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Here's to all the real men out there...
Boys play house, men build homes
Boys shack up, men get married.
Boys make babies, men raise children
A boy won't raise his own children, a man will raise someone
else's.
Boys invent excuses for failure, men produce strategies for
success.
Boys look for somebody to take care of them, men look for
someone to take care of.
Boys seek popularity, men demand respect and know how to
give it.
Boys will be what we teach them to be.
TED Talks
(11)
A Different
Perspective (25)
What
Women Want ( (4)
Modern
Masculinity (59+ 4)
Men Return from
World War I & II (24)
Michael
Kimmel - 2013 (4)
The
ManKind Project - A Viable
Option (59)
Sigma
Sales (29)
Boys
will be Boys Memes (16)
Breaking
Points (3)
Alison
Armstrong (My best teacher
ever!) (10)
Sandy
Dawn Moore - Men Matter
(9)
Richard
Reeves (10)
Impact
Theroy - Tom Bilyeu (9)
Modern
Wisdom - Chris Williamson
(53)
Scott
Galloway (6)
Male
Loneliness (8)
Toxic
Masculinity (4)
Incels -
Involuntary Celebite (3)
Instagram/TikTok
Shorts (4)
Alpha
Central - Reality Check
(7)
Brett
Cooper (2)
Population
Collapse - Birthgap
Sexless
Men
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teach manhood |
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11/25/20 |
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2/8/19 |
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4/3/21 |
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5/16/19 E3 |
5/30/19 E4 |
6/13/19 |
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Must see! |
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10/28/14 |
2/20/13 |
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6/3/16 |
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4/28/11 |
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Some Religious Overtones |
4/16/17 |
10/19/15 |
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It's almost automatic. |
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Full Documentary |
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1940s-Present |
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The Blue Spectrum |
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Healthy Men's Community |
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1O COMMANDMENTS |
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Value Woman
What Could Go Right?
Alex DatePsych
Increases the risk of heart disease (29%); stroke
(32%) and for older people dementia (50%), or
heart
022323
Reality
Check 2024
More
Population Collapse - Birthgap
Information
Are Failing
Alice Cappelle
VICE invited male-identifying and
non-binary folks from across the country to discuss
their ideas on masculinty.
Donahue and Men from the
ManKind Project Circa
Masculinity is a set of attributes,
behaviors, and roles associated with men and boys.
Although masculinity is socially constructed, research
indicates that some behaviors
considered masculine are biologically influenced. To what
extent masculinity is
biologically or socially influenced is subject to debate.
Wikipedia
A Real Man
This appears on our menstuff.org
home page superimposed over Leonardo da Vinci's David.
It's what we stand for.
"Man's inherent nature is to be curious, gentle, intimate, responsible, enthusiastic, sensual, tolerant, courageous, honest, vulnerable, affectionate, proud, spiritual, committed, wild, nurturing, peaceful, helpful, intense, compassionate, happy and to fully and safely express all emotions. When will we stop training him to be otherwise?" - Gordon Clay
Toxic Masculinity *
Toxic masculinity refers to traditional cultural masculine norms that can be harmful to men, women, and society overall, which does not condemn men or male attributes, but rather emphasizes the harmful effects of conformity to certain traditional masculine ideal behaviors such as dominance, self-reliance, and competition.
* Shephard Bliss was one of first if not the first to coin the words "Toxic Masculinity" in his writings "Behaviors of Toxic Masculinity."
Masculinity
- Wikipedia
Masculinity
Masculinity
Definition
Male
Privilege, Another Perspective
Why
is the Idea of Privilege so
Controversial?
9/1/2018
Man's
Inherent Nature
(Menstuff.org)
Home Page Quote superimporsed over "The Man"
8/1/96
The
Traditional Definition of Masculinity - Man in a
Box
Putting My Man Face On College Mens Gender Identity
Work is broken. Can we fix it?
Gen Zed does not dream of labor
The reinvention of a real man - The Washington Post - 5/23/22
Initiation
Toxic Masculinity - Wikipedia
See also: Incel, Machismo , Male privilege , Patriarchy , Sexism
I Melt with You (film) Wikipedia
The War on Masculinity
What
are women? 42:56
video
What
Is Toxic Femininity?
Toxic
femininity
Wikipedia
Toxic
femininity
-
Psychology Today - 8/28/19
Men's
False Beliefs about Mental Health
Man's Best Friend
Hard
Wired
93
Percent
Serious Intent
Men
and Suicide
Today's
Masculinity is Stifling
- The Atlantic - 6/11/18
If
Just This One Idea About Manhood Is Changing, Theres
Hope 7/23/20
Olympian
Vincent Zhou on masculinity, skating, mental health and
strict parents'
The
Daily Dose - Ozy presents troubling trends in
Masculinity
Amateur:
How Do I Reconcile My Masculinity With The Toxicity of
Men?
Older
men cling to 1950s, '60s blueprint of
masculinity
Raising
Boys with a Broader Definition of
Masculinity - The
Atlantic - 4/15/19
To
My Son: Men Have to 'Allow Ourselve to Be
Loved' - The
Atlantic - 9/15/20
Real
Men Can Dance Video
4:15
Why do Football Players Practice Ballet?
Twinkle Toes in the NFL
Competing in Dance to Improve in Football | NFL Films Present - Video 7:37
Why Professional Athletes Take Ballet - Video 1:39
Thinking
Critically About Rural Gender Relations: Toward a Rural
Masculinity Crisis/Male Peer Support Model of
Separation/Divorce Sexual Assault
QAnons
Unexpected Roots in New Age
Spirituality
What
Do Gender Relations Look Like in Rural
America?
If
Just This One Idea About Manhood Is Changing, Theres
Hope 7/23/20
Been
called a 'snowflake'? The 'it' new insult
War
Is the Force that Gives Masculinity
Meaning 10/1/14
Men
are Killing Themselves
Why
men are lonelier in America than
elsewhere
Hikikomoris
What's
Behind the Rise of Lonely, Single
Men - Psychology
Today
What
makes a real man? Much more at menstuff.org
A
Third Of Men Under 30 Arent Having Sex
Heres Why
How everyone got so lonely - New Yorker - 4/4/22
Definition of
masculinity
mas-cu-lin-i·ty | ma-skye-li-ne-te
: the quality or nature of the
male sex : the quality, state, or degree of being masculine
or manly
: challenging traditional notions about masculinity
and femininity
First Known Use of masculinity
1613, in the meaning defined above
Masculinity
Masculinity is defined as a configuration of practices
that are organized in relation to the structures of gender
identities and relations (Connell, 1987). Safety Science,
2015
Masculinities and Femininities
M. Kimmel, in International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences, 2001
Masculinities and femininities refer to the social roles, behaviors, and meanings prescribed for men and women in any society at any time. Such normative gender ideologies must be distinguished from biological sex, and must be understood to be plural as there is no single definition for all men and all women. Masculinities and femininities are structured and expressed through other axes of identity such as class, race, ethnicity, age, and sexuality. Thus some definitions are held up as the hegemonic versions, against which others are measured. Gender ideologies are more than properties of individuals; masculinities and femininities are also institutionally organized and elaborated and experienced through interactions.
Masculinity and the Focus on Sport
The study of masculinity and femininity provides one method for investigating the underlying sociocultural context of the ideal body image. Masculinity and femininity have been conceptualized as multidimensional constructs which include gender role stereotypes, adherence to traditional gender role norms, gender role conflict, and gender role stress. These constructs reflect stereotypes about the beliefs and behaviors typically attributed to males and females, which are acquired as they learn about the world and their roles in it. They also contain social norms that prescribe and proscribe what males and females should feel and do. The Western cultural view of masculinity and the masculine gender roles prescribed for males are very clear. Males need to be powerful, strong, and efficacious. The sporting context is one of the main forums that Western males have for demonstrating the various aspects of masculinity that are closely aligned with the pursuit of muscularity. These include athletic strength and superiority, competitiveness, toughness, endurance, leadership, status, power, and authority.
The focus on sport is also an important positive socializing influence for boys. For adolescent boys, participation in any kind of sport is related to higher self-esteem, and adolescent boys more than girls perceive that the function of sport participation is to increase their social status and peer popularity. A focus on sport is also one of the main ways that males have for demonstrating and strengthening various facets of masculinity that are closely aligned with the pursuit of muscularity. Interviews with adolescents have shown that the majority of adolescent boys are reluctant to focus on their body per se but through their talk about sport, the boys openly discussed what they liked and did not like about their body. In addition, this research showed that what boys liked about their bodies and the aspects they wanted to improve were synonymous with the attributes associated with being successful at sport. Surveys with adolescents have also shown that male physical attributes associated with athleticism and physical superiority are among the main predictors of the drive for muscularity among adolescent boys.
Meditation, Yoga, and Men's Health
Claire Postl, Lawrence C. Jenkins, in Effects of Lifestyle on Men's Health, 2019
Recommendations
Social constructs of masculinity and socialization play a key role in men's ability to seek help. Men struggle with emotional expression and the identification of coping mechanisms due to constructs of masculinity. Meditative practices, which are female dominated in our society, are not as frequently sought out by men [19, 20, 27]. Medical and mental health providers can help men utilize meditative practices as complementary and alternative medicine.
Firstly, providers should incorporate a social worker or mental health provider into their referral network. Social workers can provide men with resources to help manage psychosocial stress, including meditative practices. Awareness of psychosocial adjustment, support systems, and coping skills are needed and should be assessed regularly [47]. Having an integrated social worker or mental health provider can help to normalize the stress that cycles alongside health issues and provide easier linking to services.
Secondly, providers should talk about masculinity and the barriers men face when seeking help. Men are more likely to seek help if barriers are actively addressed by medical providers [3]. Discussing masculinity and social influences that shape emotional expression can help to normalize the stress that the patient may be experiencing.
Lastly, patients should be educated on the different services and interventions available for the management of stress [3]. Providers should educate men on meditative practices and potential benefits related to patients stress-related issues. Similarly, providers should encourage participation in meditative practices pre- and postmedical diagnoses. In order for providers to gain comfort in talking with men about meditative practices, it is encouraged that providers practice meditation, mindfulness, or yoga themselves [1].
Gender and Culture
Conceptions of masculinity and femininity vary widely across cultures, but two universals are plausible: (i) To varying degrees, every society assigns traits or tasks on the basis of sex, and (ii) the status of women is inferior to the status of men in every society. As one would expect based on these generalizations, extensive differences do exist in the work roles of men and women. Examining jobs and tasks in 244 societies, Roy DAndrade found that men were involved in hunting, metal work, and weapon making and tended to travel further from home than women. Women were responsible for food preparation, carrying water, caring for clothing, and various child-rearing responsibilities. Although womens subsistence activities generally included child-rearing demands, some did hunt in societies in which this activity did not compete with child care. The strong sex segregation for child-rearing duties was mirrored by another study that found that men were significant caretakers in only 10% of the 80 cultures examined. However, both sexes seemed to be flexible enough to adapt to a range of socioeconomic roles.
Today, women account for a substantial proportion of the worlds labor force. With decreases in infant mortality and fertility, women now spend less time in child-rearing roles. Furthermore, technological advances have allowed women in many parts of the world to separate childbearing from child-rearing and thereby contribute to the family through jobs outside the home.
However, womens increased autonomy has not been paralleled by increased acceptance or equality. For example, in a 56-country study of labor trends from 1960 to 1980, the job market was marked by declines in womens occupational opportunities and increases in sex segregation. When measured by per capita gross national product and womens level of education, modernization was associated with increased segregation of the sexes. Additionally, increased workplace involvement for women correlated with decreases in total fertility rate. Women continue to be disadvantaged in the workplace, most overtly through persistent salary discrepancies that favor men. In addition to womens lower salaries is evidence suggesting that women prefer traditionally female jobs, especially those offering extensive contact with other people. Moreover, these jobs tend to be low paying. On the contrary, men tend to prefer jobs with high income and promotion opportunities.
Even in the countries with the highest proportion of females in the labor force, women continue to face inequality within the home. Studies in several North American and European countries have found that women perform a majority of the housework, regardless of the extent of their occupational demands. Along with children and larger homes comes reduced male involvement in domestic chores. This is surprising in light of the previous suggestion that increases in education and income are associated with more modern sex role views (i.e., equality in the workforce). However, studies suggest that systematic differences in sex role ideology persist in these more modern countries. For example, in the United States, Great Britain, West Germany, and Austria, people with relatively high levels of education and women with employed husbands indicated less support for efforts to reduce gender inequality compared to those with less education and women without employed husbands. Such findings suggest that even the subjective change in perceived life quality associated with improved socioeconomic conditions may be greater for men than women.
Mens Mental Health and Masculinities
Overview and Theories of Masculinity
Within broad definitions of health and wellness, gender figures significantly in individuals feelings, thoughts, appearance, behavior, and embodiment. Masculinity is a form of gender, variously defined as an identity, a social role, and a form of power and is typically, though not exclusively, associated with men. In the socialization of masculinity, boys and men are encouraged to reject or avoid anything stereotypically feminine, to be tough and aggressive, suppress emotions (other than anger), distance themselves emotionally and physically from other men, and strive toward competition, success and power. In particular, anti-femininity and homophobia are at the core of what traditional masculinity means. Boys and men are rewarded in a variety of settings such as schools, intimate relationships, the workplace, military, and prisons for adhering to these stereotypic expectations and often are punished or rejected for violating them. However, fulfillment of these gendered expectations is also associated with a range of health and social problems including anxiety and depression, substance abuse, and interpersonal violence.
The role of gender in health is often analyzed in terms of sex differences, in which the prevalence and severity of mens mental health disorders and help-seeking are compared to womens. Although such comparative analysis may be useful in identifying domains where there is a possible connection between biological sex and health, such analyses are analytically incomplete and potentially misleading. The relatively few differences in actual behavior and health outcomes between men and women are overemphasized and the greater variation existing within each group is underappreciated. An expanded analysis is needed that goes beyond a sex comparative lens to address the connection between masculinity and mental health among diverse men. Consequently, we pursue an intersectional analysis that attends closely to the complex diversity in masculinities as they are related to mental health among individuals belonging to different cultures marked by race, class, gender, age, sexuality, ability, and so forth.
We begin our analysis by tracing the development of theories of gender and masculinity, including the psychoanalytic theory of gender identity, the social psychological theory of gender roles, and a sociological theory of intersectionality in masculinities. Next, we summarize what research has shown about the relationship between various aspects of masculinity, such as male gender role stress, and mental health among men. In particular, we review the connection between masculinity and specific health problems that men experience including depression and suicide, violence victimization and perpetration, substance abuse, and stress. Then, we discuss how the values comprising masculinity are especially reinforced and amplified in particular settings, such as prisons and jails. The impact of masculinity on mens mental health and well-being is especially pronounced in these contexts. Finally, we examine the implications of theory and research on masculinity for psychological practice, intervention and social action that improves mens mental health and well-being.
Gender Identity
The earliest theory of masculinity in modern psychology was built on psychoanalytic and personality theories that ascribed gender mainly to natural, inevitable biological forces. Gender identity theory argues that biological sex and gender are synonymous in healthy, well adjusted individuals. Gender identity is unidimensional, such that greater masculinity means the person has less feminine identity, and vice-versa. Healthy, securely-adjusted men identify and display characteristics defined as masculine while also disidentifying with and not displaying feminine characteristics. In this view, normative personality development among biological males leads to a masculine gender identity (Terman and Miles, 1936), and deviations, such as men with stereotypically feminine gender identity, including homosexual behavior, or exaggerated masculinity (i.e., hypermasculinity) indicated unhealthy or insecure gender identity development. The conflation of gender and sexuality is noteworthy. Failure among men to demonstrate masculinity is understood to be problematic, a symptom of gender identity disorder or weakness. Personality tests such as the Attitude Interest Analysis Test that were designed to measure gender identity included assessments of specific interests and knowledge of the respondent that were believed to indicate an underlying gender identity. Some data using measures of conventional adjustment at the time indicated that more masculine men were better functioning and healthier.
Sex (Gender) Role Identity
In the late 1970s, Bem (1981) advanced an alternative theory, known as gender schema or sex role identity theory. She argued that masculine and feminine identity and characteristics vary independently within persons. Consequently, individuals could have clearly masculine or feminine identities, or an androgynous combination of stereotypically gendered characteristics, or characteristics not identified with either gender (i.e., undifferentiated). The assessment used to measure sex role identity emphasized an individuals endorsement of personality traits that were defined by the authors as either masculine or feminine. Androgynous individuals were defined as those who rated themselves as having masculine and feminine characteristics; and substantial data indicated that these individuals were typically the most well adjusted and mentally healthy.
Gender Role Conflict and Strain
Subsequent gender role theories emphasized more directly the destructive and harmful aspects of masculinity as well as the stress of fulfilling and of failing to fulfill the role normative expectations (Pleck, 1981, 1995). The general characteristics associated with this role comprise what is referred to as traditional masculinity and include themes of antifemininity and homophobia, success and achievement, independence, and toughness and aggression (Brannon, 1976), as well as heterosexuality. Beliefs about the normative characteristics that men should display in order to fulfill the male gender role constitute the dominant masculinity ideology (Smiler, 2004). Individuals vary in the extent to which they endorse traditional masculine ideology.
