299-324.

Through analysis of fifty in-depth interviews with married men from different socioeconomic backgrounds and ages in seven provinces in Turkey, this article examines the internal dilemmas and contradictions in the construction of masculine identities in the context of social change in the country. The focus is on men’s experiences of most salient relational contexts with their parents, their children, and their spouses, and the possible implications of these relational experiences as well as prevailing social discourses for how these men negotiate masculinity. Overall, the men’s narratives indicate that both the relationship with the children and with the wife are relationships in transition, reflected in the dilemmas and contradictions at the discursive level, as well as between discourse and lived reality, resulting from the juxtaposition of relatively traditional backgrounds and the prevailing discourse of traditionalism with the emerging modernist discourse of egalitarianism. Findings are discussed in the context of the relevant literature and the socio-cultural context.

Masculinity and Mayhem: The Performance of Gender in a South African Boys’ School. Bantjes, J. and J. Nieuwoudt (2014). Men and Masculinities 17(4): 376-395.

We describe an incident of disruptive behaviour which occurred in a boys’ school in South Africa, and the context in which it occurred. The incident of mayhem is deconstructed in order to illuminate what it reveals about the performance of masculinity in the school. Descriptions are offered of practices and rituals which show how gender is performed within an elite boys’ school and how this incident illuminates the gender regime of the institution. The discussion highlights the contradictory and contested nature of performances of masculinity within the school.

You gotta kick ass a little harder than that: The subordination of feminine, masculine, and queer identities by private security in a hospital setting. Johnston, M. S. and J. M. Kilty (2014). Men and Masculinities 18(1): 55-78.

This qualitative research explores the complex and dynamic ways in which eight hospital security men engage in hegemonic masculine practices that subordinate the gender identities of security women and marginalized men. These intensive, in-depth interviews reveal that alpha male status is accomplished through routine demonstrations of physicality and dominance over mental health patients and subordinated guards who present a feminine or queer gender identity. Security officers who resist the established codes of masculine conduct are excluded from social circles, and culturally devalued by their hypermasculine peers and superiors. Overall, this research calls for the revision of hospital security recruitment and training initiatives that privilege military background and skills, and invites scholars to give voice to the gendered voices of security women, gay men, and nursing staff.

Earn yo’ respect! Respect in the status struggle of Finnish school boys. Manninen, S., T. Huuki, et al. (2011). Men and Masculinities 14(3): 335-357.

What is respect among school boys and how can it be earned? Reaching across disciplines, this article contends that respect is a dimension of status in the context of masculinities in peer relations, as are peer likeability and power positions. Drawing on longitudinal interviews and observational material, the authors scrutinize violence, physicality, materiality, and performances, exploring how school boys use these resources strategically to gain respect and to affect power relations. The authors conceptualize respect further, suggesting that respect among school boys refers not only to peer likeability but to a self-oriented stance tied to power and masculine veneration. This research aims to dig deeply into the complexities of masculinities, status, and power; to openly subvert, change, and make room for “fair power” instead of “fear power” in schools.

Development of the conformity to masculine norms inventory. Mahalik, J. R., B. D. Locke, et al. (2003). Psychology of Men & Masculinity 4: 3-25.

Conformity to masculine norms is defined as meeting societal expectations for what constitutes masculinity in one’s public or private life. Conversely, nonconformity to masculine norms is defined as not meeting societal expectations for what constitutes masculinity in one’s public or private life. There are 11 factors: Winning, Emotional Control, Risk-Taking, Violence, Dominance, Playboy, Self-Reliance, Primacy of Work, Power Over Women, Disdain for Homosexuals, and Pursuit of Status. The purpose is to develop a normative measure of masculinity that assesses a larger number of masculine norms than previous normative measures, to assess the affective, behavioural, and cognitive dimensions of masculine gender role norms and also to assess conformity and nonconformity to masculine gender role norms.

Confirmatory factor analysis of the conformity to masculine norms inventory and development of the conformity to masculine norms inventory. Parent, M. C. and B. Moradi (2009). Psychology of Men & Masculinity 10(3): 175-189.

The Conformity to Masculine Norms Inventory (CMNI; Mahalik et al., 2003) has proven to be an important tool in advancing the study of masculinity. The authors of the present study conducted the first factor analysis of the CMNI since its creation and also developed a short form of the measure to facilitate its broader utility. Confirmatory factor analysis of data from 229 men supported nine of the originally proposed CMNI factors, but also suggested the removal of two factors (Dominance and Pursuit of Status) that demonstrated relatively poor construct specificity, low factor loadings, and weak reliability coefficients in this study and in prior research. The data also supported elimination of low-loading items from other factors, resulting in an abbreviated version of the CMNI with improved model fit, acceptable reliability coefficients, and high correlations with corresponding original-form subscales. The CMNI-46 is discussed as an efficient tool for assessing men’s conformity to masculine norms.

Evidence of construct distinctiveness for conformity to masculine norms. Parent, M. C., B. Moradi, et al. (2011). Psychology of Men & Masculinity 12(4): 354-367.

Prior research has raised questions about the distinctiveness of masculinity-related constructs from personality dimensions and self-esteem. This study evaluated whether such confounding of masculinity constructs with personality and self-esteem extends to the conformity to masculine norms paradigm, a current prominent approach to operationalizing masculinity. Specifically, this study investigated the distinctiveness of masculinity as operationalized by the Conformity to Masculine Norms Inventory-46 (CMNI-46; Parent & Moradi, 2009) from the Big Five personality dimensions assessed with the NEO Five-Factor Inventory Form S (NEO-FFI-S; Costa & McCrae, 1989, 1992), masculinity/instrumentality and femininity/emotional expressiveness dimensions assessed with the Bem Sex Role Inventory (BSRI; Bem, 1974), and self-esteem assessed with the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSES; Rosenberg, 1965). Results of correlational analyses with 99% confidence intervals for determining discriminant validity (Anderson & Gerbing, 1988) supported the construct distinctiveness of conformity to masculine norms from personality dimensions and self-esteem. These findings suggest that the conformity to masculine norms paradigm may not be plagued by the confounding with personality and self-esteem that has been observed in prior research with measures of masculinity.

“Rednecks”, “Rutters”, and “Rithmetic”: Social class, masculinity, and schooling in a rural context. Morris, E. W. (2008). Gender & Society 22: 728-751.

Research with predominately minority, urban students has documented an educational “gender gap,” where girls tend to be more likely to go to college, make higher grades, and aspire to higher status occupations than boys. We know less, however, about inequality, gender, and schooling in rural contexts. Does a similar gap emerge among the rural poor? How does gender shape the educational experiences of rural students? This article explores these questions by drawing on participant observation and student interviews at a predominately white and low-income rural high school. I find a substantial gap favouring girls in this context, and I analyse how understandings of masculinity shaped schooling using the theory of hegemonic masculinity. The findings suggest that boys’ underachievement is actually rooted in masculine dominance and related to particular constructions of gender and social class.

Hegemonic masculinity/masculinities in South Africa: Culture, power, and gender politics. Morrell, R., R. Jewkes, et al. (2012). Men and Masculinities 15(1): 11-30.

