Masculinity

File:Lewis Hine Power house mechanic working on steam pump.jpg's photo of a power house mechanic working on a steam pump]]

Standards of manliness or masculinity vary across different cultures, subcultures, ethnic groups and historical periods.{{cite book |editor1-last=Kimmel |editor1-first=Michael S. |editor2-last=Aronson |editor2-first=Amy |title=Men and Masculinities: A Social, Cultural, and Historical Encyclopedia, Volume 1 |date=2004 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |location=Santa Barbara, Calif. |isbn=978-1-57-607774-0 |page=xxiii |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jWj5OBvTh1IC&q=%22meanings+of+manhood+vary%22 |access-date=17 January 2018 |archive-date=19 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230119212151/https://books.google.com/books?id=jWj5OBvTh1IC&q=%22meanings+of+manhood+vary%22 |url-status=live}} Traits traditionally viewed as masculine in Western society include strength, courage, independence, leadership, dominance, and assertiveness.{{Cite book |chapter-url=http://sk.sagepub.com/books/theorizing-masculinities/n7.xml |title=Theorizing Masculinities |last=Kimmel |first=Michael S. |date=1994 |publisher=SAGE Publications, Inc. |location=Thousand Oaks |pages=[https://archive.org/details/theorizingmascul00brod/page/119 119–141] |chapter=Masculinity as Homophobia: Fear, Shame, and Silence in the Construction of Gender Identity |doi=10.4135/9781452243627 |isbn=9780803949041 |url=https://archive.org/details/theorizingmascul00brod/page/119}}{{cite book |last=Vetterling-Braggin |first=Mary |chapter=Introduction |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SVBpAAAAIAAJ |title="Femininity", "masculinity", and "androgyny": a modern philosophical discussion |page=[https://archive.org/details/femininitymascul0000unse/page/6 6] |publisher=Littlefield, Adams |location=Totowa, N.J |year=1982 |isbn=9780822603993 |quote=the [personality] theorist might classify a person as "masculine" if the person thought that person to have any or all of the following P-traits [personality traits] - GROUP Y TRAITS: strength of will, ambition, courage, independence, assertiveness, aggressiveness, ... |url=https://archive.org/details/femininitymascul0000unse/page/6}}{{cite book |last=Carli |first=Linda L. |chapter=Assertiveness |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7SXhBdqejgYC&pg=PA157 |editor-last=Worell |editor-first=Judith |title=Encyclopedia of women and gender: sex similarities and differences and the impact of society on gender, Volume 1 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofwo0000unse_g9b9/page/157 157–168] |publisher=Academic Press |location=San Diego, California |year=2001 |isbn=9780122272462 |url=https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofwo0000unse_g9b9/page/157}}Thomas, R. Murray (2001), "[https://books.google.com/books?id=-RxIUDYIuiIC&pg=PT248 Feminist perspectives]", in {{cite book |editor-last=Thomas |editor-first=R. Murray |title=Recent theories of human development |page=248 |publisher=SAGE |location=Thousand Oaks, California |isbn=9780761922476 |quote=Gender feminists also consider traditional feminine traits (gentleness, modesty, humility, sacrifice, supportiveness, empathy, compassion, tenderness, nurturance, intuitiveness, sensitivity, unselfishness) morally superior to the traditional masculine traits (courage, strong will, ambition, independence, assertiveness, initiative, rationality and emotional control). |year=2001}}{{Cite book |last=Bourdieu |first=Pierre |url=https://www.worldcat.org/title/ocm46987071 |title=Masculine domination |date=2001 |publisher=Stanford University Press |isbn=978-0-8047-3818-7 |location=Stanford, Calif |oclc=ocm46987071}} When women's labor participation increased, there were men who felt less comfortable in their masculinity because it was increasingly difficult for them to reconfirm their status as the breadwinner.{{Cite journal |last=Pearson |first=Ruth |date=December 2000 |title=All Change? Men, Women and Reproductive Work in the Global Economy |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09578810008426773 |journal=The European Journal of Development Research |volume=12 |issue=2 |pages=219–237 |doi=10.1080/09578810008426773 |s2cid=153869428 |issn=0957-8811|url-access=subscription }}

The academic study of masculinity received increased attention during the late 1980s and early 1990s, with the number of courses on the subject in the United States rising from 30 to over 300.{{cite thesis |degree=PhD |last=Bradley |first=Rolla M. |date=2008 |title=Masculinity and self perception of men identified as informal leaders |publisher=University of the Incarnate Word |url=https://athenaeum.uiw.edu/uiw_etds/190/ |oclc=1004500685 |access-date=18 November 2017 |archive-date=4 August 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200804033518/https://athenaeum.uiw.edu/uiw_etds/190/ |url-status=live}} [https://www.proquest.com/openview/bb91cf3b301335a7d97da0d80aed98a6/ View online preview.] This has sparked investigation of the intersection of masculinity with concepts from other fields, such as the social construction of gender difference{{cite book |last=Flood |first=Michael |author-link=Michael Flood |title=International encyclopedia of men and masculinities |page=viii |publisher=Routledge |location=London New York |year=2007 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EUON2SYps-QC |isbn=9780415333436}} (prevalent in a number of philosophical and sociological theories).

People regardless of biological sex may exhibit masculine traits and behavior. Those exhibiting both masculine and feminine characteristics are considered androgynous, and feminist philosophers have argued that gender ambiguity may blur gender classification.{{cite book |last=Butler |first=Judith |author-link=Judith Butler |title=Gender trouble: feminism and the subversion of identity |publisher=Routledge |location=New York London |year=2006 |orig-year=1990 |isbn=9780415389556 |title-link=Gender Trouble}}{{Cite journal |last=Laurie |first=Timothy |title=The ethics of nobody I know: gender and the politics of description |journal=Qualitative Research Journal |volume=14 |issue=1 |pages=64–78 |doi=10.1108/QRJ-03-2014-0011 |date=2014 |hdl=10453/44221 |url=https://opus.lib.uts.edu.au/bitstream/10453/44221/3/B45EF505-46B2-4F9E-B67A-3926FC103C62%20.pdf |hdl-access=free |access-date=24 September 2019 |archive-date=20 October 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181020072238/https://opus.lib.uts.edu.au/bitstream/10453/44221/3/B45EF505-46B2-4F9E-B67A-3926FC103C62 |url-status=live}} [https://www.academia.edu/6262250 Pdf.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221224201535/https://www.academia.edu/6262250/The_Ethics_of_Nobody_I_Know_Gender_and_the_Politics_of_Description |date=24 December 2022 }}

The concept of masculinity varies historically and culturally.{{cite book |last=Reeser |first=Todd W. |title=Masculinities in theory: an introduction |publisher=Wiley-Blackwell |location=Malden, Massachusetts |year=2010 |isbn=978-1-4051-6859-5 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YMnn8Zf0heoC}}{{rp|1–3}} Since what constitutes masculinity has varied by time and place, according to Raewyn Connell, it is more appropriate to discuss "masculinities" than a single overarching concept.{{rp|185}}

File:Odysseus sehnt sich nach Ithaka (Tischbein).jpg, hero of the Odyssey]]

Ancient literature dates back to about 3000 BC, with explicit expectations for men in the form of laws and implied masculine ideals in myths of gods and heroes. According to the Code of Hammurabi (about 1750 BC):

• Rule 3: "If any one bring an accusation of any crime before the elders, and does not prove what he has charged, he shall, if it be a capital offense charged, be put to death."
• Rule 128: "If a man takes a woman to wife, but has no intercourse with her, this woman is no wife to him."{{cite book |last=Hammurabi |author-link=Hammurabi |others=L.W. King (translator) |editor-last=Hooker |editor-first=Richard |title=The Code of Hammurabi |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110514033802/http://www.wsu.edu/~dee/MESO/CODE.HTM |archive-date=14 May 2011 |url=http://www.wsu.edu/~dee/MESO/CODE.HTM |year=1910}}

In the Hebrew Bible of 1000 BC, when King David of Israel drew near to death, he told his son Solomon: "I go the way of all the earth: be thou strong therefore, and shew thyself a man".{{Cite web |title=Bible Gateway passage: 1 Kings 2:2 – King James Version |url=https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+Kings+2:2&version=KJV |website=biblegateway.com |publisher=Bible Gateway |access-date=29 September 2017 |archive-date=3 August 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200803184517/https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+Kings+2:2&version=KJV |url-status=live}}

