This article builds on interview data with 24 Swedish men who had experienced myocardial infarction. The aim of the study was to explore how their illness prompted existential reflection and how such reflections intersect with constructions of masculinity and social positions, such as age and class. The findings show that while existential anxiety is frequently acknowledged, it is also managed through practices such as humour, biomedical reasoning, and emotional restraint. These responses reflect forms of emotional stoicism, often expressed in relation to ideals of responsibility, control, and care for others. At the same time, such orientations also vary in relation to social position, demonstrating that emotional stoicism is not a singular or uniform response, but is shaped through intersecting configurations of class and age. The article challenges universalist assumptions about men’s health behaviours and contributes to a nuanced understanding of how masculinity is lived in the context of chronic illness.
Limited research explores the role taken by men in preventing pregnancy within their relationships. We conducted 15 qualitative semi-structured online or telephone interviews with childless heterosexual men aged 18–30 and living in Australia. Data were thematically analysed. All men reported pregnancy prevention as a shared responsibility and took steps to achieve this reproductive goal. Men’s involvement in the use of female-controlled contraceptives was seen as complex and in conflict with respecting women’s bodily autonomy. Men’s role in pregnancy prevention was also shaped by social norms, stigma, and cultural factors. Education programs about pregnancy prevention and contraception for men should reflect the complexity of navigating this within heterosexual relationships.
This study examines 10 men’s experiences with unintended pregnancies—an underexplored topic in Norway, where gender equality and involved fatherhood are culturally emphasised. The men were interviewed shortly after learning about the pregnancy and again after a decision was made. Data were analysed using reflexive thematic analysis. The findings show that men experience unintended pregnancies with great emotional complexity, prompting reflection on values, life goals and consequences. Their experiences are shaped by partner relationships and social expectations regarding masculinity and fatherhood. Irrespective of the outcome, men need time to adjust emotionally. When pregnancies continue, men seek inclusion in prenatal care. This study highlights the need for inclusive sexual and reproductive health services that address men’s emotional and informational needs, including tailored counselling.
Prior research has shown that endorsement of traditional masculine ideologies (TMI) contributes to men’s restrictive emotionality, often conceptualized as normative male alexithymia. Among fathers, greater endorsement of TMI has been associated with decreased endorsement of nurturing role beliefs and reduced emotional engagement with children. However, the quality of fathers’ emotional responses to children’s distress remains underexplored. The present study therefore examined whether fathers’ endorsement of TMI is associated with their use of expressive encouragement (EE) in response to children’s negative emotions, a response characterized by validation and support of emotional expression. It was hypothesized that greater endorsement of TMI would be associated with lower EE, indirectly through decreased nurturing role beliefs and increased normative male alexithymia. Using self-report and vignette-based measures, findings partially supported the proposed model, with an indirect effect through nurturing role beliefs but not normative male alexithymia.
Masculinity varies across social and cultural contexts. Although hegemonic masculinity is often considered the dominant form, contemporary studies highlight the existence of multiple masculinities. This study examines princess masculinity/boys , men criticized for displaying sensitivity, sharing expenses, or expecting care in romantic relationships, inspired by TikTok trend In This Generation Men Wanna Be Treated Like a Princess . Using content analysis of TikTok videos, the findings show that men who don’t align with traditional masculine ideals are labeled and disparaged as princesses . However, these behaviors also reflect a desire for emotional reciprocity and mutual support. To avoid stigmatizing labels, this study proposes conceptualizing princess boys as sharing masculinity , highlighting their potential to challenge hegemonic norms and expand understandings of masculine identities.
Mental health disparities among young Black men aged 18 to 25 have reached crisis levels in the United States, evidenced by a 47% increase in suicide rates between 2010 and 2020 and persistent underutilization of mental health services. Existing theoretical frameworks remain inadequate, as traditional approaches treat race, gender, and age as separate risk factors, failing to capture how multiple forms of marginalization intersect to create distinct patterns of risk and service disengagement. This conceptual review proposes a four-dimensional intersectional framework integrating gendered racism, masculinized health stigma, anti-Black misandry, and delayed adulthood, four mutually reinforcing forces operating synergistically during the critical period of emerging adulthood, offering clinicians, researchers, and policymakers a comprehensive model for understanding and addressing mental health disparities affecting young Black men.
This article presents a scoping review of academic literature discussing men and masculinities in the context of both digital and analog gaming. Through our qualitative and quantitative exploration of 422 works published between 1973 and 2024, we identify the empirical and theoretical basis for our understanding of men and masculinities in gaming and point out gaps in the current literature. We note four key issues for further consideration: a proliferation of masculinity types, a strong presence of hegemonic masculinity theory, research not connecting to existing men’s studies work, and a relatively limited body of work on men’s gendered experiences. We discuss the implications of our findings for our understanding of gendered gaming culture.