The concept of hegemonic masculinity has had a profound impact on gender activism and has been taken up particularly in health interventions. The concept was part of a conceptual gendered vocabulary about men which opened up analytical space for research on masculinity and prompted a generation of gender interventions with men. Academic work focused primarily on relations between men, to the neglect of relations with women, while paradoxically acknowledging the power that men had over women. Interventions that drew on theories of masculinities focused on the content of hegemonic masculinity, identifying hegemony with oppressive attitudes and practices. Hegemonic masculinity was considered singular and universal, with little acknowledgment given to research-based work that argued for a model of multiple hegemonic masculinities. An unintended consequence of efforts to promote gender equity through a focus on men and hegemony has been a recent popular discursive backlash. In this, Jacob Zuma and Julius Malema, presidents of the African National Congress (ANC) and the ANC youth league respectively, have sought to valorise an African masculinity that is race-specific, backward-looking, and predicated on the notion of male superiority. In this article, the authors argue that the concept of hegemonic masculinities retains a utility in both scholarship and activism but that its use needs to be located within a broader gendered understanding of society which in turn needs to confront race and class-based national realities.

In search of progressive black masculinities: Critical self-reflections on gender identity development among black undergraduate men. McGuire, K. M., J. Berhanu, et al. (2014). Men and Masculinities 17(3): 253-277.

During the last several decades, research concerning the developmental trajectories, experiences, and behaviours of college men as “gendered” persons has emerged. In this article, we first critically review literature on Black men’s gender development and expressions within college contexts to highlight certain knowledge gaps. We then conceptualize and discuss progressive Black masculinities by relying on Mutua’s germinal work on the subject. Further, we engage Black feminist scholarship, both to firmly situate our more pressing argument for conceptual innovation and to address knowledge gaps in the literature on Black men’s gender experiences. It is our belief that scholars who study gender development and expressions of masculinities among Black undergraduate men could benefit from employing autocritography, and its built-in assumptions, to inform several aspects of their research designs. Autocritography is a critical autobiography that some Black profeminist men engage to invite readers into their gendered life-worlds.

Literature on masculinities and homophobia

I’m not homophobic, I’ve got gay friends: Evaluating the validity of inclusive masculinity. de Boise, S. (2015). Men and Masculinities 18(3): 318-339.

Anderson’s concept of “inclusive masculinity” has generated significant academic and media interest recently. It claims to have replaced hegemonic masculinity as a theoretical framework for exploring gender relations in societies that show decreased levels of cultural homophobia and homo-hysteria; this clearly has important implications for critical studies on men and masculinities (CSMMs). This article is divided into two parts and begins with a theoretical evaluation of work using the framework of inclusive masculinity and what it claims to offer over hegemonic masculinity. The second half is an analysis of inclusive masculinity’s conceptual division of homophobia and homo-hysteria. Through this analysis, it is suggested that there are several major theoretical concerns, which call into question the validity of research utilizing the framework of inclusive masculinity.

The quest for modern manhood: masculine stereotypes, peer culture and the social significance of homophobia. Plummer, David C. (2001) Journal of Adolescence 24: 15-23.

This paper explores the use of homophobic terms by boys and young men and the meanings they invoke when using them. Highly detailed interviews were conducted with young men from diverse backgrounds about their own experiences while growing up and their observations of schools, teachers, family and peers. Homophobia was found to be more than a simple prejudice against homosexuals. Homophobic terms like “poofter” and “faggot” have a rich developmental history and play a central role in adolescent male peer-group dynamics. Homophobic terms come into currency in primary school. When this happens, words like poofter and faggot rarely have sexual connotations. Nevertheless, far from being indiscriminate terms of abuse, these terms tap a complex array of meanings that are precisely mapped in peer cultures, and boys quickly learn to avoid homophobia and to use it decisively and with great impact against others. Significantly, this early, very powerful use of homophobic terms occurs prior to puberty, prior to adult sexual identity and prior to knowing much, if anything, about homosexuality. An effect of this sequence is that early homophobic experiences may well provide a key reference point for comprehending forthcoming adult sexual identity formation (gay or not) because powerful homophobic codes are learned first.

Homophobia and patriarchy in Nicaragua: A few ideas to start a debate. Welsh, P. (2014). IDS Bulletin 45(1): 39-45. https://opendocs.ids.ac.uk/opendocs/handle/123456789/7307

Reflecting on a 25-year-old study on cultural constructions of same-sex sexual relations between men in Nicaragua, which described a submissive-dominant model, this article contrasts this notion with more recent gay identities that have emerged in urban Nicaragua in particular, and which now coexist alongside the more traditional model. Despite many LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) groups having emerged in the country, patriarchy is proving resilient and adaptive in surprising ways. Although important victories have been achieved on a global and national scale, culturally and legislatively, in relation to equal rights for LGBT people, this article argues that such advances do not necessarily mean that the intensely andocentric character of patriarchy itself has been significantly challenged or altered. In the struggle for equal rights for all, the models and dynamics of patriarchal power and how they manifest themselves within LGBT organisations, families and relations must also be addressed – and undressed.

Accomplishing masculinity through anti-lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender homicide: A comparative case study approach. Kelley, K. and J. Gruenewald (2014). Men and Masculinities 18(1): 3-29.

In the current study, we seek to understand the dynamic processes of fatal attacks against lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) individuals across different situational circumstances. A review of prior research and story line analyses of 121 anti-LGBT homicides led to the creation of a homicide typology based on offender mode of victim selection. Guided by symbolic interactionism and theories of masculinity and violence, five representative case studies are conducted based on various open-source materials. The purpose of the case studies is to examine the applicability of theories of masculinity and violence for explaining anti-LGBT homicides across different modes of victim selection. We conclude that interactionist and masculinity theories of violence can in part illuminate how and why offenders use violence to demonstrate masculinity in some anti-LGBT homicide scenarios.

Being the butt of the joke: Homophobic humour, male identity, and its connection to emotional and physical violence for men. McCann, P. D., D. Plummer, et al. (2010). Health Sociology Review 19(4): 505-521.

This qualitative study into Australian manhood featured 63 men discussing ‘acceptable’ masculinity. Homophobic humour emerged as central to the formation of Australian male identity, but it had the potential to induce violence and emotional damage when the ‘humour’ moved along a malleable continuum from good-natured banter to abuse. Significantly, it was men of all sexualities who were targeted, indicating that it was non-conformity to gender norms as well as sexuality being policed, as boys and men used humour to control and humiliate each other Recollections of these instances ranged from ‘it was just a joke’ for some perpetrators, to ‘orchestrated cruelty’ for men who had been victimised. Some of the latter group reported depression extending, into their adult lives based on their youthful experiences. Understanding the impact when humour goes ‘beyond a joke’ is important for policy makers, educators and healthcare workers, as a potential for emotional damage and physical violence is highlighted. The study highlights the importance of understanding masculinity as an influence on men’s health and wellness.

Accomplishing masculinity through anti-lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender homicide: A comparative case study approach. Kelley, K. and J. Gruenewald (2014). Men and Masculinities 18(1): 3-29.

In the current study, we seek to understand the dynamic processes of fatal attacks against lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) individuals across different situational circumstances. A review of prior research and story line analyses of 121 anti-LGBT homicides led to the creation of a homicide typology based on offender mode of victim selection. Guided by symbolic interactionism and theories of masculinity and violence, five representative case studies are conducted based on various open-source materials. The purpose of the case studies is to examine the applicability of theories of masculinity and violence for explaining anti-LGBT homicides across different modes of victim selection. We conclude that interactionist and masculinity theories of violence can in part illuminate how and why offenders use violence to demonstrate masculinity in some anti-LGBT homicide scenarios.