In his book Germania (98 AD), Tacitus stated that the men from the ancient Germanic tribes fought aggressively in battle to protect their women from capture by the enemy.{{Cite web |url=https://www.unrv.com/tacitus/tacitusgermania.php |title=Tacitus – Germania {{!}} UNRV.com |website=www.unrv.com |access-date=4 November 2019 |archive-date=11 November 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201111232000/https://www.unrv.com/tacitus/tacitusgermania.php |url-status=live}}{{Cite web |url=https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/source/tacitus1.asp |title=Internet History Sourcebooks Project |website=sourcebooks.fordham.edu |access-date=4 November 2019 |archive-date=10 December 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201210083445/https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/source/tacitus1.asp |url-status=live}}{{Cite book |url=https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Germania_%28Church_%26_Brodribb%29 |title=The Origin and Situation of the Germans |last=Tacitus |access-date=4 November 2019 |archive-date=3 August 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200803191322/https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Germania_%28Church_%26_Brodribb%29 |url-status=live}}

"It stands on record that armies already wavering and on the point of collapse have been rallied by the women, pleading heroically with their men, thrusting forward their bared bosoms, and making them realize the imminent prospect of enslavement – a fate which the Germans fear more desperately for their women than for themselves." -Tacitus (Germania){{Cite web |url=https://facultystaff.richmond.edu/~wstevens/history331texts/barbarians.html |title=Tacitus' Germania |website=facultystaff.richmond.edu |access-date=2019-11-04 |archive-date=28 November 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201128072818/https://facultystaff.richmond.edu/~wstevens/history331texts/barbarians.html |url-status=live}}

File:Beowulf and the dragon.jpg fighting the dragon]]

Jeffrey Richards describes a European "medieval masculinity which was essentially Christian and chivalric," which included concepts like courage, respect for women of all classes and generosity.{{cite journal |last=Richards |first=Jeffrey |date=1999 |title=From Christianity to Paganism: The New Middle Ages and the Values of 'Medieval' Masculinity |journal=Cultural Values |volume=3 |issue=2 |pages=213–234 |doi=10.1080/14797589909367162}} According to David Rosen, the traditional view of scholars (such as J. R. R. Tolkien) that Beowulf is a tale of medieval heroism overlooks the similarities between Beowulf and the monster Grendel. The masculinity exemplified by Beowulf "cut[s] men off from women, other men, passion and the household".Rosen, David (1993), "[https://books.google.com/books?id=pXgBaWrB4OYC&pg=PA11 The armor of the man-monster in Beowulf] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230404105549/https://books.google.com/books?id=pXgBaWrB4OYC&pg=PA11 |date=4 April 2023 }}", in {{cite book |editor-last=Rosen |editor-first=David |title=The changing fictions of masculinity |publisher=University of Illinois Press |location=Urbana |page=11 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pXgBaWrB4OYC |isbn=9780252063091 |year=1993}}

In Arab culture, Hatim al-Tai is known to be a model of Arab manliness.{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aWaKYEDfjXwC&dq=hatim+means+crow&pg=PA789 |title=The Arabian Nights: Tales from a Thousand and One Nights |date=26 August 2009 |publisher=Random House Publishing |isbn=9780307417015 |access-date=21 September 2022 |archive-date=23 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230123063952/https://books.google.com/books?id=aWaKYEDfjXwC&dq=hatim+means+crow&pg=PA789 |url-status=live}} It is said that he used to give away everything he possessed except for his mount and weapons.{{Cite encyclopedia |title=ḤĀTEM ṬĀʾI |encyclopedia=Encyclopaedia Iranica |url=https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/hatem-tai |issn=2330-4804 |access-date=15 May 2023 |archive-date=14 May 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230514120434/https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/hatem-tai |url-status=live}}

During the Victorian era, masculinity underwent a transformation from traditional heroism. Scottish philosopher Thomas Carlyle wrote in 1831: "The old ideal of Manhood has grown obsolete, and the new is still invisible to us, and we grope after it in darkness, one clutching this phantom, another that; Werterism, Byronism, even Brummelism, each has its day".{{cite book |last=Adams |first=James Eli |chapter=Introduction |editor-last=Adams |editor-first=James Eli |title=Dandies and desert saints: styles of Victorian masculinity |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/dandiesdesertsai00adam/page/1 |chapter-url-access=registration |page=1 |publisher=Cornell University Press |location=Ithaca, N.Y. |isbn=9780801482083 |date=1995}}

Boxing was professionalized in America and Europe in the 19th century; it emphasized the physical and confrontational aspects of masculinity.Christopher David Thrasher, Fight Sports and American Masculinity: Salvation in Violence from 1607 to the Present (2015). Bare-knuckle boxing without gloves represented "the manly art" in 19th-century America.Elliott J. Gorn, The Manly Art: Bare-Knuckle Prize Fighting in America (1986).

At the beginning of the 20th century, most families in the western world consisted of a father working outside the home as breadwinner and a mother as working homemaker in the home, often working together to raise children and/or taking care of elderly family members.{{citation needed|date=July 2023}} The roles were often divided quite sharply between providing resources (considered masculine) and maintenance and redistribution of resources (considered feminine).{{citation needed|date=July 2023}} Despite women's increasing participation in the paid labor force and contributions to family income, men's identities remained centered on their working lives and specifically their economic contributions.{{clarify|date=October 2019}} In 1963, social theorist Erving Goffman's seminal work on stigma management presented a list of traits prescribed as categorically masculine for American men:

In an important sense there is only one complete unblushing male in America: a young, married, white, urban, northern, heterosexual Protestant father of college education, fully employed, of good complexion, weight and height, and a recent record in sports.Goffman, Erving. 1963. Stigma: Notes On The Management Of Spoiled Identity. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall.^:128

Writing in 1974, R. Gould asserted that the provider role was central to adult men's identities, as masculinity is often measured by the size of a man's economic contribution to the family.Gould, R. 1974. Measuring masculinity by the size of a paycheck. In: J. Pleck & J. Sawyer (Eds.) Men and masculinity (pp. 96 – 100). Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall. Masculinity is also associated with denying characteristics associated with women.Pascoe, C. J. (2012). Dude, you're a fag : masculinity and sexuality in high school. Berkeley: University of California Press. Overwhelmingly, the construction of masculinity most valued in the latter part of the 20th century and the early 21st century is one that is independent, sexually assertive, and athletic, among other normative markers of manhood.{{cite journal |last1=Pappas |first1=Nick T. |last2=McKenry |first2=Patrick C. |last3=Skilken Catlett |first3=Beth |year=2004 |title=Athlete Aggression on the Rink and off the Ice Athlete Violence and Aggression in Hockey and Interpersonal Relationships |journal=Men and Masculinities |volume=6 |pages=291–312 |doi=10.1177/1097184x03257433 |s2cid=146594647}}{{cite journal |last1=Grazian |first1=David |year=2007 |title=The Girl Hunt: Urban Nightlife and the Performance of Masculinity as Collective Activity |journal=Symbolic Interaction |volume=30 |issue=2 |pages=221–243 |doi=10.1525/si.2007.30.2.221}}{{dubious|date=October 2019}} There is some evidence of this construction developing slightly however. A 2008 study showed that men frequently rank good health, a harmonious family life and a good relationship with their spouse or partner as more important to their quality of life than physical attractiveness and success with women.{{cite press release |date=26 August 2008 |title=Research and insights from Indiana University |url=http://newsinfo.iu.edu/tips/page/normal/8690.html |publisher=Indiana University |access-date=13 March 2017 |archive-date=26 August 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170826180211/http://newsinfo.iu.edu/tips/page/normal/8690.html |url-status=live}}