Incels, short for “involuntary celibates”, are individuals unable to form romantic or sexual relationships, despite desire to. This study aims to understand the trajectories of Portuguese men into inceldom, providing insights into their experiences, subjectivities and agency. Drawing on nine semistructured interviews with former and current incels, aged 19–28, a reflexive thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2021) was employed and three key themes emerged: Being a Man, Being an Incel and Coping with it. Particularly, feelings of inadequacy for not achieving dominant ideals of masculinity lead them to the incel identity. In turn, participants deal with the deleterious effects of inceldom on their well-being and some chose to disengage from incel identity, underscoring their reflexivity and agency.
The word Odogwu has gained significant popularity in contemporary Nigerian discourse, particularly due to its pervasive circulation within the nation’s eclectic and creative popular culture. Upon this widespread recognition, this study theorizes and examines the construction and performance of Odogwu masculinities within Nigerian popular culture, focusing specifically on music and Nollywood as key sites of gendered identity construction. Rooted in traditional Igbo concepts of valor, leadership, and resilience, the Odogwu figure has been (re)configured in urban Nigeria. Employing a qualitative, multi-method approach through a detailed lyrical and visual semiotic analysis of Burna Boy’s hit song “Odogwu” (2020) complemented by a close reading and visual analysis of the Nollywood film Love in Every Word (2025), the study posits core traits such as economic power, social recognition, cultural legitimacy, and performative visibility defining Odogwu masculinities, further arguing that the performance of Odogwuness is diverse, reflecting varied enactments and not a “monolithic” ideal.
Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) has the worst maternal and newborn health outcomes, especially in rural areas. Men’s antenatal care (ANC) participation is often promoted to improve these outcomes, yet little is known about theories or frameworks guiding research on these issues. This scoping review aimed to identify, categorize, and critically examine theories and frameworks used in research on fatherhood and men’s ANC participation in rural SSA. Following Arksey and O’Malley’s methodology, we included 23 studies from 15 countries that applied a theory or framework and systematically analyzed data. Findings highlighted growing focus on complexities around fatherhood and men’s participation, though gaps in theory, framing, scope, and cultural relevance remain. Most studies emphasized biomedical participation and Western gender frameworks, overlooking African indigenous care practices, epistemologies, and diverse fatherhood experiences. No study used explicitly Afrocentric frameworks. Policy, practice, and research could benefit from Afrocentric and indigenous perspectives to better align with local realities.
Critical Studies on Men and Masculinities (CSMM) has developed as a field through its engagements with four enduring preoccupations: (1) how do men and masculinities come into being; (2) how do men and masculinities sustain patriarchal social arrangements; (3) how might they transform to engender feminist social change; and—at a metatheoretical level—(4) how does CSMM as a knowledge system understand these processes of masculine becoming? The aim of this article is to outline how social anthropological insights on morality and ethics can advance responses to these basal questions that continue to guide CSMM. It argues that the anthropology of morality and ethics can enable CSMM to analyse how the production of masculinities is bound up with subjects’ actions and judgements with respect to moral criteria. Drawing on anthropological theorizations of morality and ethics in relation to social reproduction and agency, this article proposes an analytical framework that opens up two modes in which morality and ethics come to matter for the study of masculinities: as attachment to existing social structures, and as doubt which creates a margin of freedom for change.
This paper discusses Order of Man ( OoM ), a thrice-weekly podcast and “digital brotherhood” of men aspiring to “become better in every area of their lives,” as a case study for theorizing masculine practices of “care of the self” in the realm of digital audio content. Conducting a discourse analysis that examines several episodes that were released during the first nine months of the COVID-19 pandemic, I consider how the OoM project leverages a predominantly White culture of dispossession and entitlement to articulate a specifically reactionary form of self-care in which self-improvement figures as a means of combatting perceived gender oppression. In particular, I interrogate OoM founder and host Ryan Michler’s concept of sovereign masculinity as a framework for resisting the cultural influence of feminism and of government overreach, and for reinstating patriarchy as a fundamental social good.
The aim of this descriptive and cross-sectional study is to examine the relationship between gender roles and coping skills among male individuals who have experienced an earthquake. The sample of the study consisted of 203 male individuals who experienced the Türkiye earthquake on February 6, 2023. There was a positive and significant relationship between the scores obtained from the Bem Sex-Inventory Index and the Ways of Coping with Stress by the participants who were exposed to the earthquakes ( p < .01). Of the participants, those who used the feminine gender role more used strategies such as self-confident approach, adoption of an optimistic approach and resort to social support more.