The moderating effects of support for violence beliefs on masculine norms, aggression, and homophobic behavior During Adolescence. Poteat, V. P., M. S. Kimmel, et al. (2011). Journal of Research on Adolescence 21(2): 434-447.

In 2 studies, beliefs supporting the use of violence moderated the association between normative masculine activities and aggressive behaviour (Study 1) and normative masculine attitudes and aggressive and homophobic behaviour (Study 2) among adolescent boys. These beliefs also moderated the association between normative masculine activities and homophobic behaviour among adolescent girls. Consistent with social information processing models, beliefs about the appropriateness and effectiveness of violence predicted aggressive behaviour for boys and girls, including bullying, fighting, and relational aggression. Furthermore, the association between masculine norms and aggressive behaviour and homophobic behaviour was partly dependent on holding these beliefs among boys. Continued research is needed to identify other beliefs that may distinguish different expressions of masculinities and their association with other attitudes and behaviours. Within the broader aggression and homophobia literature among adolescents there is a need to include the study of gender norms, while recognizing the complexity with which these factors are associated.

Thinking straight, acting bent. Heteronormativity and homosexuality. Ingraham, C. (2006). In Davis, K.; Evans, M. and Lorber, J. (eds.) “Handbook of gender and women’s studies”. London: Sage.

Thinking straight – heteronormativity, the belief system underlying institutionalized heterosexuality – constitute the dominant paradigm in Western society. It secures a division of labour and distribution of wealth and power that requires gender, racial categories, class, and sexual hierarchies as well as ideological struggles for meaning and value. In this chapter Ingraham argue that the preoccupation with gender in feminist scholarship obscures the significance of heterosexuality as a primary institution complete with organising rituals and disciplinary practices that regulate acting bent. While gender is a central feature of heteronormativity, it is institutionalized heterosexuality that is served by dominant or conventional constructions of gender, not the other way around. Shifting the focus from gender to heteronormativity, theorizing what it means to think bent, holds enormous potential for feminist theory and research.

Literature on masculinities and violence

You’re either in or you’re out: School violence, peer discipline, and the (re)production of hegemonic masculinity. Stoudt, Brett G. (2006). Men and Masculinities 8(3): 273-287.

School violence has not been studied widely across schools and communities. This article examines hegemonic masculinity and its relationship to violence through the peer disciplining (hazing, teasing, bullying) that occurs among students who attend an elite suburban boys’ school. Using a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods, the analysis suggests that violence is embedded in the social fabric of the school and implicated in power relations between both peers and their institution. Emotionally ambiguous, you’re either in or you’re out distinctions made by peer disciplining can produce shame, fear, and hurt alongside friendship, intimacy, and bonding. The normalcy with which hegemonic values are practiced makes it difficult, though not impossible, to contest. If we are to find viable alternatives to dominant masculinities, which are restrictive for most, it will be important to ask which boys and under what conditions are they able to resist its mandates.

Prevalence of and factors associated with male perpetration of intimate partner violence: findings from the UN Multi-country Cross-sectional Study on Men and Violence in Asia and the Pacific. Fulu, E., R. Jewkes, et al. (2013). The Lancet Global Health. http://www.thelancet.com/journals/langlo/article/PIIS2214-109X%2813%2970074-3/fulltext

Male perpetration of intimate partner violence (IPV) is under-researched. In this Article, we present data for the prevalence of, and factors associated with, male perpetration of IPV from the UN Multi-country Cross-sectional Study on Men and Violence in Asia and the Pacific. We aimed to estimate the prevalence of perpetration of partner violence, identify factors associated with perpetration of different forms of violence, and inform prevention strategies. We undertook standardised population-based household surveys with a multistage representative sample of men aged 18?49 years in nine sites in Bangladesh, China, Cambodia, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, and Papua New Guinea between January, 2011, and December, 2012. We built multinomial regression models of factors associated with lifetime violence perpetration: physical IPV, sexual IPV, both physical and sexual IPV, multiple emotional or economic IPV versus none, and calculated population-attributable fractions. In the analysis, we considered factors related to social characteristics, gender attitudes and relationship practices, victimisation history, psychological factors, substance misuse, and participation in violence outside the home. 10?178 men completed interviews in our study (between 815 and 1812 per site). The response rate was higher than 82% in all sites except for urban Bangladesh (73%) and Sri Lanka (58%). The prevalence of physical or sexual IPV perpetration, or both, varied by site, between 25% (190/746; rural Indonesia) and 80% (572/714; Bougainville, Papua New Guinea). When multiple emotional or economic abuse was included, the prevalence of IPV perpetration ranged from 39% (409/1040; Sri Lanka) to 87% (623/714; Bougainville, Papua New Guinea). Factors associated with IPV perpetration varied by country and type of violence. On the basis of population-attributable fractions, we show factors related to gender and relationship practices to be most important, followed by experiences of childhood trauma, alcohol misuse and depression, low education, poverty, and involvement in gangs and fights with weapons. Perpetration of IPV by men is highly prevalent in the general population in the sites studied. Prevention of IPV is crucial, and interventions should address gender socialisation and power relations, abuse in childhood, mental health issues, and poverty. Interventions should be tailored to respond to the specific patterns of violence in various contexts. Physical and sexual partner violence might need to be addressed in different ways. Partners for Prevention – a UN Development Programme, UN Population Fund, UN Women, and UN Volunteers regional joint programme for gender-based violence prevention in Asia and the Pacific; UN Population Fund Bangladesh and China; UN Women Cambodia and Indonesia; UN Development Programme in Papua New Guinea and Pacific Centre; and the Governments of Australia, the UK, Norway, and Sweden.

Good guys with guns: Hegemonic masculinity and concealed handguns. Stroud, A. (2012). Gender & Society 26(2): 216-238.

In most states in the U.S. it is legal to carry a concealed handgun in public, but little is known about why people want to do this. While the existing literature argues that guns symbolize masculinity, most research on the actual use of guns has focused on marginalized men. The issue of concealed handguns is interesting because they must remain concealed and because relatively privileged men are most likely to have a license to carry one. Using in-depth interviews with 20 men, this article explores how they draw on discourses of masculinity to explain their use of concealed handguns. These men claim that they are motivated by a desire to protect their wives and children, to compensate for lost strength as they age, and to defend themselves against people and places they perceive as dangerous, especially those involving racial/ethnic minority men. These findings suggest that part of the appeal of carrying a concealed firearm is that it allows men to identify with hegemonic masculinity through fantasies of violence and self-defence.

Suicide by mass murder: Masculinity, aggrieved entitlement, and rampage school shootings. Kalish, R. and M. Kimmel (2010). Health Sociology Review 19(4): 451-464.

School shootings have become more common in the United States in recent years. Yet, as media portrayals of these ‘rampages’ shock the public, the characterisation of this violence obscures an important point: many of these crimes culminate in suicide, and they are almost universally committed by males. We examine three recent American cases, which involve suicide, to elucidate how the culture of hegemonic masculinity in the US creates a sense of aggrieved entitlement conducive to violence. This sense of entitlement simultaneously frames suicide as an appropriate, instrumental behaviour for these males to underscore their violent enactment of masculinity.

Suicide and dominant masculinity norms among current and former United States military servicemen. Burns, S. M. and J. R. Mahalik (2011). Professional Psychology-Research and Practice 42(5): 347-353.