• See also: {{Cite journal |last1=Sand |first1=Michael S. |last2=Fisher |first2=William |last3=Rosen |first3=Raymond |last4=Heiman |first4=Julia |last5=Eardley |first5=Ian |title=Erectile dysfunction and constructs of masculinity and quality of life in the multinational Men's Attitudes to Life Events and Sexuality (MALES) study |journal=The Journal of Sexual Medicine |volume=5 |issue=3 |pages=583–594 |doi=10.1111/j.1743-6109.2007.00720.x |pmid=18221291 |date=March 2008 |citeseerx=10.1.1.183.9867}} The advent of social media has been associated with the ability to form emotional and supportive relationships with others.{{Cite journal |last1=McKenzie |first1=Sarah K. |last2=Collings |first2=Sunny |last3=Jenkin |first3=Gabrielle |last4=River |first4=Jo |date=September 2018 |title=Masculinity, Social Connectedness, and Mental Health: Men's Diverse Patterns of Practice |journal=American Journal of Men's Health |language=en |volume=12 |issue=5 |pages=1247–1261 |doi=10.1177/1557988318772732 |issn=1557-9883 |pmc=6142169 |pmid=29708008}}

File:PalmercarpenterA.jpg of a construction worker]]

{{main|Nature versus nurture}}

Scholars have debated the extent to which gender identity and gender-specific behaviors are due to socialization versus biological factors.{{cite book |last=Wharton |first=Amy S. |title=The Sociology of Gender: An Introduction to Theory and Research |date=2005 |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |isbn=978-1-40-514343-1 |pages=29–31 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SOTqzUeqmNMC&q=%22+biological+or+genetic+contributions%22 |access-date=15 May 2020 |archive-date=19 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230119211640/https://books.google.com/books?id=SOTqzUeqmNMC&q=%22+biological+or+genetic+contributions%22 |url-status=live}}{{rp|29}}{{cite book |last=van den Wijngaard |first=Marianne |title=Reinventing the Sexes: The Biomedical Construction of Femininity and Masculinity |publisher=Indiana University Press |year=1997 |isbn=0-253-21087-9 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Dn5cI9BHbKgC&pg=PA1 |page=1}}{{cite book |editor-last1=Kalbfleisch |editor-first1=Pamela J. |editor-last2=Cody |editor-first2=Michael J. |title=Gender, power, and communication in human relationships |publisher=Psychology Press |chapter=Gender and Power |last1=Pearson |first1=Judy C. |last2=Cooks |first2=Leda |year=1995 |page=333 |access-date=3 June 2011 |isbn=0-8058-1404-3 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=up1SCh52NP8C&pg=PA333}}{{Dead link|date=August 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} Social and biological influences are thought to be mutually interacting during development.{{r|Wharton}}{{rp|29}}{{rp|218–225}} Studies of prenatal androgen exposure have provided some evidence that femininity and masculinity are partly biologically determined.{{cite book |last1=Martin |first1=Hale |last2=Finn |first2=Stephen E. |title=Masculinity and Femininity in the MMPI-2 and MMPI-A |date=2010 |publisher=University of Minnesota Press |isbn=978-0-8166-2444-7 |pages=5–13 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5KLPlmr9T7MC&q=%22what+masculinity+and+femininity+are%22 |access-date=15 May 2020 |archive-date=19 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230119211639/https://books.google.com/books?id=5KLPlmr9T7MC&q=%22what+masculinity+and+femininity+are%22 |url-status=live}}{{rp|8–9}}{{cite book |last1=Lippa |first1=Richard A. |title=Gender, Nature, and Nurture |date=2005 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=9781135604257 |edition=2nd |pages=153–154, 218–225 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=R6OPAgAAQBAJ&q=%22biology+contributes%22+%22masculinity+and+femininity%22 |access-date=15 May 2020 |archive-date=19 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230119211640/https://books.google.com/books?id=R6OPAgAAQBAJ&q=%22biology+contributes%22+%22masculinity+and+femininity%22 |url-status=live}}{{rp|153–154}} Other possible biological influences include evolution, genetics, epigenetics, and hormones (both during development and in adulthood).{{r|Wharton}}{{rp|29–31}}{{rp|7–13}}{{rp|153–154}} Scholars suggest that innate differences between the sexes are compounded or exaggerated by the influences of social factors.Fausto-Sterling, Anne. 2014. "Where Does Gender Come From?" Footnote. http://footnote.co/where-does-gender-come-from/ {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201108133351/https://footnote.co/where-does-gender-come-from/ |date=8 November 2020 }}Wharton, Amy S. 2012. The Sociology of Gender, second edition. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley-Blackwell.Birke, Lynda. 1992. "Transforming biology." Pp. 66–77 in Knowing Women: Feminism and Knowledge. Ed. by H. Crowley and S. Himmelweit. Polity/Open University. However, others have pointed to the fact that personality differences between the sexes are seen to increase with increased levels of egalitarianism.{{cite journal |last1=Falk |first1=Armin |last2=Hermle |first2=Johannes |title=Relationship of gender differences in preferences to economic development and gender equality |journal=Science |date=19 October 2018 |volume=362 |issue=6412 |pages=eaas9899 |doi=10.1126/science.aas9899 |pmid=30337384 |s2cid=53012633 |doi-access=free |hdl=10419/193353 |hdl-access=free}}

Across cultures, characteristics of masculinity are similar in essence but varying in detail, another shared pattern is that non-typical behavior of one's sex or gender may be viewed as a social problem. In sociology, this labeling is known as gender assumptions and is part of socialization to meet the mores of a society. Non-standard behavior may be considered indicative of homosexuality, despite the fact that gender expression, gender identity and sexual orientation are widely accepted as distinct concepts.{{cite web |title=Gender identity and expression issues at colleges and universities |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140323020027/http://www.nacua.org/nacuanet/visual/nacuanotessample.html |archive-date=23 March 2014 |url=http://www.nacua.org/nacuanet/visual/nacuanotessample.html |date=2 June 2005 |access-date=2 April 2007 |work=National Association of College and University Attorneys NACUAN}}{{When|date=February 2018}}{{Where|date=February 2018}} When sexuality is defined in terms of object choice (as in early sexology studies), male homosexuality may be interpreted as effeminacy.{{cite news |agency=Associated Press |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081211035529/http://www.advocate.com/news_detail_ektid28980.asp |archive-date=11 December 2008 |url=http://www.advocate.com/news_detail_ektid28980.asp |title=Chrysler TV ad criticized for using gay stereotypes |work=The Advocate |publisher=Here Press |date=7 April 2006 |access-date=7 April 2007}} Machismo is a form of masculinity that emphasizes power and is often associated with a disregard for consequences and responsibility.{{cite web |title=Machismo (exaggerated masculinity) – Encyclopædia Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/1381820/machismo |publisher=Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. |edition=online |access-date=6 March 2015 |archive-date=26 March 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150326185909/http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/1381820/machismo |url-status=live}}

Some believe that masculinity is linked to the male body; in this view, masculinity is associated with male genitalia.{{rp|3}} Others have suggested that although masculinity may be influenced by biology, it is also a cultural construct.{{rp|3}} Many aspects of masculinity assumed to be natural are linguistically and culturally driven.{{cite journal |last=Mills |first=Sara |title=Third wave feminist linguistics and the analysis of sexism |journal=Discourse Analysis Online |volume=2 |issue=1 |date=2003 |url=http://extra.shu.ac.uk/daol/articles/closed/2003/001/mills2003001-paper.html |access-date=7 March 2015 |archive-date=18 June 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220618171551/https://extra.shu.ac.uk/daol/articles/closed/2003/001/mills2003001-paper.html |url-status=live}} Males were more likely to be depicted in a less humorous way in the evening as opposed to the daytime, whereas females were more likely to be rated in a less humorous way in the daytime as opposed to the evening.Furnham, Adrian, and Virginia Voli. "Gender Stereotypes in Italian Television Advertisements." Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, vol. 33, no. 2, Spring 1989, pp. 175-185. Reeser argues that although the military has a vested interest in constructing and promoting a specific form of masculinity, it does not create it.{{rp|17–21}} Facial hair is linked to masculinity through language, in stories about boys becoming men when they begin to shave.{{rp|30–31}}

Some social scientists conceptualize masculinity (and femininity) as a performance.Butler, Judith (2006) [1990]. Gender trouble: feminism and the subversion of identity. New York London: Routledge.Connell, R.W. (2005). [https://books.google.com/books?id=W8h1h8wa2yQC Masculinities] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231002215327/https://books.google.com/books?id=W8h1h8wa2yQC |date=2 October 2023 }} (2nd ed.). Cambridge: Polity.{{cite journal |last1=West |first1=Candace |last2=Zimmerman |first2=Don H. |year=1987 |title=Doing Gender |journal=Gender & Society |volume=1 |issue=2 |pages=125–151 |doi=10.1177/0891243287001002002 |s2cid=220519301}} Gender performances may not necessarily be intentional and people may not even be aware of the extent to which they are performing gender, as one outcome of lifelong gender socialization is the feeling that one's gender is "natural" or biologically ordained.