Belief in, and adherence to, normative gender role expectations for men is theorized to cause gender role stress and strain, in part due to the contradictory and unattainable aspects of the role, and because many of the role demands are associated with unhealthy behaviors, such as suppression of emotion or aggressive responses to interpersonal conflict. Further, to the degree that the expectations are discrepant from mens inherent characteristics, they experience gender role conflict (ONeil et al., 1986). Individual variation in gender role conflict is associated with a large range of health risk behaviors and negative health outcomes.
Masculinity and Power in Context
In the 1990s, sociological theorists developed critiques of gender role theories of masculinity on the basis that they do not adequately incorporate an analysis of power into how the roles are created, enforced, and maintained within social systems. In this view, masculinity is intimately interwoven with the dynamics of power and privilege. As such, the terms dominant masculinity or hegemonic masculinity (Connell, 2005) are used to extend and sharpen the concept of traditional masculinity, emphasizing that masculinity is imbued with both symbolic and material power in a society. Importantly, the majority of men do not possess the characteristics idealized in hegemonic masculinity, nor have access to the social, cultural, and material resources on which hegemonic masculinity is built. Were it otherwise, hegemonic masculinity would not be an effective way for some men to consolidate and maintain power over other men.
Diversity of masculinities
Consequently, men belonging to diverse groups and from varied geographic places and cultures perform masculinity in varied ways. Included within this diversity are masculinities among men who identify with different racial and ethnic groups, sexualities, and genders. Further, men manifest masculinities differently, and have different opportunities and capabilities to perform hegemonic masculinity, depending on their socioeconomic class, religion, body and abilities, age, and living context and environment (e.g., prison). Rather than being discrete or additive, these positions of privilege intersect in dynamic ways to create unique, contextually specific masculinities. These diverse masculinities differ in terms of their correspondence to hegemonic masculinity and are defined by mens race, class, sexuality, ability, age, and other symbolic and material markers of power.
Men from diverse backgrounds have varying capabilities to successfully perform hegemonic masculinity. For example, individually and as a group, gay black men cannot perform hegemonic masculinity as do heterosexual white men. As a result, these men may attempt to demonstrate hegemonic masculinity in alternative ways, or in different settings and domains. For example, the cool pose, the machista, and the queer bear all perform powerful forms of masculinity within their respective African American, Latino, and gay male cultures. Machista describes Latino men who portray a complex macho persona characterized both by toughness and the devaluation of femininity and women as well as emotional connectedness, care for family, and a sense of dignity. The queer bear is an identity for gay men who present an exaggeration of certain stereotypic masculine characteristics such as a large (usually muscular) body type, considerable facial hair, and a general show of toughness or propensity for aggression. Although these variations in gendered expressions contain many characteristics of traditional masculinity (e.g., toughness and anti-femininity), they are nonetheless particularly defined by their departure from hegemonic white, heterosexual masculinity.
Scholars have noted that signifiers of hegemonic masculinity may change over time within American culture (Kimmel, 2012; Rotundo, 1994). However, the underlying characteristics and meanings associated with hegemonic masculinity remain quite stable, even as the signifiers of those characteristics (e.g., clothing, hair style, occupation, and recreations) may shift. Hegemonic masculinity consistently represents anti-femininity, success and achievement, independence, and toughness and aggression, but the symbolic displays of those characteristics in mens appearance, sexuality, activities and so forth are more transitory, in part because of their commercialization. Anxieties about ones manhood, often located in mens bodies, are exploited through marketing of products and services. Manhood must be proven, and proven again, through symbolic and behavioral demonstrations to others, typically male peers, who are in positions of validating, questioning, and challenging assertions of manhood, as well as policing and punishing those men whose demonstrations are judged to be inadequate. There is no way to establish manhood once and for all. Manhood is thus a perpetually vulnerable, contested, and fleeting status. Mens denial and repression of their vulnerabilities function as an attempt to validate their masculinity.
Androgyny
2.1 Development of Androgyny Measures
Development of psychometrically sound masculinity and femininity scales based on the revised assumptions was an important first step for androgyny researchers. The favored scale format was paper-and-pencil self-descriptions using Likert scales. Criteria for item selection were somewhat variable. Although a (small) number of measures were eventually developed, only two achieved prominence: The Bem Sex Role Inventory (BSRI) (Bem 1974) and the Personal Attributes Questionnaire (PAQ) (Spence and Helmreich 1978). The items on the BSRI and the PAQ reflected judges' ratings of personality characteristics utilizing criteria of sex-based social desirability or of sex typicality, respectively. The PAQ incorporated only characteristics generally seen as desirable. The BSRI included some femininity items with less positive connotations (e.g., childlike, gullible), a decision that complicated subsequent analyses considerably (Pedhazur and Tetenbaum 1979).
Correlations between the masculinity and femininity scales of a single androgyny measure tended to be small in magnitude as was desired, and the content of corresponding scales across androgyny measures was overlapping but not identical. Factor analyses (e.g., Wilson and Cook 1984) indicated that the content of the femininity and masculinity scales corresponded generally to theoretical definitions of femininity as representing empathy, nurturance, and interpersonal sensitivity and masculinity as representing autonomy, dominance, and assertiveness. The emergence of this factor structure is interesting in that item selection procedures did not specifically select items to be congruent with the expressive/communal and instrumental/agentic distinctions. These content distinctions appear to be central to the broad-based perceptions of the sexes' personalities and behaviors elicited by the androgyny measures (Cook 1985).
Stress, Depression, Mental Illness, and Men's Health
Contribution of Class, Race/Ethnicity, and Sexual Minority Status to Men's Experience of Stress
Social factors, other than masculinity, are also implicated in the experience of stress, and can significantly impact many men's health outcomes [27]. Social status and social roles determine the types and amount of stress. Baum et al. describes socioeconomic status as a predictor of health and illness outcomes [28]. Dowd and colleagues evaluated the effect of socioeconomic status on stress and discovered that low socioeconomic status was highly associated with higher levels of perceived stress and stressful life events [29]. Low socioeconomic status is also associated with adverse psychosocial situations that can result in high levels of stress [30].
Men's other identities, including ethnicity and class, can shape the male role and result in added stress [31]. Minority men have higher age-adjusted morbidity, mortality, and death rates. This is a pattern that has been documented for over 150 years [32]. Compared with White men, African American men have higher odds of stressful life events, including racism and social exclusion with resulting higher levels of psychological distress [29, 33]. Income inequality is also a contributor given large racial differences in socioeconomic status [34]. In studies of racial differences in health, adjustment for socioeconomic status markedly reduces and, in instances, eliminates racial disparities in health [32, 35]. Men who cannot reach traditional norms of social success and status due to poverty, minority status, and/or marginalization may compensate by demonstrating their masculinity and mastery by engaging in risky behaviors that can be detrimental to their health, such as high-risk sexual behavior [36].
Gay men experience a different form of minority stress, resulting from social stigma and rejection. For some gay men, repeated social discrimination may result in internalized homophobia, which adds an inner conflict to the experience of hostility from the social environment [37, 38]. Research shows that gay men suffer from more mental health problems than their heterosexual counterparts as a result of stigma, prejudice, and discrimination. They also suffer from inadequate response to their health-care needs by health-care providers through the lack of providers understanding of their needs and, in some cases, through rejection by providers. Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender populations have been declared as suffering from health disparities by the Institute of Mental Health, and research to improve health-care provision has been encouraged by the National Institutes of Health [39, 40].
It is important to recognize that some men experience all the factors that tend to be risk factors for poor health: struggle with their masculine role, low economic status, non-White race, and gay sexual orientation. This combination of factors, also dubbed as intersectionality, multiplies the risk beyond the contribution of any individual one and must be taken into consideration when a health assessment is conducted [41].
Cross-Cultural Psychology, Overview
5.5 Sex Differentiation
Hofstede has identified a dimension he calls masculinityfemininity. In feminine cultures, members of the culture attach more importance to relationships, to helping others, and to the physical environment than people in masculine cultures. In masculine cultures, people emphasize careers and money. The goals of men and women are more differentiated in masculine than in feminine cultures. National samples that emphasized male goals were found in Japan, Austria, and Venezuela, whereas the Scandinavian countries and the Netherlands emphasized female goals. In the countries that were high in masculinity, men and women gave very different responses to Hofstedes value questions, while in the countries that emphasized female goals, the answers obtained from men and women were the same. Similar differences were observed across occupations, with engineers giving masculine and secretaries giving feminine answers. The consequences of this cultural difference included such matters as people in masculine countries wanting brilliant teachers versus people in feminine countries wanting friendly teachers. Differences in politics were also identified. In masculine countries people supported tough policies toward poor people and immigrants. Economic growth was given priority over preservation of the environment in masculine countries. In feminine countries, compassionate policies toward the weak and the environment were given high priorities.
Body Image Development Adult Men
Penis size
Finally, just as muscularity has been equated with masculinity, so has penis size. Comparatively little research has examined the role of mens genitals in body satisfaction, despite many men expressing dissatisfaction with the size of their penis. Research reveals that actual penis size is normally distributed. Although most men view their penises as average in size, there is discrepancy in the research as to whether more men underestimate or overestimate the relative size of their penis. Given that penis size is culturally equated with masculinity, it is not surprising that fewer men who rate their penis as modest or small in size are satisfied with their size compared to men who believe that their penis is average-sized or larger than average. Recent research has also revealed a relationship between satisfaction with penis size and global body satisfaction.
Gender and Physical Health
The distinctions between biological
sex, gender, masculinity, and femininity and
their importance for health are examined. There has been a
recent shift in emphasis from concerns about women's
reproductive health to a gender analysis of health, but
men's health remains neglected. Societal gender roles and
relationships pattern women's and men's health, and
intersect with other structures, especially social class and
age. Gender differences in mortality and morbidity are
considered, together with explanations for these gender
differences. The previous orthodoxy that women are
sicker than men has recently been challenged in
developed societies, but continued gender disparity in
disability remains, especially in later life. Lone mothers'
health is particularly poor, mainly due to their
disadvantaged material circumstances. The divergent
structural positions and roles of women and men lead to
gender differences in the nature of inequalities in health,
which vary across the life course, over time, and among
societies.
Source: www.sciencedirect.com/topics/medicine-and-dentistry/masculinity
Toxic
Masculinity - Wikipedia
The concept of toxic masculinity is used in academic
and media discussions of masculinity
to refer to certain cultural norms that are associated with
harm to society and men themselves. Traditional stereotypes
of men as socially dominant, along with related traits such
as misogyny
and homophobia,
can be considered "toxic" due in part to their promotion of
violence, including sexual
assault and domestic
violence. The socialization of
boys in patriarchal
societies often normalizes violence, such as in the saying
"boys will be boys" about bullying
and aggression.
Self-reliance and emotional repression are correlated with increased psychological problems in men such as depression, increased stress, and substance use disorders. Toxic masculine traits are characteristic of the unspoken code of behavior among men in prisons, where they exist in part as a response to the harsh conditions of prison life.
Other traditionally masculine traits such as devotion to work, pride in excelling at sports, and providing for one's family, are not considered to be "toxic". The concept was originally used by authors associated with the mythopoetic men's movement, such as Shepherd Bliss. These authors contrasted stereotypical notions of masculinity with a "real" or "deep" masculinity, which they said men had lost touch with in modern society. Critics of the term toxic masculinity argue that it incorrectly implies that gender-related issues are caused by inherent male traits.[1]
The concept of toxic masculinity, or certain formulations of it, has been criticized by some conservatives as an undue condemnation of traditional masculinity, and by some feminists as an essentialist concept that ignores the role of choice and context in causing harmful behaviors and attitudes related to masculinity.
Etymology and usage
The term toxic masculinity originated in the mythopoetic men's movement of the 1980s and 1990s.[2] It later found wide use in both academic and popular writing.[3] Popular and media discussions in the 2010s have used the term to refer to traditional and stereotypical norms of masculinity and manhood. According to the sociologist Michael Flood, these include "expectations that boys and men must be active, aggressive, tough, daring, and dominant".[4]
Mythopoetic movement
Some authors associated with the mythopoetic men's movement have referred to the social pressures placed upon men to be violent, competitive, independent, and unfeeling as a "toxic" form of masculinity, in contrast to a "real" or "deep" masculinity that they say men have lost touch within modern society.[5][6] The academic Shepherd Bliss proposed a return to agrarianism as an alternative to the "potentially toxic masculinity" of the warrior ethic.[7] Sociologist Michael Kimmel writes that Bliss's notion of toxic masculinity can be seen as part of the mythopoetic movement's response to male feelings of powerlessness at a time when the feminist movement was challenging traditional male authority:
Thus Shepherd Bliss, for example, rails against what he calls 'toxic masculinity'which he believes is responsible for most of the evil in the worldand proclaims the unheralded goodness of the men who fight the fires and till the soil and nurture their families.[8]
Academic usage
In the social sciences, toxic masculinity refers to traditional cultural masculine norms that can be harmful to men, women, and society overall; this concept of toxic masculinity does not condemn men or male attributes, but rather emphasizes the harmful effects of conformity to certain traditional masculine ideal behaviors such as dominance, self-reliance, and competition.[9][10] Toxic masculinity is thus defined by adherence to traditional male gender roles that consequently stigmatize and limit the emotions boys and men may comfortably express while elevating other emotions such as anger.[11] It is marked by economic, political, and social expectations that men seek and achieve dominance (the "alpha male").
In a gender studies context, Raewyn Connell refers to toxic practices that may arise out of what she terms hegemonic masculinity, rather than essential traits.[3] Connell argues that such practices, such as physical violence, may serve to reinforce men's dominance over women in Western societies. She stresses that such practices are a salient feature of hegemonic masculinity, although not always the defining features.[3][12]
Terry Kupers describes toxic masculinity as involving "the need to aggressively compete and dominate others"[13] and as "the constellation of socially regressive male traits that serve to foster domination, the devaluation of women, homophobia and wanton violence".[14][15] According to Kupers, toxic masculinity includes aspects of "hegemonic masculinity" that are socially destructive, "such as misogyny, homophobia, greed, and violent domination". He contrasts these traits with more positive traits such as "pride in [one's] ability to win at sports, to maintain solidarity with a friend, to succeed at work, or to provide for [one's] family".[14] Feminist author John Stoltenberg has argued that all traditional notions of masculinity are toxic and reinforce the oppression of women.[16][17]
Gender norms
According to social learning theory, teaching boys to suppress vulnerable emotions, as in the saying "big boys don't cry", is a significant part of gender socialization in Western society.[18][19]
According to Kupers, toxic masculine norms are a feature of life for men in American prisons, where they are reflected in the behavior of both staff and inmates. The qualities of extreme self-reliance, domination of other men through violence, and avoiding the appearance of either femininity or weakness, comprise an unspoken code among prisoners.[20][21] Suppressing vulnerable emotions is often adopted to successfully cope with the harsh conditions of prison life, defined by punishment, social isolation, and aggression. These factors likely play a role in suicide among male prisoners.[20][22]
Toxic masculinity can also take the form of bullying of boys by their peers and domestic violence directed toward boys at home.[23] The often violent socialization of boys produces psychological trauma through the promotion of aggression and lack of interpersonal connection. Such trauma is often disregarded, such as in the saying "boys will be boys" about bullying.[24] The promotion of idealized masculine roles emphasizing toughness, dominance, self-reliance, and the restriction of emotion can begin as early as infancy. Such norms are transmitted by parents, other male relatives, and members of the community.[18][25] Media representations of masculinity on websites such as YouTube often promote similar stereotypical gender roles.[25]
According to Ronald F. Levant and others, traditionally prescribed masculine behaviors can produce harmful effects including violence (including sexual assault and domestic violence), promiscuity, risky and/or socially irresponsible behaviors including substance use disorders, and dysfunction in relationships.[18][26]
Health effects
The American Psychological Association has warned that "traditional masculinity ideology" is associated with negative effects on mental and physical health.[27][28] Men who adhere to traditionally masculine cultural norms, such as risk-taking, violence, dominance, the primacy of work, need for emotional control, desire to win, and pursuit of social status, tend to be more likely to experience psychological problems such as depression, stress, body image problems, substance use, and poor social functioning.[29] The effect tends to be stronger in men who also emphasize "toxic" masculine norms, such as self-reliance, seeking power over women, and sexual promiscuity or "playboy"[clarification needed] behavior.[10][30]
The social value of self-reliance has diminished over time as modern American society has moved more toward interdependence.[25] Both self-reliance and the stifling of emotional expression can work against mental health, as they make it less likely for men to seek psychological help or to possess the ability to deal with difficult emotions.[25] Preliminary research suggests that cultural pressure for men to be stoic and self-reliant may also shorten men's lifespans by causing them to be less likely to discuss health problems with their physicians.[31][32]
Toxic masculinity is also implicated in socially-created public health problems, such as elevated rates of alcoholism and certain types of cancer among men,[33] or the role of "trophy-hunting" sexual behavior in rates of transmission of HIV and other sexually transmitted infections.[34][non-primary source needed]
Psychiatrist Frank Pittman wrote about how men are harmed by traditional masculine norms, suggesting this includes shorter lifespans, greater incidence of violent death, and ailments such as lung cancer and cirrhosis of the liver.[17]
Criticism
Toxic masculinity has received criticism as a concept. Some conservatives, as well as many in the alt-right, see toxic masculinity as an incoherent concept or believe that there is no such thing as toxic masculinity.[35]: 2 [36] In January 2019, conservative political commentators criticized the new American Psychological Association guidelines for warning about harms associated with "traditional masculinity ideology", arguing that it constitutes an attack on masculinity.[37] David French of the National Review criticized the APA guidelines on "traditional masculinity ideology" for including "very common, inherent male characteristics" including "anti-femininity, achievement, eschewal of the appearance of weakness, and adventure, risk, and violence." French argued that these traits are not "inherently wrong or harmful," and that a proper understanding of traditional masculinity "rejects harmful extremes."[38] APA chief of professional practice Jared Skillings responded to conservative criticism, stating that the report's discussion of traditional masculinity is about "negative traits such as violence or over-competitiveness or being unwilling to admit weakness" and noting that the report also discusses positive traits traditionally associated with masculinity such as "courage, leadership, protectiveness".[37]
The concept of toxic masculinity has also been criticized from a feminist perspective. Andrea Waling and Michael Salter have argued that the concept of "toxic masculinity" in contradistinction to "healthy masculinity" emerged from a misunderstanding of Raewyn Connell's 1987 work on hegemonic masculinity.[39]: 366 [36] To Waling, "toxic masculinity" is problematic because it presents men as victims of an unavoidable pathology,[39]: 368 an essentialist approach that ignores the surrounding social and material context and the personal responsibility of men.[39]: 369 Waling also argues that instructing men to practice "healthy masculinity" dismisses androgyny and adopting aspects of femininity as valid options for men, thereby perpetuating gender binaries and privileging masculinity over femininity.[39]: 369 Waling also argues that "toxic masculinity" dismisses certain traditionally masculine traits that are appropriate in some situations.[39]: 368 Salter notes that, properly interpreted, Raewyn Connell's work presents male violence, not as a result of toxicity intruding into masculinity itself but rather as resulting from the surrounding sociopolitical setting, which induces "inner conflicts over social expectations and male entitlement".[36]
References
1. Salter, Michael (27 February 2019). "The Problem With a Fight Against Toxic Masculinity". The Atlantic. Retrieved 3 May 2020.