Recent statistics suggest current and former United States military personnel are at a greater risk for suicide than ever before. Indeed, approximately 300 active-duty servicemen died by suicide in 2009, a population-adjusted death rate exceeding that of civilians (U.S. Department of Defense, 2010). Despite a growing body of literature highlighting the adverse consequences of men’s adherence to traditional masculine norms on their physical and emotional health, little attention has been paid to the contributions of compliance with these norms on current and former male military personnel’s risk for suicide. The present manuscript highlights the need for greater consideration of servicemen’s adherence to norms of masculinity to better understand their suicide risk. To organize this presentation, the authors discuss how current and former servicemen’s adherence to social and military injunctions for masculine behaviour may contribute to an unwillingness to utilize mental health services that, in turn, exacerbates their mental health and may contribute to their risk for suicide. The authors also provide specific recommendations for gender-sensitive treatment interventions and future research.

Men who aggress against women: Effects of feminine gender role violation on physical aggression in hypermasculine men. Reidy, D. E., S. D. Shirk, et al. (2009). Psychology of Men & Masculinity 10(1): 1-12.

Research on gender roles has indicated that men who strongly adhere to traditional masculine norms are more aggressive than their less adherent counterparts Moreover, these men are particularly aggressive toward individuals who demonstrate gender role violations However, these role violations have commonly been studied in reference to the masculine gender role and have studied extreme violations (i.e. depictions of homosexual intimate behaviour) Less studied are violations of the female gender role and how these violations affect men’s aggression toward women In this study, 64 collegiate men participated in a sham aggression paradigm against a female confederate who portrayed either a hyperfeminine (role-conforming) or a hypofeminine (role-violating) woman Results indicated that hypermasculine men were more aggressive in general, and in particular toward a female confederate who violated feminine gender role norms Findings are discussed in the context of risk factors for domestic violence perpetrated by men against women.

Gendering war and peace: Militarized masculinities in Northern Ireland. Ashe, F. (2012). Men and Masculinities 15(3): 230-248.

There has been extensive academic analysis of Northern Ireland’s ethnonationalist antagonisms. However, academic literature that has explored both the region’s ethno-nationalist conflict and its more recent processes of conflict transformation has neglected the concept of masculinities. This article employs the framework of critical studies of men/masculinities to analyse why men’s gendered identities have received so little attention in a society that is marked by deep gendered inequalities and also exposes the consequences of this neglect in terms of exploring gendered power relationships in Northern Ireland society. Additionally, the article employs the concept of militarized masculinities to explore the relationships between ethnonationalist conflict, conflict transformation, men’s gendered identities, and gender power in the region.

The Reconstruction of Masculinities in Global Politics: Gendering Strategies in the Field of Private Security. Stachowitsch, S. (2014). Men and Masculinities 18(3): 363-386.

The concept of masculinities has been central to the analysis of private security as a gendered phenomenon. This research has either focused on the identity constructions and practices of security contractors as men or on masculinity as a theoretical and ideological framework for making sense of security outsourcing. This article aims to overcome this dualism by developing a relational, strategic, and discursive understanding of masculinities and focusing on the gendering strategies that create them. These strategies are identified as masculinization of the market and feminization of the state, feminization and racialization of (some) security work, hypermasculinization as a critical or affirmative discourse, romanticizing the autonomous male bond, and militarization of private security. It is argued that private security as well as critical discourses on it integrate business, humanitarian, and militarized masculinities in a way that ultimately legitimizes masculinism and reconstructs masculinity as a privileged category in international politics.

Sex differences in aggression in real-world settings: A metaanalytic review. Archer, J. (2004).  Review of General Psychology 8(4): 291-322.

Meta-analytic reviews of sex differences in aggression from real-world settings are described. They cover self-reports, observations, peer reports, and teacher reports of overall direct, physical, verbal, and indirect forms of aggression, as well as (for self-reports) trait anger. Findings are related to sexual selection theory and social role theory. Direct, especially physical, aggression was more common in males and females at all ages sampled, was consistent across cultures, and occurred from early childhood on, showing a peak between 20 and 30 years. Anger showed no sex differences. Higher female indirect aggression was limited to later childhood and adolescence and varied with method of measurement. The overall pattern indicated males’ greater use of costly methods of aggression rather than a threshold difference in anger.

Accomplishing Masculinity through Anti-Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Homicide: A Comparative Case Study Approach. Kelley, K. and J. Gruenewald (2014). Men and Masculinities 18(1): 3-29.

In the current study, we seek to understand the dynamic processes of fatal attacks against lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) individuals across different situational circumstances. A review of prior research and story line analyses of 121 anti-LGBT homicides led to the creation of a homicide typology based on offender mode of victim selection. Guided by symbolic interactionism and theories of masculinity and violence, five representative case studies are conducted based on various open-source materials. The purpose of the case studies is to examine the applicability of theories of masculinity and violence for explaining anti-LGBT homicides across different modes of victim selection. We conclude that interactionist and masculinity theories of violence can in part illuminate how and why offenders use violence to demonstrate masculinity in some anti-LGBT homicide scenarios.

Men Who Aggress Against Women: Effects of Feminine Gender Role Violation on Physical Aggression in Hypermasculine Men. Reidy, D. E., S. D. Shirk, et al. (2009). Psychology of Men & Masculinity 10(1): 1-12.

Research on gender roles has indicated that men who strongly adhere to traditional masculine norms are more aggressive than their less adherent counterparts Moreover, these men are particularly aggressive toward individuals who demonstrate gender role violations However, these role violations have commonly been studied in reference to the masculine gender role and have studied extreme violations (i.e. depictions of homosexual intimate behaviour) Less studied are violations of the female gender role and how these violations affect men’s aggression toward women In this study, 64 collegiate men participated in a sham aggression paradigm against a female confederate who portrayed either a hyperfeminine (role-conforming) or a hypo-feminine (role-violating) woman Results indicated that hypermasculine men were more aggressive in general, and in particular toward a female confederate who violated feminine gender role norms Findings are discussed in the context of risk factors for domestic violence perpetrated by men against women.

The Moderating Effects of Support for Violence Beliefs on Masculine Norms, Aggression, and Homophobic Behavior During Adolescence. Poteat, V. P., M. S. Kimmel, et al. (2011). Journal of Research on Adolescence 21(2): 434-447.

In 2 studies, beliefs supporting the use of violence moderated the association between normative masculine activities and aggressive behaviour (Study 1) and normative masculine attitudes and aggressive and homophobic behaviour (Study 2) among adolescent boys. These beliefs also moderated the association between normative masculine activities and homophobic behaviour among adolescent girls. Consistent with social information processing models, beliefs about the appropriateness and effectiveness of violence predicted aggressive behaviour for boys and girls, including bullying, fighting, and relational aggression. Furthermore, the association between masculine norms and aggressive behaviour and homophobic behaviour was partly dependent on holding these beliefs among boys. Continued research is needed to identify other beliefs that may distinguish different expressions of masculinities and their association with other attitudes and behaviours. Within the broader aggression and homophobia literature among adolescents there is a need to include the study of gender norms, while recognizing the complexity with which these factors are associated.

US southern and northern differences in perceptions of norms about aggression – Mechanisms for the perpetuation of a culture of honor. Vandello, J. A., D. Cohen, et al. (2008). Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology 39(2): 162-177.