Masculine performance varies over the life course, but also from one context to another. For instance, the sports world may elicit more traditionally normative masculinities in participants than would other settings.Messner, Michael A. 1992. Power at Play: Sports and the Problem of Masculinity. Boston: Beacon Press. Men who exhibit a tough and aggressive masculinity on the sports field may display a softer masculinity in familial contexts. Masculinities vary by social class as well. Studies suggest working class constructions of masculinity to be more normative than are those from middle class men and boys.{{cite journal |last1=Morris |first1=Edward W |year=2008 |title='Rednecks,' 'Rutters,' and 'Rithmetic: Social Class, Masculinity, and Schooling in a Rural Context |journal=Gender & Society |volume=22 |issue=6 |pages=728–751 |doi=10.1177/0891243208325163 |s2cid=145602445}}Martin, Karin A. 1996. Puberty, Sexuality, and the Self: Boys and Girls at Adolescence. New York: Routledge. As these contexts and comparisons illustrate, theorists suggest a multiplicity of masculinities, not simply one single construction of masculinity.

Historian Kate Cooper wrote: "Wherever a woman is mentioned a man's character is being judged – and along with it what he stands for."Cooper, Kate (1996), "[https://books.google.com/books?id=QVvn8vUMZdIC&pg=PA19 Private lives, public meanings]", in {{cite book |editor-last=Cooper |editor-first=Kate |title=The virgin and the bride: idealized womanhood in late antiquity |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QVvn8vUMZdIC&pg=PA19 |page=19 |publisher=Harvard University Press |location=Cambridge, Massachusetts |isbn=9780674939509 |year=1999}} Scholars cite integrity and equality as masculine values in male-male relationships.{{Cite journal |last=Bassi |first=Karen |title=Acting like men: gender, drama, and nostalgia in Ancient Greece |journal=Classical Philology |volume=96 |issue=1 |pages=86–92 |doi=10.1086/449528 |date=January 2001}}

{{see also|Effeminacy#Gay men}}

Gay men are considered by some to be "effeminate and deviate from the masculine norm" and are sometimes benevolently stereotyped as "gentle and refined", even by other gay men. According to gay human-rights campaigner Peter Tatchell:

Contrary to the well-intentioned claim that gays are "just the same" as straights, there is a difference. What is more, the distinctive style of gay masculinity is of great social benefit. Wouldn't life be dull without the flair and imagination of queer fashion designers and interior decorators? How could the NHS cope with no gay nurses, or the education system with no gay teachers? Society should thank its lucky stars that not all men turn out straight, macho and insensitive. The different hetero and homo modes of maleness are not, of course, biologically fixed.{{cite news |last1=Tatchell |first1=Peter |author-link=Peter Tatchell |title=What straight men could learn from gay men – a queer kind of masculinity? |work=The Scavenger |url=http://www.thescavenger.net/glbtiq-sp-1239/glbtiq/170-what-straight-men-can-learn-from-gay-men-6789.html |access-date=7 March 2015 |date=January 1999 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160911094535/http://www.thescavenger.net/glbtiq-sp-1239/glbtiq/170-what-straight-men-can-learn-from-gay-men-6789.html |archive-date=September 11, 2016}}

Psychologist Joseph Pleck argues that a hierarchy of masculinity exists largely as a dichotomy of homosexual and heterosexual males: "Our society uses the male heterosexual-homosexual dichotomy as a central symbol for all the rankings of masculinity, for the division on any grounds between males who are "real men" and have power, and males who are not".{{cite web |last=Pleck |first=Joseph |title=Understanding patriarchy and men's power |url=http://nomas.org/understanding-patriarchy-and-mens-power/ |publisher=National Organization for Men Against Sexism (NOMAS) |access-date=11 January 2017 |date=19 August 2012 |archive-date=13 January 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170113111649/http://nomas.org/understanding-patriarchy-and-mens-power/ |url-status=live}} Michael Kimmel adds that the trope "You're so gay" indicates a lack of masculinity, rather than homosexual orientation.{{cite book |last1=Kimmel |first1=Michael S. |last2=Lewis |first2=Summer |author-link1=Michael Kimmel |title=Mars and Venus, Or, Planet Earth?: Women and Men in a New Millenium [sic] |publisher=Kansas State University |year=2004 |oclc=57227710}} According to Pleck, to avoid male oppression of women, themselves and other men, patriarchal structures, institutions and discourse must be eliminated from Western society.

In the documentary The Butch Factor, gay men (one of them transgender) were asked about their views of masculinity. Masculine traits were generally seen as an advantage in and out of the closet, allowing "butch" gay men to conceal their sexual orientation longer while engaged in masculine activities such as sports. Some did not see themselves as effeminate, and felt little connection to gay culture.{{cite web |author1=ifsbutscoconuts |title=The butch factor: masculinity from a gay male perspective (blog) |url=http://ifsbutscoconuts.kinja.com/the-butch-factor-masculinity-from-a-gay-male-perspect-1549893361 |date=23 March 2014 |access-date=6 March 2015 |archive-date=18 November 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171118221934/http://ifsbutscoconuts.kinja.com/the-butch-factor-masculinity-from-a-gay-male-perspect-1549893361 |url-status=dead}} Some effeminate gay men in The Butch Factor felt uncomfortable about their femininity (despite being comfortable with their sexuality),{{cite news |last1=Curry |first1=Tyler |title=The strength in being a feminine gay man |url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tyler-curry/the-strength-in-being-a-feminine-gay-man_b_3896302.html |work=The Huffington Post |date=1 October 2013 |access-date=6 March 2015 |archive-date=19 February 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150219102126/http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tyler-curry/the-strength-in-being-a-feminine-gay-man_b_3896302.html |url-status=live}} and feminine gay men may be derided by stereotypically masculine gays.{{cite web |last1=Jones |first1=Darianna |title=Why do masculine gay guys look down on feminine guys? |url=http://www.queerty.com/why-do-masculine-gay-guys-look-down-on-feminine-guys-20140707 |work=Queerty |date=7 July 2014 |access-date=6 March 2015}}
See also: {{cite web |last1=Jones |first1=Darianna |title=An open letter to gay guys who look down on 'Fem Guys' |url=https://goodmenproject.com/featured-content/open-letter-gay-guys-fem-guys-jvinc/ |work=The Good Men Project |date=9 July 2014 |access-date=6 March 2015 |archive-date=23 March 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150323114932/http://goodmenproject.com/featured-content/open-letter-gay-guys-fem-guys-jvinc/ |url-status=live}}

Feminine-looking men tended to come out earlier after being labeled gay by their peers. More likely to face bullying and harassment throughout their lives, they are taunted by derogatory words (such as "sissy") implying feminine qualities. Effeminate, "campy" gay men sometimes use what John R. Ballew called "camp humor", such as referring to one another by female pronouns (according to Ballew, "a funny way of defusing hate directed toward us [gay men]"); however, such humor "can cause us [gay men] to become confused in relation to how we feel about being men".{{cite web |last1=Ballew |first1=John R. |title=Gay men and masculinity (blog) |url=http://bodymindsoul.org/articles/gay-sexuality/gay-men-and-masculinity/ |website=bodymindsoul.org |date=12 May 2011 |publisher=John R. Ballew |access-date=6 March 2015 |archive-date=2 April 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402132559/http://bodymindsoul.org/articles/gay-sexuality/gay-men-and-masculinity/ |url-status=live}} He further stated:

{{blockquote|[Heterosexual] men are sometimes advised to get in touch with their "inner feminine." Maybe gay men need to get in touch with their "inner masculine" instead. Identifying those aspects of being a man we most value and then cultivate those parts of our selves can lead to a healthier and less distorted sense of our own masculinity.}}

A study by the Center for Theoretical Study at Charles University in Prague and the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic found significant differences in shape among the faces of 66 heterosexual and gay men, with gay men having more "stereotypically masculine" features ("undermin[ing] stereotypical notions of gay men as more feminine looking."){{cite news |last=Saul |first=Heather |title=Gay and straight men may have different facial shapes, new study suggests |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/gay-and-straight-men-may-have-different-facial-shapes-new-study-suggests-8928519.html |access-date=6 March 2015 |work=The Independent |date=8 November 2013 |quote=Their results found that homosexual men were rated as more stereotypically 'masculine' than heterosexual men, which they said undermined stereotypical notions of gay men as more feminine looking. |archive-date=1 March 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150301234838/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/gay-and-straight-men-may-have-different-facial-shapes-new-study-suggests-8928519.html |url-status=live}} However, other studies with larger sample sizes have found that homosexual men were seen as significantly more feminine and less masculine than those of heterosexual men {{cite journal |last=Lyons |first=Minna |title=Detection of sexual orientation ("gaydar") by homosexual and heterosexual women |journal=Archives of Sexual Behavior |url=https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23813041/ |access-date=22 June 2023 |date=2014 |volume=43 |issue=2 |pages=345–352 |doi=10.1007/s10508-013-0144-7 |pmid=23813041 |s2cid=254253005 |quote=... homosexual men were rated as more feminine and less masculine than heterosexual men. |archive-date=22 June 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230622142717/https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23813041/ |url-status=live}} Furthermore, a 2017 study utilized neural networks to see whether artificial intelligence would be able to differentiate accurately between more than 35,000 images of gay and straight faces. The results showed that the "classifier could correctly distinguish between gay and heterosexual men in 81% of cases, and in 71% of cases for women." Supporting the idea that men's faces are perceived as more feminine, analysis suggests that gay men have more "gender-atypical facial morphology, expression and grooming styles".{{cite journal |last=Y. |first=Wang |title=Deep neural networks are more accurate than humans at detecting sexual orientation from facial images. |url=https://psycnet.apa.org/doiLanding?doi=10.1037%2Fpspa0000098 |access-date=22 June 2023 |journal=Journal of Personality and Social Psychology |date=2018 |volume=114 |issue=2 |pages=246–257 |doi=10.1037/pspa0000098 |pmid=29389215 |s2cid=1379347 |quote=... gay men and women tended to have gender-atypical facial morphology, expression, and grooming styles. |archive-date=22 June 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230622142718/https://psycnet.apa.org/doiLanding?doi=10.1037/pspa0000098 |url-status=live}}

Gay men have been presented in the media as feminine and open to ridicule, although films such as Brokeback Mountain are countering the stereotype. A recent development is the portrayal of gay men in the LGBT community as "bears", a subculture of gay men celebrating rugged masculinity{{Cite news |last= |url=http://www.advocate.com/comedy/2014/04/17/tbt-when-advocate-invented-bears |title=When The Advocate Invented Bears |work=The Advocate |publisher=Here Media Inc. |date=17 April 2014 |access-date=6 March 2015 |archive-date=18 April 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140418212001/http://www.advocate.com/comedy/2014/04/17/tbt-when-advocate-invented-bears |url-status=live}}{{cite news |last=Mazzei |first=George |title=Who's Who in the Zoo? |work=The Advocate |publisher=Here Media Inc. |pages=42–43 |date=1979}} and "secondary sexual characteristics of the male: facial hair, body hair, proportional size, baldness".Suresha, Ron (2009), "[https://books.google.com/books?id=oWQ1Qe3g5hkC&pg=PA83 Bearness's beautiful big blank: tracing the genome of ursomasculinity. An interview with Jack Fritscher]", in {{cite book |editor-last=Suresha |editor-first=Ron |title=Bears on bears: interviews & discussions |page=83 |publisher=Bear Bones Books |location=New London, Connecticut |isbn=9781590212448 |date=August 2009}}

File:Talk about post-heroic masculinities with Andreas Plackinger, Ulrich Bröckling, Rebecca Heinrich and Thomas Liu Le Lann at E-Werk Freiburg, Germany, 2024..jpg, Germany, 2024{{Cite web |title=Einladung Kurzbeiträge / Diskussion Postheroische Männlichkeiten {{!}} Do 24 October 2024, 19 Uhr |url=https://preview.mailerlite.io/emails/webview/398290/134814209616643732 |access-date=10 November 2024 |website=preview.mailerlite.io}}{{Citation |title=Galerie für Gegenwartskunst {{!}} Postheroische Männlichkeiten {{!}} Kurzbeiträge & Diskussionsrunde |url=https://soundcloud.com/user-18812754/galerie-fur-gegenwartskunst-postheroische-mannlichkeiten-kurzbeitrage-diskussionsrunde?si=7020b4bfeb4b4504bd009e02ff0d958b&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing |access-date=10 November 2024 |language=en}}]]

In the Soft Heroes series, French artist Thomas Liu Le Lann questions concepts of post-heroic masculinity.{{Cite web |title=Soft Heroes |url=https://dda-geneve.ch/fr/artistes/thomas-liu-le-lann/oeuvres/soft-heroes |access-date=10 November 2024 |website=Documents d'artistes Genève |language=fr}} These fabric figures refer to transhuman bodies beyond heteronormativity and question conventional notions of strength and agency.{{Cite web |title=Thomas Liu le Lann & l'écriture du moi / NOVEMBRE GLOBAL |url=https://novembre.global/magazine/thomas-liu-le-lann-and-l-ecriture-du-moi |access-date=10 November 2024 |website=novembre.global |language=en}} The Austrian literary scientist Rebecca Heinrich, her research interests include homosexuality and masculinities in the literary discourse of the 20th and 21st centuries, HIV/AIDS as a theme and motif, hero narratives, literary mediation, performative poetry and literature in the Anthropocene, describes the Soft Heroes as "es", as the trans-human beings are on the edge of formlessness and refuse to be assigned a gender.{{Cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u0AcpNoBhvQ&feature=youtu.be |title=Postheroische Männlichkeiten – Ulrich Bröckling, Rebecca Heinrich, Andreas Plackinger im E-Werk |date=8 November 2024 |last=Art Freiburg |access-date=10 November 2024 |via=YouTube}}{{Cite web |last=Redaktion |date=12 October 2024 |title=Postheroische Männlichkeiten: Kurzbeiträge und Diskussion zu den Ausstellungen Liu Le Lann und Jaime Welsh in der Galerie für Gegenwartskunst im E-Werk |url=https://www.kulturjoker.de/postheroische-maennlichkeiten-kurzbeitraege-und-diskussion-zu-den-ausstellungen-liu-le-lann-und-jaime-welsh-in-der-galerie-fuer-gegenwartskunst-im-e-werk/ |access-date=10 November 2024 |website=Kultur Joker |language=de}}

Second-wave pro-feminism paid greater attention to issues of sexuality, particularly the relationship between homosexual men and hegemonic masculinity. This shift led to increased cooperation between the men's liberation and gay liberation movements developing, in part, because masculinity was understood as a social construct and in response to the universalization of "men" in previous men's movements. Men's rights activists worked to stop second-wave feminists from influencing the gay-rights movement, promoting hypermasculinity as inherent to gay sexuality.{{cite book |last=Jeffreys |first=Sheila |author-link=Sheila Jeffreys |title=Unpacking queer politics: a lesbian feminist perspective |url=https://archive.org/details/unpackingqueerpo00jeff |url-access=registration |publisher=Polity Press |location=Cambridge Malden, Massachusetts |year=2003 |isbn=9780745628387}}