2. Salter, Michael (27 February 2019). "The Problem With a Fight Against Toxic Masculinity". The Atlantic. Archived from the original on 11 May 2019. Retrieved 11 May 2019.
3. Ging, Debbie (20 May 2017). "Alphas, Betas, and Incels: Theorizing the Masculinities of the Manosphere" (PDF). Men and Masculinities. 22 (4): 638657. doi:10.1177/1097184X17706401. S2CID 149239953. Although the term 'toxic masculinity' has become widely used in both academic and popular discourses, its origins are somewhat unclear.
4. Flood, Michael. "Toxic masculinity: A primer and commentary". XY. Archived from the original on 12 June 2019. Retrieved 12 June 2019.
5. Ferber, Abby L. (July 2000). "Racial Warriors and Weekend Warriors: The Construction of Masculinity in Mythopoetic and White Supremacist Discourse". Men and Masculinities. 3 (1): 3056. doi:10.1177/1097184X00003001002. S2CID 146491795. Reprinted in Murphy, Peter F., ed. (2004). Feminism and Masculinities. Oxford University Press. pp. 228243. ISBN 978-0-19-926724-8.
6. Longwood, W. Merle; Schipper, William C.; Culbertson, Philip; Kellom, Gar (2012). Forging the Male Spirit: The Spiritual Lives of American College Men. Eugene, Oregon: Wipf and Stock Publishers. pp. 656. ISBN 978-1-55-635305-5.
7. Hartman, Rebecca (2003). "Agrarianism". In Carroll, Bret (ed.). American Masculinities: A Historical Encyclopedia. SAGE Publications. pp. 2022. ISBN 978-1-45-226571-1.
8. Kimmel, Michael S., ed. (1995). The Politics of Manhood: Profeminist Men Respond to the Mythopoetic Men's Movement (and the Mythopoetic Leaders Answer). Philadelphia: Temple University Press. pp. 3667. ISBN 1-56-639365-5.
9. Hess, Peter (21 November 2016). "Sexism may be bad for men's mental health". Popular Science. Archived from the original on 7 July 2017. Retrieved 12 June 2017.
10. Kaplan, Sarah (22 November 2016). "Sexist men have psychological problems". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on 9 March 2017. Retrieved 12 June 2017.
11. Liu, William Ming (14 April 2016). "How Trump's 'Toxic Masculinity' Is Bad for Other Men". Motto (Time). New York. Archived from the original on 21 January 2018. Retrieved 21 January 2018.
12. Connell, R. W.; Messerschmidt, James W. (December 2005). "Hegemonic Masculinity: Rethinking the Concept". Gender and Society. 19 (6): 829859. CiteSeerX 10.1.1.175.7094. doi:10.1177/0891243205278639. JSTOR 27640853. S2CID 5804166.
13.Kupers, quoted in Ging (2017), p. 3
14. Kupers, Terry A. (June 2005). "Toxic masculinity as a barrier to mental health treatment in prison". Journal of Clinical Psychology. 61 (6): 713724. CiteSeerX 10.1.1.600.7208. doi:10.1002/jclp.20105. PMID 15732090.
15. Kupers, Terry A. (2010). "Role of Misogyny and Homophobia in Prison Sexual Abuse" (PDF). UCLA Women's Law Journal. 18 (1): 10730. doi:10.5070/L3181017818. Archived (PDF) from the original on 16 August 2017. Retrieved 15 May 2017.
16. Cooper, Wilbert L. (26 July 2018). "All Masculinity Is Toxic". Vice. Archived from the original on 12 April 2019. Retrieved 12 April 2019.
17.Dowd, Nancy E. (2000). Redefining Fatherhood. New York University Press. pp. 1856. ISBN 0-8147-1925-2. [Pittman] links toxic masculinity to men being raised by women without male role models. In his view, if men raised children they would save their lives, and save the world. On the other hand, John Stoltenberg views toxic masculinity from a strongly antimasculinist, radical feminist perspective, arguing that masculinity can be serious, pervasive, and hateful.
18. Levant, Ronald F. (1996). "The new psychology of men". Professional Psychology: Research and Practice. 27 (3): 259265. doi:10.1037/0735-7028.27.3.259.
19. Lindsey, Linda L. (2015). Gender Roles: A Sociological Perspective. Routledge. p. 70. ISBN 978-1-31-734808-5.
20. Kupers, Terry A. (2004). "Prisons". In Kimmel, Michael S.; Aronson, Amy (eds.). Men and Masculinities: A Social, Cultural, and Historical Encyclopedia. Santa Barbara, Calif.: ABC-CLIO. pp. 630633. ISBN 978-1-57-607774-0.
21. Kupers, Terry A. (2007). "Working with men in prison". In Flood, Michael; et al. (eds.). International Encyclopedia of Men and Masculinities. Routledge. pp. 648649. ISBN 978-1-13-431707-3.
22. Mankowski, E.S.; Smith, R.M. (2016). "Men's Mental Health and Masculinities". In Friedman, Howard S. (ed.). Encyclopedia of Mental Health, Volume 3 (2nd ed.). Oxford, UK; Waltham, Massachusetts: Academic Press. p. 71. ISBN 978-0-12-397753-3.
23. Keith, Thomas (2017). Masculinities in Contemporary American Culture: An Intersectional Approach to the Complexities and Challenges of Male Identity. Routledge. p. 2. ISBN 978-1-31-759534-2. In some ways, bullying and other forms of coercion and violence are part of what has been termed toxic masculinity, a form of masculinity that creates hierarchies favoring some and victimizing others. Disrupting these forms of toxic masculinity benefits boys and men, rather than attacks and blames men for these behaviors.
24.Liu, William Ming (2017). "Gender Role Conflict". In Nadal, Kevin L. (ed.). The SAGE Encyclopedia of Psychology and Gender. Thousand Oaks, Calif. p. 711. ISBN 978-1-48-338427-6.
25.Weir, Kirsten (February 2017). "The men America left behind". Monitor on Psychology. American Psychological Association. 48 (2): 34. Archived from the original on 11 June 2017. Retrieved 11 June 2017.
26. Liu, William Ming; Shepard, Samuel J. (2011). "Masculinity Competency Typology for Men Who Migrate". In Blazina, C.; Shen-Miller, D.S. (eds.). An International Psychology of Men: Theoretical Advances, Case Studies, and Clinical Innovations. Routledge. p. 8. ISBN 978-1-13-528065-9.
27. Salam, Maya (22 January 2019). "What Is Toxic Masculinity?". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 14 May 2019. Retrieved 7 June 2019.
28. Fortin, Jacey (10 January 2019). "Traditional Masculinity Can Hurt Boys, Say New A.P.A. Guidelines". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 7 June 2019. Retrieved 7 June 2019.
29. Wong, Y. Joel; et al. (2017). "Meta-analyses of the relationship between conformity to masculine norms and mental health-related outcomes" (PDF). Journal of Counseling Psychology. 64 (1): 8093. doi:10.1037/cou0000176. PMID 27869454. S2CID 8385. Archived (PDF) from the original on 9 July 2017. Retrieved 12 June 2017.
30, Panko, Ben (22 November 2016). "Sexism Sucks for Everybody, Science Confirms". Smithsonian. Archived from the original on 2 July 2017. Retrieved 12 June 2017.
31. Horowitz, Kate (28 March 2016). "Psychologists Say Macho Behavior May Help Explain Men's Shorter Lifespans". Mental Floss. Archived from the original on 22 January 2018. Retrieved 12 June 2017.
32. Ellis, Marie (24 March 2016). "'Tough guys' less likely to be honest with doctor". Medical News Today. Archived from the original on 14 July 2017. Retrieved 12 June 2017.
33. Kirby, Roger; Kirby, Mike (2019). "The perils of toxic masculinity: four case studies". Trends in Urology & Men's Health. 10 (5): 1820. doi:10.1002/tre.712.
34. Muparamoto, Nelson (December 2012). "'Trophy-hunting scripts' among male university students in Zimbabwe". African Journal of AIDS Research. 11 (4): 319326. doi:10.2989/16085906.2012.754831. ISSN 1608-5906. PMID 25860190. S2CID 25920016.
35. Sculos, Bryant W. (2017). "Who's Afraid of 'Toxic Masculinity'?". Class, Race and Corporate Power. 5 (3). doi:10.25148/CRCP.5.3.006517. Retrieved 20 January 2021.
36. Salter, Michael (27 February 2019). "The Problem With a Fight Against Toxic Masculinity". The Atlantic. Retrieved 20 January 2021.
37. Dastagir, Alia E. (10 January 2019). "Psychologists call 'traditional masculinity' harmful, face uproar from conservatives". USA Today. Retrieved 20 January 2021.
38. French, David (9 January 2019). "The APA Can't Spin Its Way Out of Its Attack on 'Traditional Masculinity'". National Review. Retrieved 20 January 2021.
39. Waling, Andrea (14 October 2019). "Problematising 'Toxic' and 'Healthy' Masculinity for Addressing Gender Inequalities". Australian Feminist Studies. 34 (101): 362375. doi:10.1080/08164649.2019.1679021. S2CID 210366077. Retrieved 20 January 2021.
Academic sources
Popular press
Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toxic_masculinity
Men's
False Beliefs about Mental Health
Common Belief: I dont need help. I got
this.
Research shows that, often, the men who need mental health services most stressed out, successful, athletic, family men are also the least interested in getting help. The traditional male role encourages a preoccupation with success, power and competition. And yet these types of men are at higher risk of negative psychological consequences, such as depression, anxiety, and relationship problems.
Common Belief: Talking about my problems is not going to change anything.
The term normative male alexithymia has been used to describe mens problems with expressing their emotions, a possible contributor to depression and barrier to treatment. Men are geared towards problem solving, but sometimes holding in how you feel is part of the problem. When you start talking about things that bother you or are causing stress, the problem solving can begin. Athletes will huddle up on the court or field to make a plan or a game strategy and make adjustments as they go along. This is similar to what happens in counseling or therapy.
Common Belief: Its not that bad, its the way Ive always been.
Most likely, you dont like to go to the doctor when you have a fever, sore throat, and cough. You probably want to ride it out and see if you can just get better on your own. But then you realize the cough has now turned into bronchitis and you arent able to work. Mental health issues can be similar. It can be hard to know when its time. Sometimes, you just need to talk. And, other times, its pretty bad. You cant get out of bed or function. Untreated depression and other psychiatric problems can result in personal, family, and financial problems, even suicide. According to NIMH, four times as many men as women die by suicide in the United States, which may result from a higher prevalence of untreated depression. Yet eight out of 10 cases of depression respond to treatment.
Common Belief: People will think I am crazy if I see a psychologist.
Our brains are sensitive organs that respond to our genetics, traumatic life events, and stress. Many of these factors are not in our direct control. Men may express their depression in terms of increases in fatigue, irritability and anger, loss of interest in work, and sleep disturbances. It has also been shown that men use more drugs and alcohol, perhaps to self-medicate. This can mask the signs of depression, making it harder to detect and treat effectively. A diagnosis is not a life sentence. A diagnosis can be a name of a condition that provides a road-map for proper treatment and improvement in your mood, relationships, and life.
Start a conversation. With someone you
trust. With someone who is trained. With someone who cares.
Ask questions. Start the conversation. Are you okay?
QAnons
Unexpected Roots in New Age Spirituality
Masculinity, faith and the strange convergence of
counterculture and hate
I didnt choose New Age culture. But I grew up in a
college town in Northern California in the 1980s, where the
ubiquitous Grateful Dead stickers, crystal shops and tarot
card readers suggested that the 1960s ethos of
self-discovery never ended. Psychedelic accoutrements and
people who self-identified as seekers were normal to me
and so I craved mainstream American culture. I
rebelled mildly by eating Dominos pizza
at sleepovers and idolizing the nihilism of 1970s
punk.
It turns out that I didnt entirely resist it. In the past decade or so, my fluency in the world of New Age culture, wellness, woo-woo (whatever you might call it) became a professional boon as a journalist. These ideas were taking off once again, especially among women who are White and middle-class, which I also am. I understood that world and had a lot to say about it. While on assignment Ive gone to menstrual huts and tea ceremonies; Ive gotten massaged by boa constrictors and Ive meditated at sound baths. Ive greeted this all with professional curiosity, something between an open mind and a world-weary arched eyebrow.
On Jan. 6, along with the rest of the country, I followed the news of the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol and the prominence of Confederate flags, nooses and other symbols of the far right. Like many others, I took note of the so-called QAnon Shaman: 33-year-old Jake Angeli, born Jacob Anthony Chansley, of Arizona. He was bare-chested and covered in Nordic tattoos, at least one of which, the Valknot, is a Norse symbol sometimes associated with white supremacy. But he was also, infamously, wearing a headdress fashioned from buffalo horns and coyote skin elements associated with the American West that seemed to telegraph a pagan spirituality. Ive been around a lot of White people who have adopted a mishmash of pagan and Indigenous signifiers as a New Age aesthetic. Its a cringeworthy and offensive display of appropriation that I dont endorse, but its common in that world.
After the attack on the Capitol, news reports unearthed that Chansley was a founder of something called the Star Seed Academy (in a certain New Age vernacular, a star seed is a higher being). The Facebook page for the venture, before it was taken down, read: Star Seed Academy creates leaders of the highest order! We help people to awaken, evolve and ascend! Are you ready to be a leader? Are you ready to ascend? Recently, Chansleys lawyer, Albert Watkins, told me in a statement that his client is deeply spiritual. His spirituality is serving him well as he traverses the pending federal charges. He added that Chansley has a personal commitment to Ahimsa, the principle (found in Jainism, Hinduism and Buddhism) of doing no harm.
As a devotee of QAnon the sprawling set of false claims that have coalesced into an extremist ideology deemed a domestic terrorist threat by the FBI and a freedom fighter for Donald Trump, Chansley was my ideological opposite; yet there was also a lot about him that was familiar. It felt shocking and suggested serious flaws in a culture I thought I understood: a fine line between the kind of zeitgeist-y, sensitive New Age-guy version of masculinity, and something more nefarious. The idea of spiritual lineage is too generous to bestow on Chansley, but he represents a growing pipeline between New Age male spirituality, new masculinity movements and QAnon. This pipeline is one of unlikely connections and strange bedfellows, of mixed martial arts fighters and poets, evangelical Christians and yoga teachers.
In 2009, Charlotte Ward, an independent researcher on alternative spirituality religious beliefs outside of conventional groups began to notice a hybrid of conspiracy theory beliefs and New Age culture cropping up online. Two years later, she co-wrote a paper titled The Emergence of Conspirituality in the Journal of Contemporary Religion. She and co-writer David Voas, a quantitative social scientist at University College London, noted an emphasis on patterns and connections in both conspiracy culture and alternative spiritual beliefs. Nothing is as it seems, and nothing is an accident. These worldviews make public and personal life respectively seem less subject to random forces and therein lies part of their appeal, they wrote.
Ward and Voas defined conspirituality as a politico-spiritual philosophy based on two core convictions one core to conspiracy theories and the other rooted in New Age belief systems: 1) a secret group covertly controls, or is trying to control, the political and social order, and 2) humanity is undergoing a paradigm shift in consciousness. Proponents believe that the best strategy for dealing with the threat of a totalitarian new world order is to act in accordance with an awakened new paradigm worldview.
In our cultural moment, when baseless claims about both a rigged election and the dangers of vaccines hit Americans almost simultaneously, there has been renewed interest in Ward and Voass decade-old paper and, specifically, the idea of conspirituality. (During the week I interviewed Voas, he had three other similar interviews lined up.) With the image of Chansley in animal horns and fur leading an attack on the Capitol, conspirituality was more than an idea in an academic paper or on the Internet. It had become our shared reality.