This article explores one reason why norms for male honour-related aggression persist in the U.S. South, even though they may no longer be functional. The authors suggest that, in addition to cultural differences in internalized honour-related values, southerners are more likely than northerners to perceive peer endorsement of aggression norms. Study I found that southern males were especially likely to overestimate the aggressiveness of their peers. Study 2 tested the hypothesis that southerners would be more likely to actively encourage aggressive behaviour in others, but no support was found. However, Study 3 found that southern men were more likely than northern men to perceive others as encouraging aggression when witnessing interpersonal conflicts. Together, these studies suggest that southern males are more likely than their northern counterparts to assume their peers endorse and enforce norms of aggression that can lead to the perpetuation of norms for honourable violence above and beyond any differences in internalized values.

Culture of Honor and Violence Against the Self. Osterman, L. L. and R. P. Brown (2011). Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 37(12): 1611-1623.

Cultures of honour facilitate certain forms of interpersonal violence. The authors suggest that these cultures might also promote values and expectations that could heighten suicide risk, such as strict gender-role standards and hypersensitivity to reputational threats, which could lead people living in such cultures to consider death as an option when failure occurs or reputation is threatened sufficiently. Study 1 shows that, controlling for a host of state-wide covariates, honour states in the United States have significantly higher male and female suicide rates than do non-honour states, particularly in nonmetropolitan areas among Whites. Study 2 shows that state-wide levels of antidepressant prescriptions (an indicator of mental health resource utilization) are lower in honour states, whereas levels of major depression are higher, and state-wide levels of depression are associated with suicide rates only among honour states. Finally, Study 3 shows that individual endorsement of honour ideology is positively associated with depression.

Relationship between Culture of Honour and gender identity: The role of sex, age, and educational level in predisposition to violence. Lopez-Zafra, E. (2008). Estudios De Psicologia 29(2): 209-220.

The concept of Culture of Honour is currently acquiring greater relevance as a variable that may explain or affect violence against women A culture of honour would justify and use violence to defend women’s honour and dominate the relation. This occurs even in our close environment, which is why it is necessary that more research work is undertaken in this area. In the present study, 406 individuals (203 couples) were asked to complete a questionnaire measuring: culture of honour, gender identity and sociodemographic variables. The results show there is an important relationship between sociodemographic variables (age, sex, and education level) and how subjects perceive culture of honour. Masculine-agency gender identity was also found to be significantly related with attributing greater importance to honour.

Making sense of masculinity and war. Hutchings, Kimberly (2008). Men and Masculinities 10(4): 389-404.

This article examines modes of theorizing about war in two contemporary literatures: on war and gender and on the changing nature of war. Both these literatures make a connection between masculinity and war. The article argues that, on examination, the link between masculinity and war does not depend on the substantive meanings of either masculinity or war, or on a causal or constitutive relation between the two; rather, masculinity is linked to war because the formal, relational properties of masculinity provide a framework through which war can be rendered both intelligible and acceptable as a social practice and institution.

Masculinity and New War: The gendered dynamics of contemporary armed conflict. Duriesmith, D. (2017). London and New York: Routledge.

This book advances the claims of feminist international relations scholars that the social construction of masculinities is key to resolving the scourges of militarism, sexual violence and international insecurity. More than two decades of feminist research has chartered the dynamic relationship between warfare and masculinity, but there has yet to be a detailed account of the role of masculinity in structuring the range of volatile civil conflicts which emerged in the Global South after the end of the Cold War.

By bridging feminist scholarship on international relations with the scholarship on masculinities, Duriesmith advances both bodies of scholarship through detailed case study analysis. By challenging the concept of ‘new war’, he suggests that a new model for understanding the gendered dynamics of civil conflict is needed, and proposes that the power dynamics between groups of men based on age difference, ethnicity, location and class form an important and often overlooked casual component to these civil conflicts.

Exploring the role of masculinities through two case studies, the civil war in Sierra Leone (1991-2002) and the Second Sudanese Civil War (1983-2005), this book will be of great interest to postgraduate students, practitioners and academics working in the fields of gender and security studies.

A Few Good Boys: Masculinity at a Military-Style Charter School. Johnson, B. (2010). Men and Masculinities 12(5): 575-596.

Through four years of ethnographic participant observation, and in-depth interviews, this article examines how militarism and masculinity are bound together in the social space of a military-style charter school in Southern California. Drawing on the concept of hegemonic masculinity by Connell, and the discussion by Higate and Hopton on the reciprocal relationship between militarism and masculinity, this article examines the construction of a military hegemonic masculinity at the school. It also examines the nuances and effects of this particular form of hegemonic masculinity for both boys and girls and argues it is exemplified at the school through the acceptance and condonement of violence and the warrior hero archetype. While not all cadets at the school have access to, or can capitalize upon the advantages of this particular hegemonic masculinity, specifically black boys and girls, it is a powerful force that shapes social interactions, social patterns, and social identities for boys and girls.

Peacekeepers, Masculinities, and Sexual Exploitation. Higate, P. (2007). Men and Masculinities 10(1): 99-119.

My aim in this article is to analyse a set of gendered power relations played out in two post-conflict settings. Based on interviews with peacekeepers and others, I argue that sexual exploitation of local women by male peacekeepers continues to be documented. I then turn to scholarly considerations of peacekeeper sexual exploitation, some of which accord excessive explanatory power to a crude form of military masculinity. This is underlined by similarly exploitative activities perpetrated by humanitarian workers and so-called sex tourists. In conclusion, I argue that a form of exploitative social masculinities shaped by socioeconomic structure, impunity, and privilege offers a more appropriate way to capture the activities of some male peacekeepers during peacekeeping missions. Finally, in underlining the conflation of military masculinities with exploitation, I pose the question of how to explain those military men who do not exploit local women while deployed on missions.

Sexed Bodies and Military Masculinities: Gender Path Dependence in EU’s Common Security and Defence Policy. Kronsell, A. (2015). Men and Masculinities.

This article explores the European Union (EU)’s Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) through a framework based on feminist institutional theory that highlights the durability in the dynamics of gender relations. Path dependency based on historic features of military institutions’ strict sex division based on gender war roles has influenced the development of different CSDP bodies. The CSDP is sexed because male bodies dominate the organizations studied, yet this remains invisible through normalization. A dominant EU hierarchical military masculinity is institutionalized in the EU’s Military Committee, combat heterosexual masculinity in the Battle groups, and EU protector masculinity in the EU Training missions. The CSDP embodies different types of military masculinities; the relations between them are important for the reproduction of the gender order through a gendered logic of appropriateness. Yet, this too is invisible as part of the informal aspects of organizations. While women’s bodies are written out of the CSDP, the construction of femininity in relation to the protector/protected binary is central to it. Two protected femininities are read in the texts. The vulnerable femininity of women in conflict areas is important for how the CSDP understands itself in relation to gender mainstreaming. In relation to the vulnerable femininity, CSDP constructs an EU protector masculinity, in turn, set against an aggressive violent masculinity in the areas where missions are deployed. Women’s bodies are absent from the CSDP and they lack agency but are nevertheless associated with a protected femininity.

Men, Militaries and Civilian Societies in Interaction. Tallberg, T., et al. (2008). Norma Nordic Journal for Masculinity Studies 3(2): 85-98.