Masculinity has played an important role in lesbian culture,Halberstam, Judith (1998), "[https://books.google.com/books?id=UYAi9OEYRekC&pg=PA119 Lesbian masculinity: even stone butches get the blues] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230405004251/https://books.google.com/books?id=UYAi9OEYRekC&pg=PA119 |date=5 April 2023 }}", in {{cite book |editor-last=Halberstam |editor-first=Judith |title=Female masculinity |url=https://archive.org/details/femalemasculinit00judi |url-access=registration |page=[https://archive.org/details/femalemasculinit00judi/page/119 119] |publisher=Duke University Press |location=Durham, North Carolina |year=1998 |isbn=9780822322436}} although lesbians vary widely in the degree to which they express masculinity and femininity. In LGBT cultures, masculine women are often referred to as "butch".{{cite web |last=Wickens |first=Kathryn |title=Welcome to our Butch-Femme Definitions Page (blog) |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140210184149/http://www.butch-femme.net/butchfemmenetwork_016.htm |archive-date=10 February 2014 |url=http://www.butch-femme.net/butchfemmenetwork_016.htm |publisher=Butch–Femme Network, founded in Massachusetts in 1996 |access-date=11 October 2012}}Hollibaugh, Amber L. (2000), "[https://books.google.com/books?id=41bNbaMuyPoC&pg=PA249 Gender warriors] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230405004258/https://books.google.com/books?id=41bNbaMuyPoC&pg=PA249 |date=5 April 2023 }}", in {{cite book |editor-last=Hollibaugh |editor-first=Amber L. |title=My dangerous desires: a queer girl dreaming her way home |page=[https://archive.org/details/mydangerousdesir00holl/page/249 249] |publisher=Duke University Press |location=Durham, North Carolina |year=2000 |isbn=9780822326250 |url=https://archive.org/details/mydangerousdesir00holl/page/249}}{{cite book |last=Boyd |first=Helen |title=My husband Betty: love, sex, and life with a crossdresser |page=[https://archive.org/details/myhusbandbettylo0000boyd/page/64 64] |publisher=Thunder Mouth Press |location=New York |year=2003 |isbn=9781560255154 |url=https://archive.org/details/myhusbandbettylo0000boyd/page/64}}

{{Main|Hegemonic masculinity}}

Image:USMC-10881.jpg compete in a wrestling match.]]

Traditional avenues for men to gain honor were providing for their families and exercising leadership.{{cite journal |last=George |first=Annie |title=Reinventing honorable masculinity: discourses from a working-class Indian community |journal=Men and Masculinities |volume=9 |issue=1 |pages=35–52 |doi=10.1177/1097184X04270379 |date=July 2006 |s2cid=143440592}} Raewyn Connell has labeled traditional male roles and privileges hegemonic masculinity, encouraged in men and discouraged in women: "Hegemonic masculinity can be defined as the configuration of gender practice which embodies the currently accepted answer to the problem of the legitimacy of patriarchy, which guarantees the dominant position of men and the subordination of women".{{cite book |last=Connell |first=R.W. |author-link=Raewyn Connell |title=Masculinities |date=2005 |edition=2nd |location=Cambridge |publisher=Polity |isbn=9780745634265 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=W8h1h8wa2yQC |access-date=15 May 2020 |archive-date=2 October 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231002215327/https://books.google.com/books?id=W8h1h8wa2yQC |url-status=live}}{{rp|77}} Connell (1987) placed emphasis on heterosexuality and its influence on the construction of gender. From this perspective, there is a dominant (hegemonic) and idealized form of masculinity in every social system and an apotheosized form of femininity that is considered proper for men and women. This idealized form of masculinity (hegemonic masculinity) legitimates and normalizes certain performances of men, and pathologizes, marginalizes, and subordinates any other expressions of masculinities or femininities (masculine and feminine subject positions). Alongside hegemonic masculinity, Connell postulated that there are other forms of masculinities (marginalized and subordinated), which, according to a plethora of studies, are constructed in oppressive ways (Thorne 1993). This is symptomatic of the fact that hegemonic masculinity is relational, which means that it is constructed in relation to and against an Other (emphasized femininity, marginalized and subordinated masculinities).{{cite journal |last1=Kostas |first1=M |year=2018 |title=Snow White in Hellenic primary classrooms: Children's responses to non-traditional gender discourses |journal=Gender and Education |volume=30 |issue=4 |pages=530–548 |doi=10.1080/09540253.2016.1237619 |s2cid=54912000 |url=http://create.canterbury.ac.uk/16529/3/16529_Snow%20White%20in%20the%20Hellenic%20Primary%20Classrooms..pdf |access-date=19 February 2020 |archive-date=3 August 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200803183625/http://create.canterbury.ac.uk/16529/3/16529_Snow%20White%20in%20the%20Hellenic%20Primary%20Classrooms..pdf |url-status=dead}} In addition to describing forceful articulations of violent masculine identities, hegemonic masculinity has also been used to describe implicit, indirect, or coercive forms of gendered socialization, enacted through video games, fashion, humor, and so on.Laurie, Timothy; Hickey-Moody, Anna (2017), "[https://www.academia.edu/31232852/Masculinity_and_Ridicule Masculinity and ridicule] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230404153241/https://www.academia.edu/31232852/Masculinity_and_Ridicule |date=4 April 2023 }}", in {{cite book |editor-last=Papenburg |editor-first=Bettina |title=Gender: laughter |pages=215–228 |publisher=Macmillan Reference |location=Farmington Hills, Michigan |year=2017 |isbn=9780028663265}}

{{see also|Fragile masculinity}}

Researchers have argued that the "precariousness" of manhood contributes to traditionally masculine behavior.{{Cite journal |last1=Bosson |first1=Jennifer K. |last2=Vandello |first2=Joseph A. |title=Precarious manhood and its links to action and aggression |journal=Current Directions in Psychological Science |volume=20 |issue=2 |pages=82–86 |doi=10.1177/0963721411402669 |date=April 2011 |s2cid=42522764}} "Precarious" means that manhood is not inborn, but must be achieved. In many cultures, boys endure painful initiation rituals to become men. Manhood may also be lost, as when a man is derided for not "being a man". Researchers have found that men respond to threats to their manhood by engaging in stereotypically masculine behaviors and beliefs, such as supporting hierarchy, espousing homophobic beliefs, supporting aggression and choosing physical tasks over intellectual ones.{{Cite journal |last1=Vandello |first1=Joseph A. |last2=Bosson |first2=Jennifer K. |last3=Cohen |first3=Dov |last4=Burnaford |first4=Rochelle M. |last5=Weaver |first5=Jonathan R. |title=Precarious manhood |journal=Journal of Personality and Social Psychology |volume=95 |issue=6 |pages=1325–1339 |doi=10.1037/a0012453 |pmid=19025286 |date=December 2008 |s2cid=6800516}}{{primary source inline|date=April 2023}}

In 2014, Winegard and Geary wrote that the precariousness of manhood involves social status (prestige or dominance), and manhood may be more (or less) precarious due to the avenues men have for achieving status.{{Cite journal |last1=Winegard |first1=Bo M. |last2=Winegard |first2=Ben |last3=Geary |first3=David C. |title=Eastwood's brawn and Einstein's brain: an evolutionary account of dominance, prestige, and precarious manhood |journal=Review of General Psychology |volume=18 |issue=1 |pages=34–48 |doi=10.1037/a0036594 |date=March 2014 |s2cid=147382166}}

Intersex people may also express masculine traits and behaviors.{{Cite web |last=Robert |first=Apollo |date=19 November 2024 |title=We're Here: Perspectives from 9 Intersex Men & Mascs |url=https://interactadvocates.org/9-intersex-men-mascs/ |access-date=15 March 2025 |website=interACT: Advocates for Intersex Youth |language=en-US}} Those who were originally assigned 'female' and raised as 'girls', but live in their affirmed gender as men may navigate masculinity with a wide variety of experiences related to their bodies, identities, and lives.{{Citation |last=Kerry |first=Stephen |title=Intersex Men, Masculinities and 'Disabled' Penises |date=2017 |work=Disability and Masculinities |pages=85–101 |editor-last=Loeser |editor-first=Cassandra |url=https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=Jq_HDgAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PA85&ots=i3nsPbuEW8&sig=n9mUqS5y0FwCFnl-apy9YLTERdU#v=onepage&q&f=false |access-date=15 March 2025 |place=London |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan UK |language=en |doi=10.1057/978-1-137-53477-4_4 |isbn=978-1-137-53476-7 |editor2-last=Crowley |editor2-first=Vicki |editor3-last=Pini |editor3-first=Barbara|url-access=subscription }}

File:BrianMichaelGLAAD18.jpg

Transgender people negotiate masculinity in multiple ways.