When I was about 10 years old, my mother became interested in the idea of the divine feminine, specifically centering spirituality on women rather than the patriarchal notion of a male god. She had never shown interest in spirituality before but dived in with, well, a religious fervor. She took me to a screening of the 1989 Canadian documentary Goddess Remembered, about goddess worship in ancient European culture and its potential as a renewed spiritual movement. Judging from the attendees of the goddess fairs in hotel ballrooms I was also taken to, this was a fairly White, progressive and privileged group of women. It served as a kind of spiritual extension of the womens liberation movement of the 1970s, parallel to feminism.
Men soon started to realize that they, too, had a gender to consider, and the mens movement took off in the 70s and 80s. It manifested in three expressions, says Cliff Leek, assistant professor of sociology at the University of Northern Colorado and vice president of the American Mens Studies Association: You get pro-feminist [mens] groups that do work around reproductive health and sexual violence; and, on the other end of the spectrum, mens rights groups that say, We are gendered and the system is out to get us. The middle way is the mythopoetic: tying masculinity back to the sacred and mythological.
The prevailing figure in the mythopoetic movement is the poet Robert Bly. In 1990, Bly, who was in his 60s (hes now 94), published Iron John: A Book About Men, which includes lines like, Where a mans wound is, that is where his genius will be. Blys idea, told through Jung-influenced archetypes and fairy tales, was that men had been robbed of true masculinity via emotionally withholding fathers who raised soft sons. With some reflection and maybe some banging on drums with other dudes in the forest they could reclaim their inner Zeuses and thrive. The book was sometimes the butt of jokes, but spent over a year on the New York Times bestseller list. It was so popular and so part of the New Age canon that I bought a copy as a teenager. I thought it seemed a bit corny, like the kind of thing long-haired aging hippie dads of my friends might enjoy. But I read it because I knew it was an element of a cultural conversation that I wanted to be a part of.
The spirit of Iron John can still be found in mythopoetic mens groups. Take, for example, Embodied Masculine, a mens community that offers retreats and coaching. (A representative of the company declined to comment for this article.) The retreats promise a lot. In this meticulously held circle of men, you will be both met with compassion and called to deepen, one description reads, accompanied by images of mostly White men patting each other on the shoulder or sitting atop rocks. Your embodied presence will expand, your relationship to consciousness will deepen, and the sword of your integrity will sharpen. You will be challenged, nourished, and given the tools and brotherhood you wish you had found years ago. Sounds enriching, but the wording around Embodied Masculines retreats for women has a distinctly anti-feminist flair: Women, weve reached a point in history in which many of you are equalling and surpassing men in earning, personal growth and spiritual capacity. ... And yet, there is a longing deep in your heart for something more.
As soon as we tie masculinity to spirituality, we turn masculinity into something sacred as well as distinct and exclusive of women, says Leek. Im not entirely sure that is something that can be done in a way that doesnt reinforce or naturalize inequalities. These retreats seem to be encouraging strong behavior from a group White, ruling-class men who are already the most privileged in our society. But you also see this core message about strong men in socially conservative packaging. Theres a fear of women getting too powerful and a veneration of the housewife that, frankly, reminds me of the Proud Boys, the alt-right group with a history of violence that believes women are best left at home raising children.
The wellness and spirituality world is very parallel to the evangelical Christian world, especially when it comes to the messaging around masculinity, Leek explains. The mythopoetic aspect of the mens movement is very much rooted in patriarchal notions of chivalry and men as protectors and warriors. Evangelical masculinity is basically identical. He wasnt surprised to see the QAnon Shaman beside evangelical groups at the Capitol. QAnon, with its fixation on pedophilic conspiracies led by Hollywood and the liberal elite, can give a certain kind of man in search of purpose a way to feel like a literal protector.
Last year, Matthew Remski, a writer and co-host of the Conspirituality podcast, was reporting a story on QAnon for the Canadian magazine the Walrus, and he interviewed Lamont Daigle, founder of a Canadian QAnon spinoff group. During the interview, Remski noted to Daigle that he talked about his political journey as if it were a spiritual journey. Daigle responded, Remski told me recently, that it all started with Iron John.
I emailed Daigle to ask how Iron John had influenced him. He wrote back praising the books view of pre-industrial history, including the tradition of fathers passing down a trade to their sons. ?Apprenticeship was lost and is/was key for bonding, Daigle wrote. As Iron John was suggesting, the love unit most damaged by the industrial revolution has been the father-son bond. His view of society today is much darker: From what Ive seen on the streets and stage of this New World Order agenda in the last year, fierce protective men have been noticeably absent, and the women are standing up stronger and more vocal.
All of which fits with Remskis analysis of this subculture. Theres a kind of iconographic romance between swole but New Agey male figures who are taking supplements and staying disciplined, and women who have deep connections to the divine, he says. Theres a righteous and holy and sacralized sexuality, an immunological radiance around the holy couple. I know exactly the type of couples hes talking about. I see them on Instagram espousing the know-your-strength relationship consciousness taught at the Embodied Masculine retreats, and in the vulnerable but divine masculinity of Iron John.
I think of the macho wellness dude as epitomized by the comedian-turned-podcaster Joe Rogan, who sells mugs and tube socks that read conquer your inner b---- and Hindu-deity-inspired T-shirt designs. (I reached out to Rogan, but his representative did not respond.) Then there is the pandemic-era bro upgrade to the mythopoetic archetype which is how you find MMA fighters like Tim Kennedy on the podcast of comedian JP Sears, with both men arguing that weve overreacted to covid.
A vast landscape of lost people who need a belief system to guide their actions constitutes promising terrain for someone seeking to attract believers, proteges or followers (online or otherwise). The central figures in this subculture are guys who dont know how to manage their charisma, says Remski. They are burdened with unwarranted confidence amplified and recycled by social media until its habitual but also viral.
Jules Evans, an honorary research fellow at the Center for the History of Emotions at Queen Mary University of London, has investigated the history, philosophy and psychology of well-being. In an article for Medium called Nazi Hippies: When the New Age and Far Right Overlap, Evans wrote about how leading members of the Nazi party in the 1930s and 40s were followers of alternative spirituality and medicine. There was an idea that western culture has lost its way and we need to return to traditional sources of wisdom, whether that be Hinduism or Sufism or traditional gender roles, Evans told me. Its a concept thats popular today with the alt-right. There is an overlap, he says, between New Age and far-right populism in traditionalist thinking, that the West has lost its way with feminism, multiculturalism, egalitarianism, and we need a return to order.
In December, an NPR/Ipsos poll asked respondents whether they believe the myth behind QAnon: that a group of Satan-worshipping elites who run a child sex ring are trying to control our politics and media. Seventeen percent said it was true, and 37 percent said they didnt know. It would be easy to write this off as simply a mass lack of critical-thinking ability and that is certainly part of it but when Jeffrey Epstein, whose friends were some of the most powerful people in the world, was charged with sex trafficking involving underage girls, its easy to see how someone might be tempted to blur the line between real-life corruption and conspiracy theories.
Conspiracy theories are going to attach to how we already see the world, says Joseph E. Uscinski, a professor of political science at the University of Miami who researches American conspiracy theories. They are representative of peoples concerns at the time: the Bavarian illuminati of the 18th century, the Freemasons in the 1930s, the JFK assassination in the 1960s.
I have a sense of how women in the wellness world can fall down these rabbit holes. Alternative spirituality is related to issues that are thought to be of greater concern to women, such as self-care or connectedness, Voas told me. This is thought to be upbeat and optimistic in its orientation which is a contrast to conspiracy theory, which is darker, more pessimistic, more political, about secret forces controlling things behind the scenes. And yet, alternative spirituality and conspiracy are, in the end, united by a narcissistic idea: that there are things in the world crying out for explanation and that you alone are unraveling the truth. As Voas puts it, The central point is that we have, in our society, competition between trust and doubt.
An article last year in the European Journal of Social Psychology called An exploration of spiritual superiority: The paradox of self-enhancement, by Dutch behavioral scientists Roos Vonk and Anouk Visser, found that the road to spiritual enlightenment may yield the exact same mundane distortions that are all too familiar in social psychology, such as self-enhancement, illusory superiority, closed-mindedness, and hedonism (clinging to positive experiences) under the guise of alleged higher values. This spiritual form of narcissism reminds me of Chansleys language on Facebook around star seeds. According to Evans, its derived, in a copy of a copy kind of way, from an idea in Gnosticism a collection of beliefs from early Christian sects, popular in alternative spirituality, that there are spiritual aliens who are different species: You are from another planet, youve fallen into this prison of the material world, and youre working to ascend to your true home. Its an extreme expression of spiritual alienation and spiritual narcissism.
I am guessing Chansley probably wanted to achieve notoriety for his ideas and that a desire to stand out is part of the reason he chose such a bizarre costume to wear to an attempted coup. He is, to use a term popular on the Internet, a spiritual version of a clout chaser.
But I dont want to tease anyone
for their spiritual ideas, even Chansley, who has been
charged with six federal crimes and awaits trial. Rather,
Im interested in the larger question this raises about
contemporary masculinity. What void is this filling? If
QAnon provides an easy answer for a small but steady group
of men, we should think about what a healthier spiritual
alternative looks like. Whatever it is, it should be
offline for starters, says Remski. It could
focus on community service, but at the very least it should
be built in the neighborhood, not on the consumer workshop
circuit. The last thing the ex-QAnon man needs is a leader
or a group commodifying his recovery or monetizing his
confessions or emotions. Remski has already noticed a
rise in mens groups based on spiritual bodybuilding,
sacred real estate and supplement pyramid schemes. I
guarantee, he predicts, that within the year a
pair of bros will start up a [multilevel marketing
business] that sells QAnon recovery products.
Source: www.washingtonpost.com/magazine/2021/03/29/qanon-new-age-spirituality/?no_nav=true&tid=a_classic-iphone
Thinking
Critically About Rural Gender Relations: Toward a Rural
Masculinity Crisis/Male Peer Support Model of
Separation/Divorce Sexual Assault
Abstract
After decades of neglect, a growing
number of scholars have turned their attention to issues of
crime and criminal justice in the rural context. Despite
this improvement, rural crime research is underdeveloped
theoretically, and is little informed by critical
criminological perspectives. In this article, we introduce
the broad tenets of a multi-level theory that links social
and economic change to the reinforcement of rural patriarchy
and male peer support, and in turn, how they are linked to
separation/divorce sexual assault. We begin by addressing a
series of misconceptions about what is rural, rural
homogeneity and commonly held presumptions about the
relationship of rurality, collective efficacy (and related
concepts) and crime. We conclude by recommending more
focused research, both qualitative and quantitative, to
uncover specific link between the rural transformation and
violence against women.
Source: link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10612-007-9038-0
Older men cling
to 1950s, '60s blueprint of masculinity
Study: Older men adhere closely to an idealized masculinity
script that is incompatible with the realities of later
life
As men age, they continue to follow dominant ideas of masculinity learned as youth, leaving them unequipped for the assaults of old age, according to a new study.
The mismatch between aging and the often ageless expectations of popular masculinity leaves senior men without a blueprint to behave or handle emotions, according to a new literature review from Case Western Reserve University.
Men who embodied the prevailing cultural and societal hallmarks of manliness as younger menprojecting an aura of toughness and independence, avoiding crying and vulnerability, while courageously taking risksare confronted by the development of health problems, loss of spouses and loved ones, retirement and needing to be a caregiver for ailing family members in later life.
"Who you are in the past is embedded in you," said Kaitlyn Barnes Langendoerfer, a doctoral student in sociology at Case Western Reserve and co-author of the review, which mined narrative data from nearly 100 previously published studies. "Men have trouble dealing with older age because they've followed a masculinity script that left little room for them to negotiate unavoidable problems."
"In our study, we hear men struggling with griefwhich is a vulnerable stateand caregiving, which is associated with femininity," she said. "If they must cry, men feel it's to be done in the home, away from others, even when spouse has died. They have to renegotiate their masculinity in order to deal with what life is bringing their way."
This masculinity "script" still embraced by older men was outlined as the four-part Blueprint of Manhood, first published by sociologist Robert Brannon when the men in the studies were entering adulthood in the 1970's. The blueprint included:
No Sissy Stuff - men are to avoid being feminine, show no weaknesses and hide intimate aspects of their lives.
The Big Wheel - men must gain and retain respect and power and are expected to seek success in all they do.
The Sturdy Oak - men are to be ''the strong, silent type" by projecting an air of confidence and remaining calm no matter what.
Give 'em Hell - men are to be tough, adventurous, never give up and live life on the edge.
"We're all aging; it's a fact of life. But as men age, they're unable to be who they were, and that creates a dissonance that is hard to reconcile," said Langendoerfer, who studies aging in men.
"We need to better understand how older men adapt to their stressorshigh suicide rates, emotions they stifle, avoiding the doctorto hopefully help them build better lives in older age," she said.
The review, published in the journal Men and Masculinities, was co-written by Edward Thompson Jr., an emeritus professor of sociology and anthropology at the College of the Holy Cross and now an affiliate of the Department of Sociology at Case Western Reserve.
Most of the data came from studies
with white, middle-class men from the United States, Canada
and Europe who had stable careers. "More research inclusive
of different races and socioeconomic backgrounds is needed
to obtain a more complete picture of how older men adapt,"
Langendoerfer said.
Source: phys.org/news/2016-10-older-men-1950s-60s-blueprint.html?utm_term=OZY&utm_campaign=daily-dose&utm_content=Friday_06.18.21&utm_source=Campaigner&utm_medium=email
If Just This One
Idea About Manhood Is Changing, Theres Hope
7/23/20
It was a competitive nine-year-olds baseball game.
Grandsons team was in the process of experiencing
their first loss of what was so far an eight-game
season.
Watching a grandson thrive as a truly self-motivated, avid and grampa would add gifted baseball player who is supported without pressure by parents continued, even on that day, not only to be thrilling entertainment. It felt as if it were a gifted connection with a fast-growing boy I had spent cherished time with from day one.
His own joy in the game, often seen in his smiles while pitching and fielding, also brought back forgotten memories of good times with my own dad when he took me to the old Milwaukee Braves games at County Stadium back when bleacher seats were $5.
That evenings game began with a bad night for the Coyotes starting pitcher. He walked ten batters so that the top of the first inning ended at the leagues seven-run per inning limit. His second inning was hardly better.
His team has some surprisingly good nine-year-old pitchers whose pitches are quite fast and accurate. So, you could see that this young guy felt as if he had let all his teammates down (much less disappointed the teams loyal fans) when he was relieved by a friend who was, instead, in his rhythm that night.
But the damage, as the sportscasters say, had been done. And when he retreated to the dugout, even as fans applauded his effort, this nine-year-old young man was crying.
Theres an old, popular, and I consider unhealthy, saying thats repeated by those stuck promoting destructive, toxic, and shaming masculinity in sports: Theres no crying in baseball.
But no one, not one coach, and not one fan I could hear fell back on that. We all felt his disappointment along with him, but no one added to that disappointment by shaming him for those tears.
Grandson and his teammates have been fortunate since they began playing in kindergarten. They have experienced, so far, positive coaching that has made them better without masculine shaming.
No coach or parent in my presence has ever said to these boys that its wrong to cry. In fact, when one of them in first grade was injured and was carried off the field crying, one coach comforted him with: Id have cried even harder.
So when I see his coaches walking to their cars with their fourth-grader sons while holding hands, I regain a hope for future generations that some of us are over the big boys dont cry mentality.
For generations, male gender role conditioning has included the ridicule and humiliation of boys for their tears. Its taught them thereby to ignore their natural feelings of hurt, fear, and confusion.
Its taught them that anger is the male thing to feel instead. And no male has yet to be told that anger and violence are unmanly but they sure have been told theyre somehow unmanly if they express those natural human emotions that are buried under that anger.
And where homophobia and heterosexism have diminished, at least in public discourse, we hear less and less of the gay slurs applied to men who openly express these basic emotions that are covered over with secondary ones permitted for manhood: anger and sexual arousal. Sadly often, though, such worn-out slurs are still voiced.
Putting boys out of touch with their feelings has been a useful tool of conditioning for societies for generations. Its harder to go to war against another man or fight competitively to make another man lose, to beat up another man or to destroy him with ruthless business practices, to step over male bodies on the way to what will be declared a victory or convince oneself that the others deserve their unfortunate circumstances, if you know and do embrace the idea that you and these other men actually and legitimately feel hurt, fear, and confusion.
So, the more a man has been put out of touch with these feelings, the more hes become convinced that feeling them is contrary to the rule that big boys dont cry, the more hes lost touch with his emotional connections to his fellow men, the easier it is to deny that any human damage is done to others and that he might have contributed to it.
Im afraid that should grandson continue on what hed like to be his career path, hell run into others who are still sold on the old feelingless manhood (except, of course, again, expressing all these emotions through anger and sexual desire). Its still so much a built-in part of our cultural norms.
The extent that someone buys into all this is enforced by both men and women who do. Few men want to be deemed unmanly by the standards of the men around them.
Fear that other men judge them as less than manly and even in subtle or not so subtle ways will punish them if they dont come across as manly enough by the old definitions is one way its all kept in place. Gay men know this fear and are more overtly punished for breaking that man code, but all men know what it means to be scared straight no matter what their sexual orientation.