This article introduces new approaches to gendered civil-military relations. It starts with the identification of three currents in contemporary research on men, militaries and civilian societies: war and militaries have for a long time been analysed both within studies on men and masculinities and in Feminist International Relations. New Military History, involving social and cultural histories of war, has refocused the interest of military history towards gender and civil-military junctions. They do not, however, tend to theorize and conceptualize civil-military relations on the macro level of political and democratic processes, decision-making and security policies. This is done in the realm of more traditional political science and civil-military relations theory. This article proposes a combination of the analysis of men and masculinities with civil-military relations theory. It presents a brief outline of civil-military relation theory and discusses the current state of theory in the context of some contemporary developments of security and defence systems in the Nordic countries (international military operations, conscription and outsourcing). The article ends with five suggestions for future directions in studying men, militaries and civilian societies; (i) an increase of the attention given to the experiences of men in and around war and militaries, (ii) a need for re-analysis of data and studies that have dealt with men without comprehending them as gendered beings, (iii) re-focusing attention towards gendered militarised encounters in the different contexts of conflicts and crises, (iv) highlighting the gendering of military points of the gendered nature of violence, (v) an analysis of men and civil-military encounters in the context.

Refusing to be a man?: Men’s responsibility for war rape and the problem of social structures in feminist and gender theory. Kirby, P. (2013). Men and Masculinities 16(1): 93-114.

As the majority perpetrators of sexual violence, it is plausible to see men as responsible for war rape not only as individuals, but also as collective bystanders, facilitators and beneficiaries. Following recent criticisms of individual legal and moral responsibility for rape as a war crime in international law, this article examines how we might think of war rape as a collective action in moral and explanatory terms. First, it assesses existing moral arguments for the responsibility of men in groups for rape, primarily with reference to the work of Claudia Card, Larry May and Robert Strikwerda. Critiquing elements of these arguments, it explores the difficulties in talking about `men’ as a coherent group and in discussing `collectives’ themselves. Second, the article draws out the connection between accounts of moral responsibility and accounts of causal responsibility. Drawing on critiques of collective responsibility and the long-standing agency/structure problem, it argues that causal accounts focusing on structure pose a serious challenge to ideas of both individual and collective moral responsibility. The complexities of the relationship between moral and causal claims are illustrated through a discussion of Susan Brownmiller and Catharine MacKinnon’s influential perspectives on rape. The seeming paradox of responsibility is emphasised as a problem to be addressed by gender and feminist perspectives that seek to pursue both ethical and explanatory inquiry into the workings of masculinity and the political means for undoing gendered wrongs.

Of bellicists and feminists: French conscription, total war, and the gender contradictions of the state. Geva, D. (2014). Politics & Society 42(2): 135-165.

How did the state protect and then subvert men’s household authority when the state was exclusively staffed by men? I answer the above question by critically fusing neo-Weberian scholarship on modern state development with feminist political sociology on gender and the state, and by examining establishment of the French conscription system. When first creating a mass army in the nineteenth century, the French state offered family-based exemptions, balancing between expanding state power and maintenance of men’s household authority. However, intensification of twentieth-century total war led to a decrease in family-based exemptions, and the state’s diminished support of men’s household authority. I thereby identify how the fiscal-military state first supported then diminished men’s household authority through one of the state’s most masculine arms.

What accounts for men’s hostile attitudes toward women? The influence of hegemonic male role norms and masculine gender role stress. Gallagher, K. E. and D. J. Parrott (2011). Violence against Women 17(5): 568-583.

This study examined masculine gender role stress (MGRS) as a mediator of the relation between adherence to dimensions of a hegemonic masculinity and hostility toward women (HTW). Among a sample of 338 heterosexual men, results indicated that MGRS mediated the relation between adherence to the status and antifemininity norms, but not the toughness norm, and HTW. Adherence to the toughness norm maintained a positive association with HTW. These findings suggest that men’s HTW develops via multiple pathways that are associated with different norms of hegemonic masculinity. Implications for the prediction of men’s aggression against women are discussed.

Effects of hypermasculinity on physical aggression against women. Parrott, D. J. and A. Zeichner (2003). Psychology of Men and Masculinity 4: 70-78.

This study examined the influence of hypermasculinity on physical aggression toward women. Fifty-nine men were assigned to either a high- or low-hypermasculine group based on their responses on the Hypermasculinity Inventory. Aggression was measured by the response-choice aggression paradigm, in which participants who reported physical assault toward intimates had the choice to administer shocks or to completely refrain from retaliating to provocation from a fictitious female opponent. Results indicated that high-hypermasculine men displayed higher levels of aggression on the laboratory paradigm and reported to have assaulted women more often than their low-hypermasculine counterparts. These results suggest that hypermasculinity may be a risk factor for perpetrating violence against women and that these men may have a lower aggression threshold.

Masculinities, Conflict and Peacebuilding. Perspectives on men through a gender lens. Wright, H. (2014). London: Saferworld. https://www.files.ethz.ch/isn/185845/masculinities-conflict-and-peacebuilding.pdf

All around the world, men are the primary perpetrators of violence, making up 95 per cent of people convicted of homicide, as well as being the majority of combatants in conflicts. Interrogating the reasons behind this trend, this report does not argue that men are naturally violent. Nonetheless, in most cultures, violence is associated with men and boys in a way that it is not associated with women and girls. These socially constructed notions of masculinity can play a role in driving conflict and insecurity.

Where this is the case, Saferworld suggests that peacebuilding efforts can and should address this by taking steps to promote notions of masculinities which favour non-violence and gender equality. A number of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) have developed programming approaches for engaging men and boys to promote gender equality and non-violence, which have made demonstrable impacts on the lives of men and women. International donors, policymakers and NGOs should consider how such approaches can be developed to help build peace.

The need to apply a gender perspective to all efforts to prevent conflict and build peace is increasingly recognised. Taking a ‘gender perspective’ is often assumed to mean highlighting the roles, needs and rights of women and girls – vital to addressing persistent gender inequalities in access to power, influence, resources and security.

However, truly taking a ‘gender perspective’ also requires critical examination of the roles and experiences of men and boys in conflict prevention and peacebuilding. Men continue to dominate the field of peace and security. Nonetheless, the attitudes, values and behaviours of men within society are rarely considered from a gender perspective. Greater political will and resources are urgently needed to advance the women, peace and security agenda; at the same time, the socially constructed gender roles and identities of men and boys must not be neglected. Work on violent masculinities thus needs to be considered as an additional, complementary stream of work that when undertaken can deepen and strengthen peacebuilding processes.

Past research has identified a range of ways in which patriarchal gender norms – and masculinities in particular – can drive conflict and insecurity. In South Sudan and Somalia, militarised notions of masculinity which valorise domination and violence have motivated men to participate in violence and women to support them or pressure them to do so. In Kosovo, political and military actors have valorised violent masculinities in order to recruit combatants and build support for war. In Uganda, studies have documented the use of violence to attain other symbols of manhood, such as wealth or access to women. Accounts from Colombia and Uganda suggest that when men feel unable to live up to societal expectations of masculinity, they may be more susceptible to recruitment into armed groups as well as more likely to commit violence in the home.

Despite this, the role masculinities play in conflict dynamics is rarely analysed by international donors, policymakers or peacebuilding practitioners. While links between patriarchy and gender-based violence are increasingly recognised, links between masculinities and conflict – including forms of violence which are not generally thought of as ‘gender-based’ – are rarely discussed in the peacebuilding field. A few conflict prevention and peacebuilding projects have begun to put this analysis into practice. Some of them are outlined in this report.

