Men and Masculinity

1
Men and Masculinity

• Some thoughts..

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Men and Masculinity

• the majority of abuse on women and children is
  inflicted by men
• 12 million incidents a year of domestic
  violence
• one in three women globally will have been
  beaten, coerced into sex or otherwise experienced
  abuse in her lifetime

3
Men and Masculinity

• the profiles of violent and abusing men are
  indistinguishable from men in general.
• So what then is masculinity? Is it something
  biological or is it a social construction?

4
Men and Masculinity

• Boys and girls are socialised into different
  patterns of behaviour interaction thought
  language and emotional response.
• Emotional toughness
• The instability of male identity
• The profiles of violent and abusing men are
  indistinguishable from men in general.

5
Men and Masculinity

• The centrality of competitiveness, competence,
  aggression and objectification creates a
  masculinity characterised by anxiety and
  instability. Failure to impress, compete or
  acknowledge competence particularly in areas of
  sexuality may well lead to inadequacies and fears
  which, not surprisingly, can then be projected
  onto women and children (Bates, 1997 p220)

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Men and Masculinity

• The costs to men?
• A restricted range of feelings
• Living in a world of distorted relationships
• Emotional illiteracy
• Distant communicating.

7
Men and Masculinity

• Gender is a social construction not a biological
  or 'natural' one - because of this it can be
  altered or amended
• Men and women have to engage in a critique of the
  very essence of masculinity at a personal,
  cultural and structural level

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Men and Masculinity

• Patriarchy damages men's quality of life as well
  as women's, it constrains men rather than
  enabling them to develop
• Challenging and ultimately eliminating sexism is
  a joint venture

9
Concluding thoughts.

• To be responsible inventors and discoverers,
  though, we need the courage to let go of the old
  world, to relinquish most of what we have
  cherished, to abandon our interpretations about
  what works and what doesnt work. As Einstein is
  often quoted as saying No problem can be solved
  from the same consciousness that created it. We
  must learn to see the world anew.