Parents enforce the man code because they fear what can happen to their boys if they dont live up to its standards. Theyve seen what has happened to any boy not manly enough in the past.
And women have been conditioned to somehow need a real man. Are they prepared for and secure with his tears, vulnerability, and a full set of human qualities and emotions when theyve been told they need him to love and protect them and prove to them in the end that theyre lovable?
I want to believe there have been some changes in all of this, though my book Scared Straight: Why Its So Hard to Accept Gay People and Why Its So Hard to be Human continues to explain so much of this for its readers even today.
I know that as long as for many its somehow less than manly to be gay, or less than feminine to be a lesbian, this prejudice will continue to be used to enforce the idea that men shouldnt show feelings through tears. I know that as long as transgender people are humiliated and ridiculed because they defy the gender boxes that deny some of the human qualities to anyone based upon binary gender norms, therell be further pressure for everyone to monitor ones feelings.
But I still hope that there will come
a day when all emotions matter to anyone regardless of
gender definition and that even in baseball there can be
crying without shame.
Source: whosoever.org/if-just-this-one-idea-about-manhood-is-changing-theres-hope/
War Is the Force
that Gives Masculinity Meaning - 10/1/14
In 2002, when Pulitzer Prize winner, Chris Hedges published
War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning, he wrote in depth
about the warrior culture that is the USA. The
communal march against an enemy generates a warm, unfamiliar
bond with our neighbors, our community, our nation, wiping
out unsettling undercurrents of alienation and
dislocation, he wrote. It gives us purpose,
meaning, a reason for living.
In 2014 the American military-industrial-media complex is still salivating for war to further line its pockets. And a president elected to get us out of two wars in which we were mired, displays caution but finds himself pressured on many sides to do something warrior-like.
The drumbeat includes the usual: ramping up of fear against an enemy, claims of a threat to whats now called the homeland, and images of cruelty that invoke the sense that we cant let them get away with that, especially when they do it to Americans. Few are interviewed in mainstream media who argue against the whole mindset.
Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders appeared briefly on Meet the Press in September for the first time in his career. But no Chris Hedges or Noam Chomsky is likely to appear as the debate centers on the best tactics of fighting the bad guys rather than how to change US policies that spawn terrorist groups.
In our culture, war is still the manly response; it gives conditioned manhood its meaning. With women in the military and LGBT people tolerated, a warrior reaction to any problem still wont cause mainstream pundits to question any mans masculinity, though it might cause them to question a womans femininity.
Even though theres been a history of dissenters Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr, to name two well-known examples and a long history of anti-war movements, America still falls back on a war model to attack problems from literacy, to AIDS, to poverty, to drugs, to crime. The tools of war get more sophisticated, while we sell them to the world to use, even profiting off of selling them to those who become enemies
For war to continue to give us such meaning as well as war-industry jobs, we need more than just the selling of each new war through exaggeration, lies, and fears. Those tactics must touch something already within so the public relations of warmongering will resonate inside us.
Mainstream conditioning of our children through our major institutions must still make warriors and warrior-support personnel out of them through molding their minds, if the propaganda of each new war is to be effective. And, sadly, the old gender role conditioning that enables this hasnt changed as much as wed like to believe.
In fact, the dominant Northern European/American views of gender and its limitations have heavily affected alternatives that would have been found traditionally among Native Americans, Hispanic peoples, Africans, and Asians. Even in a culture where children are being told that they can be anything they want to be, dominant institutions that supposedly provide role-models such as the NFL or Congress, have failed to move outside genderized boxes, and, as if it surprises us, failed miserably to challenge the status quo, as weve painfully been reminded recently.
It takes the equivalent of mental child abuse to take the little boy who was born with his complete humanity intact, and to convince him that he will be considered an American masculine hero if he is willing someday to go off to another country and kill other men or be killed by them. Notice how the title hero is now applied to anyone who does just that.
It also takes the equivalent of mental child abuse to take the little girl who was born with her complete humanity and all its possibilities intact, and convince her that the solution to her fears, second-place status, meaninglessness, and hopelessness is to find fulfillment in supporting one of these male warriors. She might even stay with an abuser if shes convinced that he is her savior from all that shes supposedly lacks in life.
But our mainstream culture still does it. It still defines male bonding and teamwork as a group of men getting together to beat, defeat, or kill another group of men. Every male sporting event on television celebrates it with the most popular often the sports that reward men for harder hits or knocking the other unconscious.
Our culture still awards its warriors for killing another man. A man can get a medal for killing another man, but still be killed for loving one.
Much of its religion is still in a fight against the cultural change that threatens to fully accept lesbians, gay men, and bisexual and transgender people who challenge gender roles. Mainstream media gives such religion disproportionate attention, enabling them to feel like noble, righteous warriors in the culture wars.
And our culture remains stuck in the old gender roles, with otherwise liberal people still talking about their masculine and feminine sides as if those categories mean something definite. Or using supposedly positive comments such as: Youre too pretty to be a lesbian. But youre too macho to be a gay man. Shes trans, but you cant tell. Shes so pretty.
Finally, its still quite useful to install the fear of getting close to ones own gender thats the heart of homophobia. Without that, its much harder for men to make other men their enemies. Its easier to fear them as threatening competitors.
While walking with my then 2 ½ year old grandson down the street, we passed a gaping open sewer. He grabbed my hand and pulled me away, saying Grampa, be careful. Thats dangerous.
To that little boy, holding hands wasnt something that men dont do. It was how they protect each other in their common humanity.
But you cant shoot someone when
youre holding each others hand to protect one
another. Youre instead more likely to feel the common
humanity that would make looking for alternatives to war
obvious.
Source: whosoever.org/war-is-the-force-that-gives-masculinity-meaning/
The study followed 1,055 men for an average of 36 years following their schooling to examine the risk of premature and total cardiovascular disease associated with anger responses to stress during early adult life.
The incredible results of this study were that young men who quickly react to stress with anger have three times the normal risk of developing premature heart disease. Also, these men were five times more likely than men who were calmer to have an early heart attack even if they didnt have a family history of heart disease!
While it has been clear for a long time that anger damages relationships, the health problems associated with anger have never been made as clear. Anger not only hurts your relationships, it kills you!
Anger damages relationships more than any other single factor. It hurts people and creates mistrust. It causes your own children to fear you. And it perpetuates a way of being thats a lie.
Its a lie because there are many emotions floating around under your anger that are never discovered as long as the anger hides them. Theres a part of you that remains a mystery to you and to the world because it never sees the light of day.
And while there is some information for men on managing their anger, not many men seem to access it.
In fact, it tends to remain a very private matter for many men. A sense of failure and shame surrounds men who struggle with their temper. These feelings keep this a private matter, causing the cycle to stay the same or worsen.
And the simple truth about men improving their anger is that its a matter of choice. You no longer need to accept the notion that youve got a temper, and thats the way it is.
Here are some options for men seeking to improve themselves:
When we talk about health hazards for men, we may need to include anger alongside fast food and a lack of exercise among factors that can shorten mens lives.
Managing your anger is a learnable skill, and it benefits everyone around you.
More importantly, it may save your
life.
Mark Brandenburg writes a
column
for menstuff.org. He has a Masters degree in counseling
psychology and has been a counselor, business consultant,
sports counselor, and a certified life and business coach.
He has worked with individuals, teams, and businesses to
improve their performance for over 20 years. Prior to life
and business coaching Mark was a world-ranked professional
tennis player and has coached other world-ranked athletes.
He has helped hundreds of individuals to implement his
coaching techniques. Mark specializes in coaching men to
balance their lives and to improve the important
relationships in their lives. He is the author of the
popular e-books, 25
Secrets of Emotionally Intelligent
Fathers ,
and Fix
Your Wife in 30 Days or Less (And Improve Yourself at the
Same Time ).
Mark is also the publisher of the Dads Dont Fix
your Kids ezine for fathers. To sign up, go to
www.markbrandenburg.com
or E-Mail
him
Why men are
lonelier in America than elsewhere - 12/29/21
Are isolated men driving American women up the wall? A
recent sketch on Saturday Night Live, which
refers to studies concluding that males in America are
increasingly friendless, suggests that they are. A young
woman, frustrated by her boyfriends inability to open
up to anyone else, takes him by the hand and leads him to a
man park (like the dog version) where, after a
shy start, he finds fellow males to make friends with. Some
viewers disliked the likening of men to dogs, but the
sketch, which went viral online, illustrates fresh concerns
about an old worry: the loneliness of American
men.
As people in rich countries work longer hours, marry later and spend more time with their children, not friends, research suggests loneliness is increasing. A study by the University of Pennsylvania found a direct link between social-media usage and loneliness. More time spent online means less time building friendships.
The problem may be particularly severe in America. A large international study by British academics found that people in individualistic countries (a measure on which America scores highest) reported greater loneliness. America also has one of the highest divorce rates; men may be more likely to lose mutual friends after a split. A strong work ethic and geographical mobility (meaning friendships are liable to be lost or weakened as people relocate) is likely to exacerbate the problem.
A survey published in 2021 by the Survey Centre on American Life, part of the American Enterprise Institute, a think-tank, found that friendship groups have shrunk in the past three decades. The decline has been particularly marked among men. In 1990, 55% of American men reported having at least six close friends; today only 27% do. The survey found that 15% of men have no close friendships at all, a fivefold increase since 1990.
Those who study male loneliness believe that a particularly American version of masculinity is in part to blame. Since 1990 Robert Garfield, a psychotherapist and author of Breaking the Male Code, has run friendship labs, mens therapeutic groups, which have shown him that men crave emotional connection. But American boys, says Dr Garfield, who has also run such groups in Europe, are often taught that successful men exhibit particular traitsrestraint, independence, competitivenessat the expense of others.
As womens and LGBT rights have advanced in recent decades, along with more emotional ways of connecting with others, men are being asked to stretch themselves, Dr Garfield says. Over time, this is likely to have a positive effect on the way men relate to each other, but at the moment, males are in a fighting phase.
Marc Schapiro, a 24-year-old English teacher from Maryland, agrees. He says he was taught male friendship is stoic and lacking outward affection. But now he sees a different portrayal of friendship on social media, particularly by women and LGBT people. He would love, he says, to be able to show more affection and drop the constant snide comments and ribbing, but he finds the disconnect between what he grew up believing about friendship and how he sees other people relating to each other unsettling. The quasi-socialising he and his friends do online, via games and various message boards, meets no real need, he adds.
All this comes at a heavy cost. Suicide is more common among young men than young women. Niobe Way, a psychologist at New York University who studies adolescent male friendship and is the author of Deep Secrets: Boys Friendships and the Crisis of Connection, says it is no coincidence this divergence begins to happen around the age that many boys move away from close friendships. In childhood, she says, boys tend to be as open as girls about their need for friends. As they get older, they feel they have to get into a gender straitjacket and define their masculinity primarily as not being feminine. By the age of 15, many boys start saying they dont need friends and worrying that close friendships will make them seem girly. This clash of culture and nature, Dr Way says, is much more marked among white boys than black ones.
The effects are far-reaching. Research has linked loneliness to poor health. It can make men angry and violent. Male loneliness also affects women. Dr Garfield observes that two-thirds of divorces are initiated by women, many of whom complain their husbands are emotionally incompetent. Theres nothing new about that, but women are increasingly unlikely to put up with it, he says. ¦
This article appeared in the United
States section of the print edition under the headline
Oh man!
Source: www.economist.com/united-states/2022/01/01/why-men-are-lonelier-in-america-than-elsewhere
Ozy: TODAY
1/27/22
Its an interesting time to be a man. Expectations
are changing. Bad actors are being held accountable for
their toxic behavior. Powerful men are recognizing that they
cant always get away with unacceptable actions.
In my mind, Ive never crossed the line with
anyone, but I didnt realize the extent to which the
line has been redrawn, former New York Gov. Andrew
Cuomo said as he announced his resignation last summer after
a probe commissioned by the state attorney general concluded
that he had sexually harassed a large number of women.
There are generational and cultural shifts that I just
didnt fully appreciate.
So how do we teach the next generation of boys to be better stewards of the changing times? From toxic masculinity to sexual fluidity, todays Daily Dose explores the future of manhood, introducing you to the societal shifts and faces of change redefining the male identity.
1 - Sound of Silence
Hush. Dont talk about it. Thats long been one of the trademarks of toxic masculinity when it comes to a subject thats often swept under the carpet across the world: male victims of sexual violence. Nearly a quarter of American men experience contact sexual violence during their lifetime. And 1 in 4 men who are victims of rape or attempted rape first experience it when theyre between the ages of 11 and 17. Yet while sex crimes against women go underreported, men are even less likely to speak up about sexual violence theyve faced, according to the World Health Organization.
2 - Mental Health Pandemic
But it isnt just sexual violence. Some 6 million American men battle depression every year, according to the National Institute of Mental Health. But theyre much less likely to seek help compared to women. Instead, men struggling with mental health often try to self-medicate, turning to drugs and alcohol to hide their problems. But the problems dont go away. Deaths from suicide in the U.S. are four times higher for men compared to women.
3 - The Underlying Problem
The COVID-19 pandemic has only underscored how deep-seated gender identities can hurt not just individuals who subscribe to them but entire societies. Multiple studies have shown that men are less likely to wear protective masks or to maintain social distancing compared to women. In Hong Kong during the SARS outbreak and in Mexico City during the H1N1 crisis, similar scenarios were observed. To some, its just not cool. To others, any sign of vulnerability runs counter to their idea of masculinity. Yet having good friends can help counteract toxic masculinity, a recent Australian study suggests. It found a direct correlation between decreased positive support from friends and traits that foster bullying and misogynistic and homophobic behaviors.
1 - Jason Rogers
A romance book club . . . for men? Thats what former Olympic fencer Jason Rogers started in 2019 after getting inspired by Lyssa Kay Adams novel The Bromance Book Club . The idea is to get men together, discussing romance, love, intimacy subjects that have traditionally been seen as feminine through books. Its an interesting mechanism to get guys to question their ideas and perceptions of gender norms, especially gender norms in relationships, Rogers tells OZY. It has served as a bridge to get us into really important discussions about love, sex and intimacy that guys arent really having. Its the opposite of locker room talk. And its about time.
2 - William Jackson Harper
Emerging faces in Hollywood are doing their part to change societal assumptions of masculinity. Harper, best known as Chidi in the Emmy-winning NBC sitcom The Good Place, takes the stereotype of a male lead and rips it apart in his role as an indecisive philosophy professor. I think realizing that there are certain ideas of Blackness and certain ideas of maleness that sort of pervade a lot of art and media, I like to subvert that when I can, Harper told OZY on The Carlos Watson Show.
3 - Adebayo Oke-Lawal
The Nigerian designer is defying his conservative countrys deep-rooted traditional views of masculinity with a gender-fluid clothing brand that has become wildly popular in a nation where same-sex marriages are banned and gay groups are criminalized. Orange Culture deliberately embraces styles and fabrics perceived as effeminate to challenge mainstream notions of what men should wear.
4 - Thomas Page McBee
What about trans men? As he started pumping his body with testosterone in 2010, Thomas Page McBee knew he wasnt a woman, and transitioning to a man was something he had to do. But he was scared: He associated men with violence, and thats not what he wanted to become. More than a decade later, McBee is a leading trans voice using that unique perspective of transitioning to not just spotlight toxic masculinity but to address it with sensitivity. He has even been in a boxing match at New Yorks Madison Square Garden in a bid to understand the need for violence that many men feel. Its an unconventional approach. Maybe thats what we need.
1 - Genderless Language
Can changing the way we speak alter the gender stereotypes we otherwise grow up with? Yes, suggests a growing slate of research. According to a 2011 study, societies with genderless languages such as Finnish, Chinese and the Bantu language system of Africa have less gender inequality than countries with languages in which gender is central. Thats why Spains socialist government has proposed rewriting its constitution in gender-neutral language, while Argentinas Parliament is debating whether to make such words mandatory for its proceedings. But its a divisive subject, with similar initiatives in France and Germany facing pushback.
2 - Its Good to Cry
From the American Psychological Association through powerful public service videos to the emergence of academic programs focused on masculinity studies, theres a growing movement working to destigmatize the need for mental health care among men . . . and the need to cry. While the taboos around gender and mental health are problematic in the U.S., theyre even more entrenched in several other parts of the world, including the Middle East and South Asia. There is a good reason for those stigmas to be torn apart: Theyre unhealthy. Research has shown a direct correlation between repressive coping mechanisms like holding back tears and cardiovascular diseases.
3 - And Bathe
Its also about having fun while breaking down stereotypes. Thats what a growing number of groups are doing, reimagining activities traditionally considered feminine. Take Men Who Take Baths, a group founded in 2017 amid the #MeToo movement. It facilitates conversations on how to become better men . . . through interviews conducted in bathtubs.
4 - Men Teaching Men
If the examples of Jason Rogers, Adebayo Oke-Lawal, Thomas Page McBee and William Jackson Harper tell us anything, its that men need to and can lead the way in redefining masculinity. Men need to rethink what to teach boys moving forward. Thankfully, a growing number of organizations, initiatives and programs including at universities are trying to help men do just that through peer-to-peer learning.
5 - Sexing It Up
If the problem is the misguided notion
that seeking mental health care is weak, effeminate and
unattractive to an intimate partner, why not flip that
script? From TikToks to women publicly speaking
up about how theyll
only
date men who seek self-help
and therapy when needed, the conversation is changing.