‘Masculinities, conflict and peacebuilding’ aims to advance discussions about integrating a masculinities perspective into peacebuilding policy and practice. It examines existing programmes that promote non-violent and gender equitable masculinities and poses key questions about how these can be further developed to challenge the gender norms which drive conflict and insecurity.

To identify promising approaches which could be adapted for peacebuilding purposes, Saferworld conducted desk research on projects and programmes by 19 organisations or networks across five continents. This report is therefore not a comprehensive review of all projects which engage with men and boys to change attitudes towards masculinity, of which there are many. Instead, it presents a cross-section of those deemed most relevant, those that deal primarily with the issue of masculinities and violence.  Literature reviewed included evaluation reports, other project documents, training and campaign materials, and academic papers. Lessons learned from three programming models are summarised in the report: group education strategies, community outreach strategies, and integrated approaches which combine the two.

The research found that both group education and community outreach strategies have shown evidence of changes in attitudes and behaviour among men and boys, but that strategies which combine the two approaches have been found to have the most impact. Most evaluations demonstrate short-term changes in attitudes and behaviours, and further research is needed to understand whether these changes are sustained in the long term.

Implementing organisations have only relatively recently begun taking steps to scale up their interventions to achieve change at national level, including by influencing policymaking. This step is crucial – both to achieve sustainability of impacts and to address the structural factors which can reinforce patriarchal gender norms: gender norms relate not only to ideas and beliefs but also, for example, to education systems, laws around employment, marriage child custody, gendered marketing and media messages, and military, religious and cultural institutions. However, this area of work is relatively new, and it is too early to assess paths to sustainable, structural impacts.

If these approaches are to become effective in addressing violent masculinities as a core element of improved peace practice, there are some questions to answer along the way. Tools and approaches are needed to help incorporate analysis of masculinities and femininities into conflict analysis, and to develop and test context-specific theories of change for achieving positive impacts in conflict-sensitive ways. For example, in some cases political and military leaders may be responsible for promoting violent notions of masculinity. This would make them key targets for influencing, yet this also brings its own risks and sensitivities. In some contexts, men who are already peace activists may be the most effective agents of change, and women as well as men may be key targets for programming. Working to change structures and institutions that perpetuate patriarchal masculinities is likely to be key, and may include work with the security sector, for example through security sector reform (SSR) or disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration (DDR) processes.

It is important to acknowledge that patriarchal masculinities cannot be described as the sole cause of any particular conflict. They combine with other factors to produce conflict and violence. Where patriarchal masculinities play a role in driving violent conflict, these should be addressed at the same time as other conflict drivers. A comprehensive response should seek to address the causes of legitimate grievances through peaceful means whilst also working to change factors – including gender identities, roles and power relations – which might cause that sense of grievance to turn violent.

Literature on working with men to increase gender equality and reduce violence against women

Are Masculinities Changing? Ethnographic Exploration of a Gender Intervention with Men in Rural Maharashtra, India. Roy, A. and A. Das (2014). IDS Bulletin 45(1): 29-38. https://opendocs.ids.ac.uk/opendocs/bitstream/handle/123456789/7308/IDSB_45_1_10.1111-1759-5436.12065.pdf%3bsequence=1

Samajhdar Jodidar is a community-based intervention with men in rural Maharashtra in India that is aimed at reducing gender disparities at the family and community level. The intervention is based on the results achieved from earlier work done in Uttar Pradesh where “role model-activists” were found to be a crucial inspiration for gender-related changes among men. Through participant observations and in-depth interviews in one village, the article explores the changes that have taken place among men, focusing on the animator who has been trained as the role model-activist. The article compares the changes in the masculinities of wrestlers in two neighbouring villages, who form an idealised masculinity for the region. The article argues that such interventions can lead to substantive improvements in women’s status without compromising men’s masculinities.

Pathways to Gender-equitable Men: Findings from the International Men and Gender Equality Survey in Eight Countries. Levtov, R. G., et al. (2014). Men and Masculinities.

Efforts to promote gender equality have recognized the importance of involving men and boys. Yet, in general, we have done little in terms of large-scale research in the Global South to understand how men are responding to the global gender equality agenda. This article presents findings from the International Men and Gender Equality Survey (IMAGES), one of the most comprehensive efforts of its kind to gather data on men’s attitudes and practices related to gender equality in eight low- and middle-income countries: Brazil, Chile, Mexico, India, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Democratic Republic of Congo, and Rwanda. It provides a current picture of men’s attitudes about gender and gender equality, explores the determinants of equitable attitudes, and investigates the associations between equitable attitudes and relationship behaviours. We find that men report positive but ambivalent attitudes toward gender equality, and that education, income, and more equitable practices in men’s childhood homes are associated with men’s more equitable attitudes and practices. Finally, we show that in most countries, men’s equitable attitudes are also associated with more equitable practices, including more participation in the home and reduced use of violence, as well as higher sexual satisfaction. The findings suggest both the need for program approaches that change attitudes, as well as policy and structural approaches that create lived experiences of gender equality for men. Given how much early childhood experiences influenced men’s adult attitudes and practices, the findings also emphasize the need for programs and policies to promote equitable care giving.

The state intervenes in the battle of the sexes: Causal effects of paternity leave. Kotsadam, A. and H. Finseraas (2011). Social Science Research 40(6): 1611-1622.

Do family policies influence attitudes and behaviour or are they merely reflections of pre-existing attitudes? We consider the implementation of the Norwegian daddy quota, 4 weeks of parental leave reserved for the father, as a natural experiment, and examine the long-run causal effects on attitudes toward gender equality, on conflicts and sharing of household labour, and on support for public childcare. We find that respondents who had their last-born child just after the reform report an 11% lower level of conflicts over household division of labour and that they are 50% more likely to equally divide the task of washing clothes than respondents who had their last child just before the reform.

Caring Fathers: The Ideology of Gender Equality and Masculine Positions. Johansson, T. and R. Klinth (2008). Men and Masculinities 11(1): 42-62.

In this article, we explore Swedish men’s relations to fatherhood in general and in particular to the new ideal of the caring and present father. We argue that the image of contemporary hegemonic masculinity is gradually changing. Reforms and informational strategies are used to enhance and create the “new father”. In this article, we explore and analyse how four different groups of Swedish men: Christian men, psychotherapists, a male network, and immigrant men relate to and discuss issues concerning new gender ideals, the modern father, and fathers as important caretakers. These issues are explored through four focus group interviews. The results from the study point toward the influences of factors such as age, social background, and religion. We also see that the ideology of gender equality has a strong general influence on men’s ways of relating to and phrasing these issues.

What’s in it for men: Old question, new data. Holter, Øystein Gullvåg (2014). Men and Masculinities 17(5): 515-548.

This article examines the question of what men win or lose by increased gender equality, in terms of well-being and health, combining a new macro data set with existing studies. A database was created for examining gender equality variables and potential health effects, using a sample of eighty-one European countries and the United States. The results indicate more positive effects for men than usually assumed. They also imply that men’s contribution to gender equality has been underestimated. Some patterns, like fertility, differ between Europe and the United States, and this article discusses different gender equality models. Also, the effects of gender equality differ for different groups of men, and this article discusses men who feel they “lose out”. Although the data concern associations, questions of causality are also raised, and the last part of this article presents a tentative explanatory model that includes structural factors as well as men and masculinity changes.