Trans men share many of the varied experiences of men as a group, but their lives are often informed accordingly to the extent they were socialized as women in their early lives.{{Cite journal |last=Green |first=Jamison |date=2005 |title=Part of the Package: Ideas of Masculinity among Male-Identified Transpeople |url=https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/document?repid=rep1&type=pdf&doi=42f5029c59e37fef251b1da46037b37c0fd5087f |journal=Men and Masculinities |language=en |volume=7 |issue=3 |pages=291–299 |doi=10.1177/1097184X04272116 |issn=1097-184X|url-access=subscription }}{{Cite journal |last=Abelson |first=Miriam J. |date=2014 |title=Dangerous Privilege: Trans Men, Masculinities, and Changing Perceptions of Safety |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/socf.12103 |journal=Sociological Forum |language=en |volume=29 |issue=3 |pages=549–570 |doi=10.1111/socf.12103 |issn=0884-8971|url-access=subscription }} One study in Italy showed that transmasculine individuals have greater emotional control and self-reliance than cisgender men, while cisgender men showed higher affinity for heterosexual self-presentation and endorsement of power over women.{{Cite journal |last=Anzani |first=Annalisa |last2=Decaro |first2=Sofia Pavanello |last3=Prunas |first3=Antonio |date=2023 |title=Trans Masculinity: Comparing Trans Masculine Individuals' and Cisgender Men's Conformity to Hegemonic Masculinity |url=https://boa.unimib.it/retrieve/69247376-14b1-4cbe-8598-7226c04561fa/10281-349399_VoR.pdf |journal=Sexuality Research and Social Policy |language=en |volume=20 |issue=2 |pages=539–547 |doi=10.1007/s13178-021-00677-5 |issn=1868-9884}} Harmful health behaviors such as alcohol and tobacco use may feature in early transition for some trans men in order to access masculinity, but as they are increasingly affirmed in their gender, their reliance on these mechanisms often decreases.{{Cite journal |last=Todd |first=Kieran P. |last2=Thornburgh |first2=Sarah |last3=Pitter |first3=Renee |last4=Gamarel |first4=Kristi E. |last5=Peitzmeier |first5=Sarah |date=2022 |title=Masculine identity development and health behaviors in transmasculine individuals: A theory of gender and health |url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S2667321522001482 |journal=SSM – Qualitative Research in Health |language=en |volume=2 |pages=100186 |doi=10.1016/j.ssmqr.2022.100186|doi-access=free }} Trans men may experience masculinity alongside changes in their perceptions of safety that affect their interactions with other men. When feeling less safe in interactions, they may practice "defensive masculinities" to avoid perceived threats of violence and protect themselves or others. When they feel a sense of respect from other men, they may use "transformative masculinities" to challenge the gender system. Trans men's experiences with masculinity vary widely by culture and setting.{{Cite journal |last=Saeidzadeh |first=Zara |date=2020 |title='Are trans men the manliest of men?' Gender practices, trans masculinity and mardānegī in contemporary Iran |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09589236.2019.1635439 |journal=Journal of Gender Studies |language=en |volume=29 |issue=3 |pages=295–309 |doi=10.1080/09589236.2019.1635439 |doi-access=free |issn=0958-9236}}{{Cite journal |last=Kłonkowska |first=Anna M. |date=2018 |title=Masculinity: Assigned–Reassigned–Socially Constructed: The Social Reception of Trans Masculinity in Poland |url=https://www.academia.edu/download/77847495/09589236.2019.pdf |journal=Men and Masculinities |language=en |volume=21 |issue=2 |pages=210–229 |doi=10.1177/1097184X16658760 |issn=1097-184X}}{{Cite journal |last=Abelson |first=Miriam J. |date=2016 |title='You aren't from around here': race, masculinity, and rural transgender men |journal=Gender, Place & Culture |language=en |volume=23 |issue=11 |pages=1535–1546 |doi=10.1080/0966369X.2016.1219324 |issn=0966-369X |url=https://transreads.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/2019-07-12_5d29182e082c6_racemasculinityandruraltransgendermen.pdf}}

Trans women are most often seeking to avoid being seen as masculine, yet in certain contexts, such as leadership,{{Cite journal |last=Talis |first=Galen J. |date=2024 |title=Transgender and Gender Non-Conforming Leaders and Leadership: A Foundational and Integrative Review |url=https://commons.lib.jmu.edu/letfspubs/243/ |journal=Academy of Management Proceedings |language=en |volume=2024 |issue=1 |doi=10.5465/AMPROC.2024.12100abstract |issn=0065-0668|url-access=subscription }} they may draw on masculine experiences and behaviors from previous socializations.

All transgender people may experience aggression and violence from others due to "masculinity threat,"{{Cite journal |last=Ching |first=Boby Ho-Hong |date=2022 |title=The effect of masculinity threat on transprejudice: Influence of different aspects of masculinity contingent self-worth |journal=Psychology & Sexuality |language=en |volume=13 |issue=3 |pages=550–564 |doi=10.1080/19419899.2021.1883724 |issn=1941-9899}} defined as "any experience that causes the self or others to question one's status as a 'real man'."{{Cite journal |last=Bosson |first=Jennifer K. |last2=Weaver |first2=Jonathan R. |last3=Caswell |first3=T. Andrew |last4=Burnaford |first4=Rochelle M. |date=2012 |title=Gender threats and men's antigay behaviors: The harmful effects of asserting heterosexuality |url=https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/document?repid=rep1&type=pdf&doi=e0044cf4dcf7d205bf0a31ec64ca7e1b6ae8d91f |journal=Group Processes & Intergroup Relations |language=en |volume=15 |issue=4 |pages=471–486 |doi=10.1177/1368430211432893 |issn=1368-4302|url-access=subscription }} When men experience masculinity threat, they may demonstrate aggression toward and derogation of transgender people to "demonstrate how masculine they are themselves."{{Cite journal |last=Konopka |first=Karolina |last2=Rajchert |first2=Joanna |last3=Dominiak-Kochanek |first3=Monika |last4=Roszak |first4=Joanna |date=16 April 2021 |title=The Role of Masculinity Threat in Homonegativity and Transphobia |url= |journal=Journal of Homosexuality |language=en |volume=68 |issue=5 |pages=802–829 |doi=10.1080/00918369.2019.1661728 |issn=0091-8369}}

File:Charmion 1897.jpg]]

Although often ignored in discussions of masculinity, women can also express masculine traits and behaviors.{{cite book |last1=Keith |first1=Thomas |title=Masculinities in contemporary American culture: an intersectional approach to the complexities and challenges of male identity |date=2017 |publisher=Routledge |location=New York |isbn=9781317595342 |pages=4–5 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=r_niDQAAQBAJ&pg=PT4}}{{cite book |last1=Halberstam |first1=Judith |editor-last1=Halberstam |editor-first1=Judith |title=Female Masculinity |date=1998 |publisher=Duke University Press |location=Durham, North Carolina |isbn=9780822322436 |page=[https://archive.org/details/femalemasculinit00judi/page/ xi] |chapter=Preface |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UYAi9OEYRekC&pg=PR11 |url=https://archive.org/details/femalemasculinit00judi/page/}} In Western culture, female masculinity has been codified into identities such as "tomboy" and "butch". Although female masculinity is often associated with lesbianism, expressing masculinity is not necessarily related to a woman's sexuality. In feminist philosophy, female masculinity is often characterized as a type of gender performance which challenges traditional masculinity and male dominance.{{Cite journal |last=Gardiner |first=Judith Kegan |title=Female masculinities: a review essay |journal=Men and Masculinities |volume=11 |issue=5 |pages=622–633 |doi=10.1177/1097184X08328448 |date=December 2009 |s2cid=147357074 |url=https://zenodo.org/record/896773 |access-date=16 September 2019 |archive-date=3 August 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200803220407/https://zenodo.org/record/896773 |url-status=live}}