Source: mail.aol.com/webmail-std/en-us/suite
Olympian Vincent
Zhou on masculinity, skating, mental health and
strict parents 2/3/22
Theres nothing wrong with acknowledging your
deepest thoughts or your deepest emotions, he said in
an interview before a positive Covid test forced him to drop
out of the mens competition at the Beijing
Olympics.
Olympic figure skater Vincent Zhous career has no shortage of memorable performances, but among his most celebrated is a stunning 2019 routine set to Jojis Slow Dancing in the Dark. At one point, Zhou, dripping with angst, drops down to his knees and slides across the ice as the song hits its climax.
I recall receiving plenty of messages on Instagram about just how emotionally impactful that performance was, the athlete said of the routine that went viral and earned him a shoutout from Joji himself. That made me really, really happy to see that people could relate to it and find something to embrace in it.
The performance remains an example of Zhou's skating style, one that draws upon vulnerability and emotion as a source of strength. Its something he hopes to convey as one of 16 skaters competing on Team USA at the Winter Olympics in Beijing, which officially begins on Friday.
Since the story was published, Zhou tested positive for Covid-19 and wont be able compete in the mens individual competition.
Now 21, Zhou was the youngest athlete on Team U.S. at the last Winter Games, in PyeongChang, South Korea, in 2018, where he finished sixth. Since then, he has grown up in the public eye, having weathered the world stage against the backdrop of an immigrant family upbringing. Going into his second Olympics, Zhou has some reflections that come from confronting the intense pressures and joys of his art.
Theres nothing wrong with acknowledging your deepest thoughts or your deepest emotions, Zhou told NBC Asian America. Theres nothing wrong with being an honest person, you know?
The athlete, who made history as the first person to land a quadruple lutz at the Winter Games, has been skating since he was 5, first stepping onto the ice at a friends birthday party. Though the art form quickly evolved into a fierce passion, with Olympic dreams in his minds eye from a young age, Zhou acknowledged that some dismiss his sport, driven by the overemphasis on masculinity in society.
Theres that stereotype where people look at skaters and theyre like, Oh, theyre ballerinas in tutus, or stuff like that or, all guys who do figure skating are gay, Zhou said. I think those are all pretty ignorant perspectives.
Experts have said that Asian men, in particular, must deal with emasculation, or being cast as effeminate and weak. Even Shohei Ohtani, the Japanese hitter and pitcher for the Los Angeles Angels who has excelled in baseball, a sport thats traditionally recognized as a masculine by Western standards, was seen as an insufficient representative of the sport by some, like ESPNs Stephen A. Smith. Constancio Arnaldo Jr., an assistant professor of Asian and Asian American studies at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, previously told NBC Asian America that its likely that some felt Ohtanis Asianness contested age-old ideas of what a dominant, powerful athlete looks like.
Its about masculinity," Arnaldo said. "Asian and Asian Americans are always seen as not masculine enough."
But Zhou, who was born in San Jose, California, to Chinese immigrants, said he believes that tremendous strength and fortitude is required to produce the beauty and emotion in ice skating, and that often gets overlooked. And perhaps its time to stop judging the legitimacy of sports and the ability of its athletes through this lens of Western masculinity.
Its a beautiful thing to have the athleticism to be able to do quadruples, which are essentially the limit of whats physically possible in skating right now, but also to be able to give a beautiful performance and have great lines on the ice and have an appreciation for artistry, Zhou said. Its just a sport. Its just a thing that we all enjoy. I dont think theres a reason to make it about, Guys have to be guys and girls have to be girls.
Zhou, whos also a student at Brown University, speaks with a wisdom that he said has come after moments of significant triumph, but also struggle. Zhou said he and his mother packed up their bags and moved to Colorado when he was 8 so he could train with better coaches and better conditions, and he spoke openly about the mental health struggles he contended with in his adolescence.
Zhou said that he spent three years skating on a torn meniscus, which eventually required surgery. Recovery was particularly difficult, he remembers. At the time, Zhou was confined to his house, isolated from friends and kept off the ice. The athlete was subsequently left alone with his thoughts, feeling as though he had lost an opportunity of making the Olympic team one day and achieving greatness, Zhou explained.
I would say I had pretty severe depression. I never had a formal diagnosis because back then, 10 years ago, resources for that werent readily available, especially for kids, Zhou said. I wouldnt wish that on my worst enemies. Its really a struggle, and my heart goes out to anybody whos going through that.
At the time he also felt trapped, he said, by some of the rules imposed by his strict Chinese parents a common gripe among many children of immigrants who find themselves navigating the pressures of adolescence through both American culture and their heritage. But Zhou got himself not only back on the ice, but in a healthier mental space by turning to nature and proactively looking for inspiration. He also said he reassessed the tensions he felt with his parents. Many of the clashes were communication breakdowns, sometimes cultural ones, that required empathy to unpack, he said.
If your parents are trying to set you on the right track, even if they have a different way of going about it than you sometimes try to see what theyre actually saying, Zhou said. Parents will say emotional things, but look under that. What are they actually trying to say to you? Theyre trying to say, We want you to succeed, we want you to have the best chance at getting a good job and starting a family one day, or whatever it may be. Theres always something to be grateful for.
He emphasized that though his parents have come off as demanding in the past, their devotion to him has remained unquestionable. And ultimately, whenever hes succeeded, they are the first people he thinks of.
Achieving a certain level of success gives a person some perspective on how things are, Zhou said. And when I am standing on a podium, hearing the national anthem being played and having a medal placed around my neck, my thoughts always go back to the people who helped me along the way.
However, Zhou also wants to dispel the myth that strict Asian parents are the sole fuel to his success, rather than his own love of the sport. The trope, he explained, removes agency from the athlete themselves. And at the end of the day, if we truly dont want to do it, were not going to do it.
No matter what, it always takes a village to bring an athlete to the Olympic level. And its impossible to keep going at that level if you dont love what youre doing, Zhou said. While people might say, This persons parents forced them to do this, when were on the ice, were the only people in control of our own bodies and minds.
Zhou added: I hope that people
watching skating can see the passion that we have for the
sport.
Source: www.nbcnews.com/news/asian-america/olympian-vincent-zhou-masculinity-skating-mental-health-strict-parents-rcna14663?eType=EmailBlastContent&eId=27170b3f-fc65-454c-84fc-450f2e0edf22&sl_gr=grp_youthandyoungadultissues
Man in a
Box The Traditional Definition of Masculinity -
10/10/12
Keith Edwards October 10, 2012 Blog, Men &
Masculinities, Sexual Violence Prevention, Social Justice
Education 14 12553
Ive often used the Man in the Box activity, which I believe was created by Paul Kivel, to help participants in workshops illustrate the social expectations on men. Below is a video of this activity using the responses from my research participants and highlighting the role of misogyny and homophobia in policing the expectations of men and the intersections of other forms of oppression.
Traditional Hegemonic Definition of Masculinity (THDM) is a wordy way of describing the external expectations of men that society places on us. This definition is traditional in that it is rooted in long held cultural ways of defining what it means to be a man. It is hegemonic in that is places men above people of other genders AND some men above other men. It defines some men above other men in the ways it intersects with classism, racism, homophobia, anti-Semitism, and other forms of oppression. One of the ways racism works is trying to emasculate men of color for their skin color and culture. One of the ways classism works is by emasculating working class men for the status of their job, the cars they drive, and the clothes they wear. And so on.
Homophobia, misogyny, racism, classism, ableism, antisemitism
Traditional Hegemonic Definition of Masculinity
This definition of masculinity is reinforced in many ways, but two primary was are through misogyny and homophobia. Misogyny is the hatred of women and homophobia is the hatred and gays and lesbians or those who label in that way. Now that sounds academic and complicated but two five year old boys can illustrate this for you on the playground. One five year old boy throws the ball and it doesnt go very far. The other five year old boy yells, Man you throw like a girl! That is misogynistic because if being a girl werent bad it wouldnt be an effective insult. The boy who was called a girl responds by yelling something homophobic at his friend. Now, it is likely that this five year old boy has no idea what that word means, let alone the history of hatred, violence, and aggression associated with that word. However, he knows that when he feels emasculated by misogyny, that responding with homophobia is a way that he can try and prop up his masculinity according to the traditional hegemonic definition of masculinity.
If that is what we know about
masculinity at five years old, imagine how well we are
trained to call each other girl and
gay by the time we are 18 years old and in
college. Imagine how we have to constantly escalate the
violence and aggression in calling each other
girl and gay in order for that to
have an effect if weve been calling and been called
that all of our conscious lives. This definition of
masculinity is part of creating a patriarchal system that
perpetuates, contributes to, and reinforces patriarchy. This
is how the traditional hegemonic definition of masculinity
oppresses people of other genders, marginalizes some men,
and limits all men.
Source: www.keithedwards.com/2012/10/10/man-in-a-box-the-traditional-hegemonic-definition-of-masculinity/
Putting
My Man Face On College Mens Gender
Identity
Keith Edwards March 20, 2013 Blog, Leadership, Men &
Masculinities, Sexual Violence Prevention, Social Justice
Education, Student Affairs 8 2455
For nearly 15 years Ive been studying, analyzing, and researching how college men experience their gender identity. Specifically Ive been looking to better understand how they identify as men, how that changes over time, and what influences those changes. This research is both empirical, grounded in data, and personal, grounded in my own experiences as a man.
I conducted a series of in-depth interviews with 10 college men who represented a variety of social group identities (particularly race, class, and sexual orientation) and a variety of college experiences (e.g. RA, Black campus leadership, scholarship football player, LGBT campus leadership, service focused, sexual assault prevention educator, fraternity men, and Latino campus leadership).
Each participant shared with me how they felt they were expected to behave according to outside expectations of them as men and their own personal definition of manhood. Eventually, each participant shared with me their secret. The secret was that they didnt feel that they always measured up to those expectations and so they faked it by putting on a performance or wearing a mask. Each participant thought they were the only one who did this and that it came naturally to other men.
They put on this mask for two reasons.
The first was to cover up who they really were because they didnt feel that it would measure up to others expectations. Because of the impossible and unrealistic expectations society has for men they felt insecure for just about any reason too big AND not big enough, not smart enough AND too smart, etc. The second was to portray an image to others that would meet these external expectations an image that was confident, stoic, unemotional, strong, etc.
As college men they summarized the specific expectations of them in one word partying. This included drinking to excess, doing drugs, breaking rules, having competitive heterosexual sex, and not preparing academically. Those of us who work on college campuses see the ways these performances play out in individual incidents and over time.
As educators we can easily be frustrated with mens behaviors, especially when we have been hurt by men and these behaviors in the past. The challenge for us is to do what we can to reach the man behind the mask and hold him accountable for his behavior while affirming who he really is. This is especially challenging when he wont show you who is behind the mask.
Mens performances while wearing the mask has consequences for people of other genders, our relationships with other men, and our own humanity and authenticity.
The most obvious of these are the consequences for people of other genders women, trans, and gender non-conforming folks. Interacting with men who are feeling insecure and who get messages that proving their manhood is often about heterosexual sexual conquest affects relationships with women at best and leads to sexual and other violence at worst. It also affects our relationships with other men, becoming an obstacle to our relationships with friends who are men and our fathers.
Finally, when we perform to external expectations that arent who we really are we lose our authenticity. When we deny aspects of who we really are because it doesnt fit with external expectations (crying when moved, being vulnerable, etc.) we sacrifice our own humanity.
The college men I interviewed did describe times when they were able to remove the mask and be their full selves. Some things that helped them be able to temporarily remove the mask were critical academic courses, facing major life decisions, experiencing and surviving emasculating trauma, and even the interviews themselves helped them better live their lives as the men they aspired to be.
I began my research thinking that we
needed to teach college men a different way of being a man.
What I learned instead is that they already know a different
way it is who they really are under the mask. What we
need to do is give men permission to stop being the man they
feel they have to be and grant them permission to be who
they really are. Thats what the data tells me.
Thats what my own life experiences have told me as
well. How about you?
Source: www.keithedwards.com/2013/03/20/putting-my-man-face-on-college-mens-gender-identity-development/
Work is broken.
Can we fix it?
The Future of Work issue of the Highlight looks at the
workers Americans dubbed essential and then
largely left behind in the work revolution. Can we make work
better for the nations crucial workforce?
We often begin to understand things only after they break down. This is why, in addition to being a worldwide catastrophe, the pandemic has been a large-scale philosophical experiment, Jonathan Malesic, author of The End of Burnout: Why Work Drains Us and How to Build Better Lives, writes in this months issue of the Highlight.
What has broken down, of course, is work, and what American workers, policymakers, and employers now can see plainly are the countless truths the pandemic laid bare: that productivity does not actually require an air-polluting, hourlong daily drive to a soulless downtown office building; that a fair and just society ought not put the poorest, most vulnerable Americans in danger in the name of capitalism; that the entire economy might just be held together by a rapidly dwindling sea of people child care workers earning roughly $13 an hour, with no benefits.
In this months Future of Work issue, the Highlight and Recode teamed up to explore the precarity faced by those workers whom the Great Resignation did not offer much in the way of increased power or security. We look beyond simply what is broken about their working lives, asking policy experts and workers themselves: What could make work better?
In our cover story, Rani Molla and Emily Stewart talk to those whose jobs, in this supposedly revolutionary time for worker power, havent changed for the better. For many who dont have the luxury of working from home farmers, food servers, truck drivers, teachers, home health aides, housekeepers, bank tellers, and others slightly higher wages are masking more difficult and dangerous working conditions they expect will only continue into the so-called future of work.
The pandemic also showed Americans just how reliant the economy is on child care, and how incredibly fragile that industry is. Turnover is high. Making ends meet is impossible. The very people who need child care to allow them to work often are those without the means to afford it. Vox shadows one care worker over the course of a day that proves both joyful and exhausting in order to better understand the work that ensures other Americans can do their jobs.
Though Malesic has become a well-known voice calling for an overhaul of work hes called it a bad bargain for many he has found, perhaps surprisingly, that many Americans want to find their jobs meaningful, even if that meaning has lately come with stress and exploitation. In this issue, he explores what it might take to create a future in which we arent so reliant on work to live and could instead be freed to derive satisfaction from it.
Perhaps no employer in the past 50 years has transformed consumer expectations quite like e-commerce giant Amazon. Those changes have begun shifting what work is like, too, not only for the 1.1 million people Amazon directly employs, but also for its vast network of contractors and for people working for the many companies that want to emulate Amazons methods for making its workforce and workflows hyper-efficient.
Finally, the Future of Work issue looks at Gen Z and its penchant for fearlessly posting about capitalism, labor, and employer behavior online, and we ask journalist and author Eyal Press about the nations worst, most exploitative jobs and just how complicit the rest of us are when others must do our dirty work for us.
A mirror reflection shows the same
woman, one young and one older, mopping a checkered floor.
In the background a french fry container transitions from
red to blue and has a circuit board pattern on it.
Source: www.vox.com/features/23013380/work-is-broken-can-we-fix-it
Why is the
Idea of Privilege so Controversial? 9/1/2018
It seems so difficult for people in dominant groups to
recognize the privileges their group has.
Though the concept of the privilege of the dominant group thats based on culturally accepting their characteristics as the norm and others as deviants from a norm thats somehow considered more natural, American, and human has been around for decades, its very mention to a person in those dominant groups often raises the level of a discussions seat.
People not a part of those dominant groups are regularly, and often silently, aware of what those phrases mean to their daily lives, but the dynamics of our cultures intersection of the categories we use to divide people complicates the discussion.
And when government or other institutions act to mitigate privilege, those actions often evoke complaints of reverse discrimination. We see this in the stereotypical attacks on affirmative action the often misunderstood but most conservative attempt to correct historical discrimination that the government could come up with or the mainstream but inaccurate images were supposed to carry around about who receives the most help from the government.
Why is it difficult, then, for people in dominant groups to recognize the privileges their group has just for being the right color, sexual orientation, gender, class, religion, or body-type? Why is it almost a knee-jerk reaction to go into anecdotal-justifying denial?
First, wed like to believe that were self-made people whove earned by our actions alone all thats implied when the concept of privilege is raised. Thats, as historians point out, one of the most
Its so ingrained, and so used by American leaders, that to point out all the help weve gotten from the roads we ride on to the tax money others have paid into our education is often interpreted as evidence of some sort of personal failure. Part of the loss of sense of community is the amnesia that forgets that weve benefited from that community.
And its a sad self-concept that can only accept ones value if theyre self-made when everyone is a combination of their own achievement and whats been handed to them. It not only negates ones own reality, but teaches that any help we give someone is a sign that theyre actually failures.
Second, group identity is installed in us emotionally and with the fear that we might be isolated from that very group. We come to need the identity that the group gives us because we rely on it to define who we are.
So, when the privilege of that group is pointed out, our reaction is less likely to be a thoughtful consideration of the idea but an emotional response that could include guilt, shame, fear, and threatened loss. We can diminish those feelings quickly with anger, offense, denial, and a search for the opinions of others who reject the concept.
Its often the case that the response is to go into ones own victim talk, reciting how we of the dominant group have been victims of this person or that. We might even claim that the other group has it better though few would thereby be willing to wake up the next morning with the identity of that non-dominant group.
Ive often challenged people who say that LGBTQ people arent really discriminated against to try an experiment for the next six months tell everyone around you that youre LGBT or Q. But even assuring them that its only an experiment and six months later they can say Just kidding, no one whos denied that theres discrimination has yet taken me up on it.