What is “New” about Fatherhood?: The Social Construction of Fatherhood in France and the UK. Gregory, A. and S. Milner (2011). Men and Masculinities 14(5): 588-606.

This article reviews the way that fatherhood is constructed in the public discourse and more broadly in the public sphere in the UK and France by examining (1) the fatherhood regime and its influence on the construction of fatherhood in the two countries; (2) gender attitudes and parenting roles; and (3) popular images of fatherhood, particularly as represented in women’s and men’s magazines in France and in the UK. The authors explore to what extent “new” features of fatherhood in the two countries are reflected in its public representation and how this representation is influenced by national fatherhood regimes and notably social policy. The authors find that “new fatherhood” is finding its way into popular representations of fatherhood in both countries, but that cultural products tend to be conservative in their representations and reinforce existing stereotypes rather than innovative in representations of gender relations.

Involving Men in Efforts to End Violence Against Women. Flood, M. (2011). Men and Masculinities 14(3): 358-377.

Around the world, there are growing efforts to involve boys and men in the prevention of violence against women: as participants in education programs, as targets of social marketing campaigns, as policy makers and gatekeepers, and as activists and advocates. Efforts to prevent violence against girls and women now increasingly take as given that they must engage men. While there are dangers in doing so, there also is a powerful feminist rationale for such work. This article provides a review of the variety of initiatives, which engage or address men to prevent violence against women. It maps such efforts, locating them within a spectrum of prevention activities. Furthermore, the article identifies or advocates effective strategies in work with men to end violence against women.

Changing Men: Challenging Stereotypes. Reflections on Working with Men on Gender Issues in India. Das, A. and S. K. Singh (2014). IDS Bulletin 45(1): 69-79. https://opendocs.ids.ac.uk/opendocs/handle/123456789/7303

This article describes the journey and lessons of a 12-year-long and still ongoing experience of the two authors in working with men at the community level in different parts of India. Starting with addressing domestic violence, the work has proceeded to address issues of power, control and autonomy within the context of deep-seated cultural beliefs and practices, challenging and changing the roles of men both within homes and outside in different institutions. This work has been spread over a number of projects, most of which remain interconnected, and currently is spread across a number of states in India. In reviewing the lessons from their practice, the authors propose a set of precepts or a “theory of change” for working with men and boys to challenge gender discrimination within the South Asian context. To conclude the article, the authors discuss some of the challenges and predicaments in continuing this work within the current development paradigm.

Undoing Men’s Privilege and Advancing Gender Equality in Public Sector Institutions. Flood, M. and B. Pease (2005). Policy and Society 24(4): 119-138.

Discrimination against women in public sector organisations has been the focus of considerable research in recent years. While much of this literature acknowledges the structural basis of gender inequality, strategies for change are often focused on anti-discrimination policies, equal employment opportunities and diversity management. Discriminatory behaviour is often individualised in these interventions and the larger systems of dominance and subordination are ignored. The flip side of gender discrimination, we argue, is the privilege of men. The lack of critical interrogation of men’s privilege allows men to reinforce their dominance. In this paper we offer an account of gender inequalities and injustices in public sector institutions in terms of privilege. The paper draws on critical scholarship on men and masculinities and an emergent scholarship on men’s involvement in the gender relations of workplaces and organisations, to offer both a general account of privilege and an application of this framework to the arena of public sector institutions and workplaces in general.

When Dad Stays Home Too: Paternity Leave, Gender, and Parenting. Rehel, E. M. (2013). Gender & Society 28(1): 110-132.

Drawing from 85 semi-structured interviews with fathers and mothers in three cities (Montreal, Toronto, and Chicago), I argue that when fathers in heterosexual couples experience the transition to parenthood in ways that are structurally comparable to mothers, they come to think about and enact parenting in ways that are more similar to mothers. I consider the specific role played by extended time off immediately after the birth of a child in structuring that experience. By drawing fathers into the daily realities of child care, free of workplace constraints, extended time off provides the space necessary for fathers to develop the parenting skills and sense of responsibility that then allows them to be active co-parents rather than helpers to their female partners. This shift from a manager-helper dynamic to that of co-parenting creates the opportunity for the development of a more gender-equitable division of labour.

Hegemonic masculinities, the multinational corporation, and the developmental state: Constructing gender in “progressive” firms. Elias, J. (2008).  Men and Masculinities 10(4): 405-421.

This article analyses how the mainstream study of multinational corporations (MNCs) reflects a set of gendered assumptions that construct the firm as a hegemonically masculine political actor. It is suggested that the same masculinist assumptions that are found in these writings on MNCs take shape within firms in the form of a masculinist managerialism that constructs women workers in terms of their “reproductive femininity”. There is an extensive literature on women’s employment in MNCs and their subsidiaries; the author suggests that this focus on women workers is only a starting point for developing a gendered understanding of global production. Importantly, a focus on “feminine” work and the role that masculinist managerial practices play in underpinning this construction provides insight into the gendered structures and institutions that support the workings of the global political economy.

Toward a transformed approach to prevention: Breaking the link between masculinity and violence. Hong, L. (2000). Journal of American College Health 48(6): 269.

Men are disproportionately overrepresented among both perpetrators and victims of violent crime. Scholars from the men’s studies movement have documented a clear link between socialization into stereotypical norms of hegemonic masculinity and an increased risk for experiencing violence. Despite this evidence, most campus prevention programs fail to recognize the link between men and violence and use only traditional approaches to violence prevention. The most that on-campus prevention programs provide are self-defence seminars for potential female victims of rape and general campus safety measures. In this article, the author describes a comprehensive, transformed approach to violence prevention. Data from a year-long case study of Men Against Violence, a peer education organization at a large university in the South, demonstrate the feasibility of meaningfully expanding male students’ conceptions of manhood and appropriate gender roles and, thus, reducing the likelihood of men’s engaging in sexually or physically violent behaviour.

Mobilising Men in Practice: Challenging sexual and gender-based violence in institutional settings. Greig, A. and Edström, J. (2012). Institute of Development Studies, Brighton: IDS. https://unfpa.org/sites/default/files/pub-pdf/Mobilsing_Men_in_Practice.pdf

Men need to be involved in reflective, in-depth discussions and comprehensive campaigns focused on ending violence against women. This report documents the work of one such effort, the Mobilising Men initiative, led by the Institute of Development Studies (University of Sussex in Britain) with support from UNFPA. Through partnerships with civil society groups in India, Kenya and Uganda beginning in 2009, the initiative trained men to be team activists in seeking gender balances. By immersing the participants in a programme of dialogue and action that challenge the inherent nature of male privileges and power structures in society; government, academia and workplace, the men learned a lot about themselves and how they can begin to address inequities.

By providing step-by-step tools, discussion topics and stories about the Mobilising Men participants, the publication acts as a guide for activists to instil change in institutions that impede women’s progress through both subtle and obvious barriers.

Politicising masculinities: beyond the personal. Esplen, E. and A. Greig (2007). Brighton, Institute for Development Studies. http://www.ids.ac.uk/files/dmfile/Masculinities.pdf

During 15-18 October 2007, a diverse mix of people came together in Dakar, Senegal, to debate issues of men, gender and power: unconventional practical academics, open-minded policymakers, reflective practitioners and activists. It was a unique gathering and offered a unique opportunity to inform and inspire a greater engagement by men in the struggle for gender justice and broader social change.