This paper explores gendered violence through intricate dynamics of internalised oppression and domination within contexts where anti-genderism has arisen and subsequently exacerbated it. Turkey exemplifies the operation of anti-genderism linked to a majoritarian-authoritarian-securitarian top-down political agenda. Growing discontent against increasing social violence linked to this agenda signals potential for men’s involvement in feminist social justice endeavours against anti-gender politics. However, men may find it challenging to embrace a feminist perspective due to their contentious positionalities regarding power dynamics involving internalised oppression and domination. Drawing on continuum thinking about gendered power relations, the paper reveals complex barriers that prevent men from cultivating alternative, empowering political-ethical imaginations. For men to engage in feminist social justice struggles against anti-genderism, they initially require reckoning with these power dynamics.
Long dismissed as enfants terribles of family policy debates, fathers’ rights activists have often been portrayed as emotional, antifeminist and epistemically reckless. This article examines how the Norwegian Joint Custody Association, Foreningen 2 Foreldre (F2F), developed and circulated knowledge in the period 1985–1997. The article analyses how the leaders of F2F positioned themselves as counter-experts in relation to what I conceptualize as a state-feminist knowledge regime . Drawing on oral history interviews with former activists and archival material, it shows how their engagement with knowledge developed into a sustained critique of local expert authority. Rather than relying on reductive portrayals of fathers’ rights advocates, the article situates F2F within a contested policy terrain. In doing so, it explores what their story can teach us about the shifting boundaries of expertise and gender politics in the Nordic welfare state.
Sexual education in the United States is rich and complex, yet it has centered heterosexual sexual practices with parents and schools playing a critical, and often judgmental role. This study aimed to explore the different ways that gay men learned about their sexual orientation and sexual behaviors, outside the traditional mechanisms. Data from N = 19 one-on-one interviews were analyzed using the iterative procedures associated with inductive qualitative content analysis. Findings showed the use of four major (discussions with friends, internet use, viewing pornography, and conversations with sexual partners), and four minor (viewing media, talking to professionals, discussions with trusted family members, and conversations with social acquaintances) learning mechanisms that helped them learn in detail about their sexual orientation, and sexual behaviors. These mechanisms occurred in two frameworks (in-person and digital media). Ultimately, these avenues facilitated opportunities for open, honest, uninhibited, and judgement free discussions and learning about sexual orientation and sexual behaviors.
This quasi-experimental exploratory research focused on school belonging among early adolescent boys in public schools in Nova Scotia, Canada. GuysWork is a male-specific program that allows participants to critically examine and disrupt harmful masculinity stereotypes. We hypothesized that GuysWork would increase the boys’ sense of school belonging. We observed that most boys who participated in GuysWork reported a small, but statistically significant increase in their sense of school belonging after the initial year of recruitment. Early evidence suggests that programs like GuysWork offer a protective effect against decreasing school engagement over time.
This systematic review synthesized findings from 15 articles that report barriers and/or facilitators to/of adult men’s formal health-related help-seeking for eating and/or body image psychopathology (EBIP). A convergent integrated approach was used to summarize studies into eight synthesized findings (SF; six barriers, two facilitators). Barrier SFs are located at individual (e.g., viewing EBIP as a “women’s illness”), cultural (e.g., lacking knowledge of men’s EBIP), and organizational (e.g., lack of male-inclusive healthcare systems) levels. Facilitator SFs were found mostly at individual (e.g., recognition of the issue following critical life events) and cultural/social (e.g., family/peer interventions) levels. This review highlights concerns within EBIP and men’s help-seeking literature, and suggests issues with the available support for men experiencing EBIP.
This article explores men’s attitudes towards care work and authority through interviews with 21 married Muslim men in Malaysia who work full-time and are/were stay-at-home husbands or stay-at-home fathers (SAHFs). This study finds that both groups of men embrace caring masculinities but also masculinize care. The way they reconcile both models of care is influenced by how they understand Islamic discourse. SAHFs generally interpreted Islam to mean that care work and their role did not detract from their sense of masculinity. Interpretations of Islam affirmed a negative relationship between unemployment and a sense of masculinity for men working full-time. This article seeks to expand the geographic scope of Western masculinity theory by exploring how religion influences men’s attitudes towards alternative gender roles in a Muslim-majority setting.
In the wake of the US feminist second-wave, a Men’s Liberation movement emerged as an ally to liberal feminism but soon fractured over its relationship to feminism, leading to the rise of the antifeminist Men’s Rights movement. Through analysis of primary sources, media accounts, academic sources, and an interview with the movement’s chief activist, this paper reviews the ideology of 1970s Men’s Liberation, as well as its demographics, key figures, and organizations. It identifies reasons for the schism in the late 1970s and reflects on explanations for its short lifespan and failure, such as ideological shortcomings, organizational weakness, and motivational incoherence. Lastly, new research avenues are suggested, including archival work, fieldwork, transnational analysis, and exploration of its contemporary legacy.