Third, because our society is an intersection of multiple oppressions that each privilege a certain group, most people experience more than one. So when one privilege is pointed out, theyre often able to respond by how theyre the victims of another privilege as if that other non-privilege negates the original observation.
The most pervasive of these are the privileges of economic class. So if someone points out my white privilege, I can respond with examples about how class privilege has treated me and heres the misunderstanding act as if I dont have any privileges just because people identify me as white.
Well, Ive had it hard too is often a response of how much more difficult everything is in our culture if youve not come from an economically upper-class family. And one of the functions of many of the other privileges is actually to keep the class system in place by dividing people from each other in terms of these other identities.
The American cultural system has a long history of preferring that we keep these arguments going so that the majority working class people doesnt ever unite to bring down the powers that be who make money off of our divisions.
So, if I might get personal with a few everyday examples: Im a white, non-heterosexual, ablebodied, man from a working class background. My white privilege means, for example, that when I walk around a store I dont have to wonder if someone is following me expecting me to steal something or ever have to think about anything in terms of the pinkish-cream color of my skin.
As able-bodied, my privileges include that I never have to determine if a place I visit is accessible.
My male privileges include that people often pay attention to me when I say the same thing a woman has just said that listeners had let go or that I dont have to respond to questions about my objectivity as a man when I write about gender issues.
Yet, I dont have the privilege of never worrying about how someone will respond when I tell them about my partner. And I dont have the privilege of not worrying about budgeting or falling into debt.
And I havent even touched on
privileges that come with identifying with the right
religion thats afraid its losing those
privileges and claiming theyre the ones being
persecuted. But thats another story.
Source: goodmenproject.com/featured-content/why-is-the-idea-of-privilege-so-controversial-phtz/
"A harmless man is not a good man. A good man is a very dangerous man who has it under control." -Jordan Peterson
We live in unprecedented times. Men, boys, and the very essence of masculinity itself are under direct fire. The phrase "toxic masculinity" has seeped into the common vernacular in the past half-century in such an insidious fashion that it has taken control of how we define manhood publically and privately. Frankly, I'm sick of it. In the process of establishing much-needed equality between men and women, certain groups have taken these individualistic arguments to the extreme. They have thrown out traditional, tried-and-true gender qualities and replaced them with chaos instead. In the wake of the latest wave of feminist and gender non-binary movements, we are left with more confusion and destruction than ever before. The second leading cause of death for young people is suicide. The majority of these young people are male. Something needs to change in how we all (women and men) view masculinity.
One in three children from divorced families is estranged from their fathers. This is an extremely depressing statistic. Fathers provide essential elements in a child's development that mothers alone cannot. The masculine energy is like a river's banks. It provides the necessary structure for a child's character. Children preferentially emulate the exercise and self-care habits of their fathers. They rely on their fathers to feel safe and more self-reliant. They learn how to regulate their own interactions with other children better because of their fathers. If you want to create anti-social, violent children, you need only deprive them of their fathers. Given the latest national news, it is important to note that almost every perpetrator of a mass shooting had a poor relationship with his father. I say 'his' because every mass shooter you can think of was male. If we want fewer Sandy Hooks or Robb Elementary Schools, then we need more fathers in the lives of our children.
We have to stop the hatred of men. We have to stop blaming societal troubles on white male privilege. The social norms that exist in our cultures are much older than the history of Western civilization or the patriarchy. Norms, rituals, customs, languages, etc. are all ways to understand the forces that surround us and to gain some kind of harmony and utility in the process. One of these forces is the biological differences between males and females. Separate cultures developed around male and female identities in response to these blatant sexual dimorphisms. It is of the utmost importance that we learn to understand and respect them.
Femininity and masculinity are two different and essential parts of life. Equally important and intertwined. Yin and Yang. Whatever one pole does affects the other. For all intents and purposes, they are the same force. So what happens when you blame the patriarchy for all of today's inequalities and woes? You are simultaneously blaming the matriarchy. All of those who shame males for their behavior are also shaming mothers and daughters. This is why attacking toxic masculinity is unhelpful. It is actually a form of self-hatred. It is time for us to wake up to the destructive message we are sending to our boys. Instead, they need the positive message of noble masculinity. Boys need initiation rites. They need to be honored and encouraged to be strong providers and leaders. They need a group of fathers to help them navigate these transitions and to better understand the emotions involved. Mothers simply cannot do these things alone, nor should they.
Men who grow up with respectful models for fathers are less likely to mistreat women. The relationship is reciprocal, as women with good fathers are less likely to mistreat men. The key to establishing a healthy binary is honoring the strengths of that binary and accepting its weakness. Men are evolutionarily and biologically made to be more taciturn, more logic-based, more competitive, and more driven by sex. Women are made to be more communicative, more intuitive, more risk-averse, and more driven by safety. There is a little wiggle room in what these differences look like, but those are differences of degree, not kind. Men will make more money on average than women because men are naturally more competitive. Women are naturally more nurturing and biologically more inclined to child-rearing. One of the unfortunate side-effects of the last century of feminism is the pressure it has put on women to act more like men and on men to act more like women. As a result, we all lose.
I challenge each and every one of you
to think long and hard today about your relationship with
the masculine energy in your life. There are bad men out
there who have done terrible things, but the fewer new ones
we can create the better. The future will be a hard-fought
battle for both men and women, but we must endeavor to fight
it. We must restore our trust in traditional gender roles by
focusing on more cohesive family dynamics. Women need good
men to support them financially and emotionally so that they
aren't under the impossible modern pressures to be both
mothers and providers. Men need respect from good women so
they don't abandon their family and benevolent natures and
use their powers for destruction. This is a call to all men
to step up to the challenge of being better providers,
fathers, sons, and husbands. It is also a call to all women
to engender and invite these characteristics in men. If it
is a monster that we want to fight, then it is a monster
that we will get. That is what happens when you declare war
on masculinity. It fights back.
Source: www.chattanoogaholisticmedicine.com/post/soulful-sundays-war-on-masculinity
If just this
one idea about manhood is changing, there's hope
t was a competitive nine-year-olds baseball game.
Grandsons team was in the process of experiencing
their first loss of what was so far an eight-game
season.
Watching a grandson thrive as a truly self-motivated, avid and grampa would add gifted baseball player who is supported without pressure by parents continued, even on that day, not only to be thrilling entertainment. It felt as if it were a gifted connection with a fast-growing boy I had spent cherished time with from day one.
His own joy in the game, often seen in his smiles while pitching and fielding, also brought back forgotten memories of good times with my own dad when he took me to the old Milwaukee Braves games at County Stadium back when bleacher seats were $5.
That evenings game began with a bad night for the Coyotes starting pitcher. He walked ten batters so that the top of the first inning ended at the leagues seven-run per inning limit. His second inning was hardly better.
His team has some surprisingly good nine-year-old pitchers whose pitches are quite fast and accurate. So, you could see that this young guy felt as if he had let all his teammates down (much less disappointed the teams loyal fans) when he was relieved by a friend who was, instead, in his rhythm that night.
But the damage, as the sportscasters say, had been done. And when he retreated to the dugout, even as fans applauded his effort, this nine-year-old young man was crying.
Theres an old, popular, and I consider unhealthy, saying thats repeated by those stuck promoting destructive, toxic, and shaming masculinity in sports: Theres no crying in baseball.
But no one, not one coach, and not one fan I could hear fell back on that. We all felt his disappointment along with him, but no one added to that disappointment by shaming him for those tears.
Grandson and his teammates have been fortunate since they began playing in kindergarten. They have experienced, so far, positive coaching that has made them better without masculine shaming.
No coach or parent in my presence has ever said to these boys that its wrong to cry. In fact, when one of them in first grade was injured and was carried off the field crying, one coach comforted him with: Id have cried even harder.
So when I see his coaches walking to their cars with their fourth-grader sons while holding hands, I regain a hope for future generations that some of us are over the big boys dont cry mentality.
For generations, male gender role conditioning has included the ridicule and humiliation of boys for their tears. Its taught them thereby to ignore their natural feelings of hurt, fear, and confusion.
Its taught them that anger is the male thing to feel instead. And no male has yet to be told that anger and violence are unmanly but they sure have been told theyre somehow unmanly if they express those natural human emotions that are buried under that anger.
And where homophobia and heterosexism have diminished, at least in public discourse, we hear less and less of the gay slurs applied to men who openly express these basic emotions that are covered over with secondary ones permitted for manhood: anger and sexual arousal. Sadly often, though, such worn-out slurs are still voiced.
Putting boys out of touch with their feelings has been a useful tool of conditioning for societies for generations. Its harder to go to war against another man or fight competitively to make another man lose, to beat up another man or to destroy him with ruthless business practices, to step over male bodies on the way to what will be declared a victory or convince oneself that the others deserve their unfortunate circumstances, if you know and do embrace the idea that you and these other men actually and legitimately feel hurt, fear, and confusion.
So, the more a man has been put out of touch with these feelings, the more hes become convinced that feeling them is contrary to the rule that big boys dont cry, the more hes lost touch with his emotional connections to his fellow men, the easier it is to deny that any human damage is done to others and that he might have contributed to it.
Im afraid that should grandson continue on what hed like to be his career path, hell run into others who are still sold on the old feelingless manhood (except, of course, again, expressing all these emotions through anger and sexual desire). Its still so much a built-in part of our cultural norms.
The extent that someone buys into all this is enforced by both men and women who do. Few men want to be deemed unmanly by the standards of the men around them.
Fear that other men judge them as less than manly and even in subtle or not so subtle ways will punish them if they dont come across as manly enough by the old definitions is one way its all kept in place. Gay men know this fear and are more overtly punished for breaking that man code, but all men know what it means to be scared straight no matter what their sexual orientation.
Parents enforce the man code because they fear what can happen to their boys if they dont live up to its standards. Theyve seen what has happened to any boy not manly enough in the past.
And women have been conditioned to somehow need a real man. Are they prepared for and secure with his tears, vulnerability, and a full set of human qualities and emotions when theyve been told they need him to love and protect them and prove to them in the end that theyre lovable?
I want to believe there have been some changes in all of this, though my book Scared Straight: Why Its So Hard to Accept Gay People and Why Its So Hard to be Human continues to explain so much of this for its readers even today.
I know that as long as for many its somehow less than manly to be gay, or less than feminine to be a lesbian, this prejudice will continue to be used to enforce the idea that men shouldnt show feelings through tears. I know that as long as transgender people are humiliated and ridiculed because they defy the gender boxes that deny some of the human qualities to anyone based upon binary gender norms, therell be further pressure for everyone to monitor ones feelings.
But I still hope that there will come
a day when all emotions matter to anyone regardless of
gender definition and that even in baseball there can be
crying without shame.
Source: whosoever.org/if-just-this-one-idea-about-manhood-is-changing-theres-hope/
The
Red Pill
When feminist filmmaker Cassie
Jaye sets out to document the mysterious and polarizing
world of the Men's Rights Movement, she begins to question
her own beliefs. Jaye had only heard about the Men's Rights
Movement as being a misogynist hate group aiming to turn
back the clock on women's rights, but when she spends a year
filming the leaders and followers within the movement, she
learns the various ways men are disadvantaged and
discriminated against. The Red Pill challenges the audience
to pull back the veil, question societal norms, and expose
themselves to an alternate perspective on gender equality,
power and privilege. Watch
here.
Been called a
'snowflake'? The 'it' new insult
Apparently a snowflake is not just a little white speck
of a winter flurry that we wish for on Christmas day. Lately
the term has been used as a slang insult, often used in a
derogatory way to suggest that people -- often, but not
always, young people -- who take offense to anything from
political policy changes to offensive comments are as weak
and vulnerable as a speck of snow.
But the slang term isn't new -- and its use has evolved quite a bit.
In Missouri in the 1860s, a "snowflake" was a person who was against the abolition of slavery, according to Merriam-Webster.
Snowflakes during that time period valued white people over black people and wanted slavery to continue after the Civil War.
During the 1970s, snowflake was used as a derogatory term for white or black people who were perceived as acting white. It was also slang for cocaine, "snow" for short.
Chuck Palahniuk's 1990s Fight Club novel and the movie adaptation have often been credited as the originator of using this feathery ice crystal in a metaphorical way.
The novel contains this grim reminder: "You are not a beautiful and unique snowflake. You are the same decaying organic matter as everyone and we are all part of the same compost pile."
Today, snowflake is used to describe a person perceived as overly sensitive and fragile, often in a mocking way.
And today's youth is sometimes derided
as "Generation Snowflake."
Soource:
www.usatoday.com/story/college/2017/02/01/been-called-a-snowflake-the-it-new-insult/37427267/
Hikikomori
A young Japanese man living as a hikikomori in
2004
Hikikomori (Japanese: lit. "pulling inward, being confined"), also known as severe social withdrawal,[1][2][3][4][5] is total withdrawal from society and seeking extreme degrees of social isolation and confinement.[6] Hikikomori refers to both the phenomenon in general and the recluses themselves. The concept is primarily recognized only in Japan, although similar concepts exist in other languages and cultures. Hikikomori have been described as loners or "modern-day hermits".[7] Estimates suggest that half a million Japanese youths have become social recluses,[8] as well as more than half a million middle-aged individuals.[9]
Definition
The Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour, and Welfare defines hikikomori as a condition in which the affected individuals refuse to leave their parents' house, do not work or go to school and isolate themselves away from society and family in a single room for a period exceeding six months.[10] The psychiatrist Tamaki Saito defines hikikomori as "a state that has become a problem by the late twenties, that involves cooping oneself up in one's own home and not participating in society for six months or longer, but that does not seem to have another psychological problem as its principal source".[11]
More recently, researchers have developed more specific criteria to more accurately identify hikikomori. During a diagnostic interview, trained clinicians evaluate for:[12]
The psychiatrist Alan Teo first characterized hikikomori in Japan as modern-day hermits,[7] while the literary and communication scholar Flavio Rizzo similarly described hikikomori as "post-modern hermits" whose solitude stems from ancestral desires for withdrawal.[13]
While the degree of the phenomenon varies on an individual basis, in the most extreme cases, some people remain in isolation for years or even decades. Often hikikomori start out as school refusers, or futoko (???) in Japanese (an older term is tokokyohi (????)).
Hikikomori has been defined by a Japanese expert group as having the following characteristics:[14]
Spending most of the time at home
No interest in going to school or working
Persistence of withdrawal for more than 6 months
Exclusion of schizophrenia, intellectual disability, and bipolar disorder
Exclusion of those who maintain personal relationships (e.g., friendships)
Common traits
While many people feel the pressures of the outside world, hikikomori react by complete social withdrawal. In some more severe cases, they isolate themselves in their bedrooms for months or years at a time.[15] They usually have few or no friends. In interviews with current or recovering hikikomori, media reports and documentaries have captured the strong levels of psychological distress and angst felt by these individuals.[16]
While hikikomori favor indoor activities, some venture outdoors occasionally.[17] The withdrawal from society usually starts gradually. Affected people may appear unhappy, lose their friends, become insecure and shy, and talk less.
Prevalence
According to Japanese government figures released in 2010, there were at that time 700,000 individuals living as hikikomori within Japan, with an average age of 31.[18] (Population of Japan in 2014 was 127.3 million.) Still, the numbers vary widely among experts. These included the hikikomori who were at that time in their 40s and had spent 20 years in isolation. This group is generally referred to as the "first-generation hikikomori". There is concern about their reintegration into society in what is known as "the 2030 Problem", when they will be in their 60s and their parents begin to die.[18] Additionally, the government estimates that 1.55 million people are on the verge of becoming hikikomori.[18] Tamaki Saito, who first coined the phrase, originally estimated that there may be over one million hikikomori in Japan, although this was not based on national survey data. Nonetheless, considering that hikikomori adolescents are hidden away and their parents are often reluctant to talk about the problem, it is extremely difficult to gauge the number accurately.[19]
A 2015 Cabinet Office survey estimated that 541,000 recluses aged 15 to 39 existed. In 2019, another survey showed that there are roughly 613,000 people aged 40 to 64 that fall into the category of "adult hikikomori", which Japan's welfare minister Takumi Nemoto referred to as a "new social issue".[9]
While hikikomori is mostly a Japanese phenomenon, cases have been found in the United States,[20] the United Kingdom, Oman, Spain, Germany,[21] Italy, India, Sweden, China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korea, France and Russia.[15][22][23][24][25][26]
Hypotheses on cause
Developmental and psychiatric conditions
Hikikomori is similar to the social withdrawal exhibited by some people with autism spectrum disorder. This has led some psychiatrists to suggest that hikikomori may be affected by autism spectrum disorder and other disorders that affect social integration, but that their disorders are altered from their typical Western presentation because of Japanese sociocultural pressures.[27] Suwa & Hara (2007) discovered that 5 of 27 cases of hikikomori had a high-functioning pervasive developmental disorder (HPDD), and 12 more had other disorders or mental diseases (6 cases of personality disorders, 3 cases of obsessive-compulsive disorder, 2 cases of depression, 1 case of slight intellectual impairment); 10 out of 27 had primary hikikomori. The researchers used a vignette to illustrate the difference between primary hikikomori (without any obvious mental disorder) and hikikomori with HPDD or other disorder.[28] Alan Teo and colleagues conducted detailed diagnostic evaluations of 22 individuals with hikikomori and found that while the majority of cases fulfilled criteria for multiple psychiatric conditions, about 1 in 5 cases were primary hikikomori.[29] To date, however, hikikomori is not included in the DSM-5 (The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders), due to insufficient data.[30]
According to Michael Zielenziger's book Shutting Out the Sun: How Japan Created Its Own Lost Generation, the syndrome is more closely related to posttraumatic stress disorder. The author claimed that the hikikomori interviewed for the book had discovered independent thinking and a sense of self that the current Japanese environment could not accommodate.[31]
The syndrome also closely parallels the terms avoidant personality disorder, schizoid personality disorder, schizotypal personality disorder, agoraphobia or social anxiety disorder (also known as "social phobia").
Social and cultural influence
Sometimes referred to as a social problem in Japanese discourse, hikikomori has a number of possible contributing factors. Alan Teo has summarized a number of potential cultural features that may contribute to its predominance in Japan. These include tendencies toward conformity and collectivism, overprotective parenting, and particularities of the educational, housing and economic systems.[32]
Severe social withdrawal in Japan appears to affect men and women equally. However, because of differing social expectations for maturing boys and girls, the most widely reported cases of hikikomori are from middle- and upper-middle-class families; sons, typically their eldest, refuse to leave the home, often after experiencing one or more traumatic episodes of social or academic failure.
In The Anatomy of Dependence, Takeo Doi identifies the symptoms of hikikomori, and explains its prevalence as originating in the Japanese psychological construct of amae (in Freudian terms, "passive object love", typically of the kind between mother and infant).[33] Other Japanese commentators such as academic Shinji Miyadai and novelist Ryu Murakami, have also offered analysis of the hikikomori phenomenon, and find distinct causal relationships with the modern Japanese social conditions of anomie, amae and atrophying paternal influence in nuclear family child pedagogy. Young adults may feel overwhelmed by modern Japanese society, or be unable to fulfill their expected social roles as they have not yet formulated a sense of personal honne and tatemae one's "true self" and one's "public façade" necessary to cope with the paradoxes of adulthood.
The dominant nexus of hikikomori centres on the transformation from youth to the responsibilities and expectations of adult life. Indications are that advanced industrialized societies such as modern Japan fail to provide sufficient meaningful transformation rituals for promoting certain susceptible types of youth into mature roles. As do many societies, Japan exerts a great deal of pressure on adolescents to be successful and perpetuate the existing social status quo. A traditionally strong emphasis on complex social conduct, rigid hierarchies and the resulting, potentially intimidating multitude of social expectations, responsibilities and duties in Japanese society contribute to this pressure on young adults.[34] Historically, Confucian teachings de-emphasizing the individual and favouring a conformist stance to ensure social harmony in a rigidly hierarchical society have shaped much of East Asia, possibly explaining the emergence of the hikikomori phenomenon in other East Asian countries.
In general, the prevalence of hikikomori tendencies in Japan may be encouraged and facilitated by three primary factors:
Middle class affluence in a post-industrial society such as Japan allows parents to support and feed an adult child in the home indefinitely. Lower-income families do not have hikikomori children because a socially withdrawing youth is forced to work outside the home.[35]
The inability of Japanese parents to recognize and act upon the youth's slide into isolation; soft parenting; or codependency between mother and son, known as amae in Japanese.[36]
A decade of flat economic indicators and a shaky job market in Japan makes the pre-existing system requiring years of competitive schooling for elite jobs appear like a pointless effort to many.[37]
Role of modern technology
Although the connection between modern communication technologies (such as the Internet, social media and video games) and the phenomenon is not conclusively established, those technologies are considered at least an exacerbating factor that can deepen and nurture withdrawal.[38] Previous studies of hikikomori in South Korea and Spain found that some of them showed signs of Internet addiction, though researchers do not consider this to be the main issue.[38] However, according to associate professor of psychiatry at Kyushu University in Fukuoka, Takahiro Kato, video games and social media have reduced the amount of time that people spent outside and in social environments that require direct face to face interaction.[38] The emergence of mobile phones and then smartphones may also have deepened the issue, given that people can continue their addiction to gaming and online surfing anywhere, even in bed.[39]
Japanese education system
See also: Kyoiku mama
The Japanese education system puts great demands upon youth. There is high competition to pass entrance exams into the next tier of education in what could be termed a rigid pass-or-fail ideology, which could induce a high level of stress. Echoing the traditional Confucian values of society, the educational system is viewed as playing an important part in society's overall productivity and success.[40]
In this social frame, students often face significant pressure from parents and the society in general to conform to its dictates and doctrines.[41] These doctrines, while part of modern Japanese society, are increasingly being rejected by Japanese youth in varying ways such as hikikomori, freeter, NEET (Not currently engaged in Employment, Education, or Training), and parasite singles. The term "Hodo-Hodo zoku" (the "So-So tribe") applies to younger workers who refuse promotion to minimize stress and maximize free time.[citation needed]
Beginning in the 1960s, the pressure on Japanese youth to succeed began successively earlier in their lives, sometimes starting before pre-school, where even toddlers had to compete through an entrance exam for the privilege of attending one of the best pre-schools. This was said to prepare children for the entrance exam of the best kindergarten, which in turn prepared the child for the entrance exam of the best elementary school, junior high school, high school, and eventually for their university entrance exam.[42] Many adolescents take one year off after high school to study exclusively for the university entrance exam, and are known as ronin.[43] More prestigious universities have more difficult exams. The most prestigious university with the most difficult exam is the University of Tokyo.[44]
Since 1996, the Japanese Ministry of Education has taken steps to address this 'pressure-cooker' educational environment and instill greater creative thought in Japanese youth by significantly relaxing the school schedule from six-day weeks to five-day weeks and dropping two subjects from the daily schedule, with new academic curricula more comparable to Western educational models. However, Japanese parents are sending their children to private cram schools, known as juku, to 'make up' for lost time.[45]
After graduating from high school or university, Japanese youth also have to face a very difficult job market in Japan, often finding only part-time employment and ending up as freeters with little income, unable to start a family.[46]
Another source of pressure is from their co-students, who may harass and bully (ijime) some students for a variety of reasons, including physical appearance, wealth, or educational or athletic performance. Refusal to participate in society makes hikikomori an extreme subset of a much larger group of younger Japanese that includes freeters.[44][45]
Impact
Japanese financial burden
Some organizations, such as the non-profit Japanese organization NPO lila, have been trying to combat the financial burden the hikikomori phenomenon has had on Japan's economy.[47] The Japanese CD and DVD producer Avex Group produces DVDs of live-action women staring into a camera to help hikikomori learn to cope with eye contact and long spans of human interaction. The goal is to ultimately help hikikomori reintegrate into society by personal choice, thereby realizing an economic contribution and reducing the financial burden on parents or guardians.[48]
"8050 problem"
The "8050 problem" refers to hikikomori children from earlier days now entering their 50s, as their parents on whom they rely, enter their 80s.[49] It was first described in Japanese publications and media in the late 2010s.
In 2019, Japanese psychiatrist Tamaki Saito held a press briefing at the Foreign Press Center Japan on the subject of hikikomori. In view of their rising age, he recommended practical advice to parents with older hikikomori, such as drawing up a lifetime financial plan for them, so they will be able to get by after the parents are gone. He also recommended that parents should not fear embarrassment or be concerned about appearances as they look at the options, including disability pensions or other forms of public assistance for their children. Tamaki emphasized the urgency and necessity for families in these situations to plan ahead; the Japanese government failed to see the urgency of the problem and demonstrated no motion toward developing substantive policies or systems like special safety nets related to the ageing group of hikikomori.[50]
Treatment programs
When it comes to psychosocial support, it is hard for therapists to attain direct access to hikikomori;[51] research to find different and effective treatment plans to aid hikikomori has been ongoing. One such treatment plan is focused on the families of hikikomori. Such focus primarily includes educational intervention programs (e.g. lectures, role-play, etc.) that are geared towards reducing any averse stigma that family members have towards psychiatric disorders like hikikomori.[52] These educational programs are derived from other established family support programs, specifically Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) and Community Reinforcement and Family Training (CRAFT).[53] CRAFT specifically trains family members to express positive and functional communication, whereas MHFA provides skills to support hikikomori with depression/suicidal like behaviour.[53] Studies so far that have modified the family unit's behavioral response to a hikikomori has yielded positive results, indicating that family behavior is essential for recovery, however further research is still needed.[51][53]
Although there has been a primary emphasis on educating family members, there are also therapy programs for the hikikomori themselves to participate in, like exercise therapy. The individual psychotherapy methods that are being stressed in current research are primarily directed towards cultivating self-confidence within the hikikomori.[54] However, studies have delineated that efficacious treatment of hikikomori requires a multifaceted approach rather than the utilization of one individual approach, such as individual psychotherapy or family therapy.[55][56]
COVID-19 pandemic impact
Based on prior outbreaks (e.g. SARS, MERS, etc.), studies have shown that due to increased loneliness, quarantined individuals have heightened stress-related mental disturbances.[52] Considering that political, social, and/or economical challenges already bring people to express hikikomori-like behavior, researchers theorize that since all the aforementioned factors are by-products of a pandemic, a hikikomori phenomenon may become more common in a post-pandemic world.[52][56] In fact, people who do experience mental disturbances in Japan generally view seeking the help of a psychiatrist as shameful or a reason for them to be socially shunned.[52] Experts predict an increase in focus on issues such as the mental health problems now affecting youth, and specifically through effective telemedicine services to either the affected individual and/or their respective family unit.[52][57]
Furthermore, with hikikomori becoming more prevalent amid a pandemic, experts theorize that it will bring out more empathy and constructive attention towards the issue.[52]
See also
flag Japan portal
Psychology portal
icon Society portal
Acedia
Asociality
Avolition
Fushugaku
Herbivore men
Jouhatsu
Monasticism
Recluse literature
Tang ping
Tokyo!, 2008 movie in three parts, the third part of which, Shaking Tokyo, shows the life of a hikikomori
Welcome to the N.H.K., a Japanese novel, manga, and anime series about a young man who is a hikikomori
References
Notes
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Hamasaki, Yukiko; Pionnié-Dax, Nancy; Dorard, Géraldine; Tajan, Nicolas; Hikida, Takatoshi (2020). "Identifying Social Withdrawal (Hikikomori) Factors in Adolescents: Understanding the Hikikomori Spectrum". Child Psychiatry & Human Development. 52 (5): 808817. doi:10.1007/s10578-020-01064-8. PMC 8405474. PMID 32959142.
Malagón-Amor, Ángeles; Martín-López, Luis Miguel; Córcoles, David; González, Anna; Bellsolà, Magda; Teo, Alan R.; Bulbena, Antoni; Pérez, Víctor; Bergé, Daniel (2020). "Family Features of Social Withdrawal Syndrome (Hikikomori)". Frontiers in Psychiatry. 11: 138. doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2020.00138. PMC 7061609. PMID 32194459.
Ovejero, Santiago; Caro-Cañizares, Irene; de León-Martínez, Victoria; Baca-Garcia, Enrique (2014). "Prolonged social withdrawal disorder: A hikikomori case in Spain". International Journal of Social Psychiatry. 60 (6): 562565. doi:10.1177/0020764013504560. PMID 24101742. S2CID 39990406.
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?????? ?????? (21 December 2015). "??????? ????? ?????????? ? ??????". Daily Moscow (in Russian). Retrieved 13 November 2023.
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Kato, Takahiro A.; Sartorius, Norman; Shinfuku, Naotaka (27 July 2020). "Forced social isolation due to COVID-19 and consequent mental health problems: Lessons from hikikomori". Psychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences. 74 (9): 506507. doi:10.1111/pcn.13112. ISSN 1323-1316. PMC 7404367. PMID 32654336.
Kubo, Hiroaki; Urata, Hiromi; Sakai, Motohiro; Nonaka, Shunsuke; Saito, Kazuhiko; Tateno, Masaru; Kobara, Keiji; Hashimoto, Naoki; Fujisawa, Daisuke; Suzuki, Yuriko; Otsuka, Kotaro (9 January 2020). "Development of 5-day hikikomori intervention program for family members: A single-arm pilot trial". Heliyon. 6 (1): e03011. Bibcode:2020Heliy...603011K. doi:10.1016/j.heliyon.2019.e03011. ISSN 2405-8440. PMC 6953643. PMID 31938741.
Nishida, Masaki; Kikuchi, Senichiro; Fukuda, Kazuhito; Kato, Satoshi (29 April 2016). "Jogging Therapy for Hikikomori Social Withdrawal and Increased Cerebral Hemodynamics: A Case Report". Clinical Practice and Epidemiology in Mental Health. 12: 3842. doi:10.2174/1745017901612010038. ISSN 1745-0179. PMC 4894832. PMID 27346999.
Ranieri, F.; Andreoli, M.; Bellagamba, E.; Franchi, E.; Mancini, F.; Pitti, L.; Sfameni, S.; Stoppielli, M. (March 2015). "Early Adolescence in Social Withdrawal: Two Hikikomori in Treatment". European Psychiatry. 30: 1198. doi:10.1016/s0924-9338(15)30941-x. ISSN 0924-9338. S2CID 143201325.
Wong, Paul W.C. (December 2020). "Potential changes to the hikikimori phenomenon in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic". Asian Journal of Psychiatry. 54: 102288. doi:10.1016/j.ajp.2020.102288. ISSN 1876-2018. PMC 7352106. PMID 32682300.
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Bibliography
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(1992). "Learning: The Mobilization of Knowledge in the Japanese Political Economy". In Kumon, Sumpei; Rosovsky, Henry (eds.). The Political Economy of Japan. Volume 3: Cultural and Social Dynamics. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press. pp. 321363. ISBN 978-0-8047-1992-6.
(1996). "Building Character". In Rohlen, Thomas P.; Le Tendre, Gerald K. (eds.). Teaching and Learning in Japan. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press. pp. 5074. ISBN 978-0-521-49587-5.
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(2012). Social Withdrawal: Adolescence without End. Translated by Angles, Jeffrey. Minneapolis, Minnesota: University of Minnesota Press.
Suwa, Mami; Hara, Koichi (2007). "'Hikikomori' among Young Adults in Japan: The Importance of Differential Diagnosis between Primary Hikikomori and Hikikomori with High-functioning Pervasive Developmental Disorders" (PDF). ?????? [Medical and Welfare Research]. 3: 94101. ISSN 1349-7863. Archived from the original (PDF) on 29 September 2013. Retrieved 7 September 2017.
Teo, Alan R. (2013). "Social Isolation Associated with Depression: A Case Report of Hikikomori". International Journal of Social Psychiatry. 59 (4): 339341. doi:10.1177/0020764012437128. PMC 4886854. PMID 22408115.
Teo, Alan R.; Gaw, Albert (2010). "Hikikomori, a Japanese Culture-Bound Syndrome of Social Withdrawal? A Proposal for DSM-5". Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease. 198 (6): 444449. doi:10.1097/NMD.0b013e3181e086b1. PMC 4912003. PMID 20531124.
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Further reading
Goodman, Roger; Imoto, Yuki; Toivonen, Tuukka, eds. (2012). A Sociology of Japanese Youth: From Returnees to NEETs. Nissan Institute/Routledge Japanese Studies Series. Vol. 83. Abingdon, England: Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-66926-9.
Kuhn, Kevin (2012). Hikikomori (in German). Berlin: Berlin Verlag. ISBN 978-3-8270-1116-9.
Toivonen, Tuukka; Norasakkunkit, Vinai; Uchida, Yukiko (2011). "Unable to Conform, Unwilling to Rebel? Youth, Culture, and Motivation in Globalizing Japan". Frontiers in Psychology. 2 (207): 207. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2011.00207. ISSN 1664-1078. PMC 3171786. PMID 21949510.
Media
"Japan's modern-day hermits: The world of hikikomori". France 24. 18 January 2019. Archived from the original on 17 November 2021.
External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Hikikomori.
"'Rental sisters' for Japan's Reclusive Young Men". People Fixing the World. BBC World Service. 16 October 2018. Retrieved 19 October 2018.
Butet-roch, Laurence (14 February 2018). "Pictures Reveal the Isolated Lives of Japan's Social Recluses". National Geographic. Photographer: Maika Elan. Archived from the original on 13 December 2018. Retrieved 13 April 2019.
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A woman simply is, but a man must become. Masculinity is risky and elusive. It is achieved by a revolt from woman, and it is confirmed only by other men. Manhood coerced into sensitivity is no manhood at all. -- Camille Paglia
In things pertaining to enthusiasm, no man is sane who does not know how to be insane on proper occasions. -- Henry Ward Beecher 1813-1887
Real heroes are men who fall and fail and are flawed, but win out in the end because they've stayed true to their ideals and beliefs and commitments. -- Kevin Costner
There is nothing noble in being superior to some other man. The true nobility is in being superior to your previous self. -- Hindu proverb
I once climbed an imaginary mountain because it wasn't there.
"I see the world where a dummy like me can broadcast loud and clear my dumminess by spending a small forture to wear someone else's name to achieve my identity."
Macho does not prove mucho. Zsa Zsa Gabor
By the time a man is thirty-five he knows that the images of the right man, the tough man, the true man which he received in high school do not work in life. - Robert Bly
A very different view came from a description I read back in the late '70s. It is what I like to think makes "A real man" today. And, personally, I have worked since that time at becoming this man. I've only changed the deity to one that works for me. Use one or don't. What ever works for you. This was written by Star Hawk from her book The Spiral Dance. - Editor: Gordon Clay
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Angry without being violent,
Sexual without being coercive,
Spiritual without being unsexed,
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