:Review of: {{cite book |last=Pascoe |first=C.J. |title=Dude, you're a fag: masculinity and sexuality in high school |publisher=University of California Press |location=California |year=2011 |isbn=9781283291927 |title-link=Dude, You're a Fag}}

:and: {{cite book |last=Harris |first=Adrienne |title=Gender as Soft Assembly |publisher=Taylor & Francis |location=Hoboken |year=2004 |isbn=9780203837849}} Zachary A. Kramer argues that the discussion of masculinity should be opened up "to include constructions of masculinity that uniquely affect women."{{cite journal |last=Kramer |first=Zachary A. |title=Three tales of female masculinity |journal=Nevada Law Journal |volume=13 |issue=2 |page=9 |url=http://scholars.law.unlv.edu/nlj/vol13/iss2/9 |date=2013 |access-date=10 December 2017 |archive-date=11 December 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171211053846/http://scholars.law.unlv.edu/nlj/vol13/iss2/9/ |url-status=live}} Masculine women are often subject to social stigma and harassment, although the influence of the feminist movement has led to greater acceptance of women expressing masculinity in recent decades.Girshick, Lori B. (2008), "[https://books.google.com/books?id=eq8E8iuLqIYC&pg=PT48 The social construction of biological facts] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230405004255/https://books.google.com/books?id=eq8E8iuLqIYC&pg=PT48 |date=5 April 2023 }}", in {{cite book |editor-last=Girshick |editor-first=Lori B. |title=Transgender voices: beyond women and men |page=48 |publisher=University Press of New England |location=Hanover, New Hampshire |isbn=9781584656838 |date=April 2009}}

Women who participate in sports, especially male-dominated sports, are sometimes derided as being masculine. Even though most sports emphasize stereotypically masculine qualities, such as strength, competition, and aggression, women who participate in sports are still expected to conform to strictly feminine gender norms. This is known as the "female athlete paradox". Although traditional gender norms are gradually changing, female athletes, especially those that participate in male-dominated sports such as boxing, weight lifting, American football, rugby, ice hockey, and motorsport, are still often viewed as deviating from the boundaries of femininity and may suffer negative repercussions.{{cite news |last1=Paloian |first1=Andrea |title=The Female/Athlete Paradox: Managing Traditional Views of Masculinity and Femininity |url=https://steinhardt.nyu.edu/appsych/opus/issues/2012/fall/female |work=Applied Psychology Opus |publisher=New York University |access-date=21 March 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190216115443/https://steinhardt.nyu.edu/appsych/opus/issues/2012/fall/female |archive-date=16 February 2019 |url-status=dead}}{{cite book |last1=Staurowsky |first1=Ellen J. |title=Women and Sport: Continuing a Journey of Liberation and Celebration |date=2016 |publisher=Human Kinetics |location=Champaign, IL |isbn=978-1450417594 |pages=41–49}}

Women face a similar paradox in the business world, as corporate leadership roles are widely associated with stereotypically masculine characteristics. Women who adopt these characteristics may be more successful, but also more disliked due to not conforming with expected feminine stereotypes.{{cite journal |last1=Kawakami |first1=Christine |last2=White |first2=Judith B. |last3=Langer |first3=Ellen J. |title=Mindful and Masculine: Freeing Women Leaders From the Constraints of Gender Roles |journal=Journal of Social Issues |date=January 2000 |volume=56 |issue=1 |pages=49–63 |doi=10.1111/0022-4537.00151}} According to a study in the UK, women with stereotypically masculine personality traits are more likely to gain access to high-paying occupations than women with feminine personality traits.Drydakis, Nick & Sidiropoulou, Katerina & Patnaik, Swetketu & Selmanovic, Sandra & Bozani, Vasiliki, 2017. "Masculine vs Feminine Personality Traits and Women's Employment Outcomes in Britain: A Field Experiment," GLO Discussion Paper Series 152, Global Labor Organization (GLO). https://ideas.repec.org/p/zbw/glodps/152.html {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180330143506/https://ideas.repec.org/p/zbw/glodps/152.html |date=30 March 2018 }}. According to another study conducted in Germany, women who fit the stereotypical masculine gender role are generally more successful in their careers.{{cite journal |last1=Alewell |first1=Dorothea |title=Be successful – be male and masculine? On the influence of gender roles on objective career success |journal=Evidence-based HRM: A Global Forum for Empirical Scholarship |date=7 October 2013 |volume=1 |issue=2 |pages=147–168 |doi=10.1108/EBHRM-10-2012-0014}}

File:A Soldier Drinks a Pint of Beer on his Return from Afghanistan MOD 45152497.jpg after his return from Afghanistan. Fighting in wars and drinking alcohol are both traditionally masculine activities in many cultures.]]

Evidence points to the negative impact of hegemonic masculinity on men's health-related behavior, with American men making 134.5 million fewer physician visits per year than women. Twenty-five percent of men aged 45 to 60 do not have a personal physician, increasing their risk of death from heart disease. Men between 25 and 65 are four times more likely to die from cardiovascular disease than women, and are more likely to be diagnosed with a terminal illness because of their reluctance to see a doctor. Reasons cited for not seeing a physician include fear, denial, embarrassment, a dislike of situations out of their control and the belief that visiting a doctor is not worth the time or cost.{{Cite journal |last1=Galdas |first1=Paul M. |last2=Cheater |first2=Francine M. |last3=Marshall |first3=Paul |title=Men and health help-seeking behaviour: Literature review |journal=Journal of Advanced Nursing |volume=49 |issue=6 |pages=616–623 |doi=10.1111/j.1365-2648.2004.03331.x |pmid=15737222 |date=March 2005}}

Studies of men in North America and Europe show that men who consume alcoholic drinks often do so in order to fulfill certain social expectations of manliness. While the causes of drinking and alcoholism are complex and varied, gender roles and social expectations have a strong influence encouraging men to drink.{{cite journal |last1=Lemle |first1=Russell |last2=Mishkind |first2=Marc E. |title=Alcohol and masculinity |journal=Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment |date=1989 |volume=6 |issue=4 |pages=213–22 |doi=10.1016/0740-5472(89)90045-7 |pmid=2687480 |doi-access=free}}{{cite book |last1=Berkowitz |first1=Alan D. |editor1-last=Kimmel |editor1-first=Michael S. |editor2-last=Aronson |editor2-first=Amy |editor-link1=Michael Kimmel |editor-link2=Amy Aronson |title=Men and Masculinities: A Social, Cultural, and Historical Encyclopedia: Volume 1 |date=2004 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |location=Santa Barbara |isbn=9781576077740 |pages=17–18 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jWj5OBvTh1IC&q=alcohol&pg=PA17 |chapter=Alcohol}}

In 2004, Arran Stibbe published an analysis of a well-known men's-health magazine in 2000. According to Stibbe, although the magazine ostensibly focused on health it also promoted traditional masculine behaviors such as excessive consumption of convenience foods and meat, alcohol consumption and unsafe sex.{{cite journal |last=Stibbe |first=Arran |title=Health and the social construction of masculinity in Men's Health magazine |journal=Men and Masculinities |volume=7 |issue=1 |pages=31–51 |doi=10.1177/1097184X03257441 |date=July 2004 |s2cid=109931551 |url=http://eprints.glos.ac.uk/679/1/Health%20and%20the%20social%20construction%20of%20masculinity%20in%20Men%E2%80%99s%20Health%20magazine.pdf |access-date=21 December 2018 |archive-date=21 July 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180721163632/http://eprints.glos.ac.uk/679/1/Health%20and%20the%20social%20construction%20of%20masculinity%20in%20Men%E2%80%99s%20Health%20magazine.pdf |url-status=live}} Masculinity and sexual health is also a complex issue in the Global South, as well. In South Africa, HIV transmission was one of the significant reasons for the development of masculinities research.{{Cite journal |last=Morrell |first=Robert |date=12 March 2019 |title=Vehicle for Southern African Knowledge? Men and Masculinities and Research from South Africa |journal=Men and Masculinities |volume=22 |pages=34–43 |language=en |doi=10.1177/1097184X18805548 |s2cid=150906818 |doi-access=free}} Risky actions commonly representative of toxic masculinity are also present in Western and Chinese male clients' attitudes and behaviors toward female sex workers in China's commercial sex industry. While many male clients frequently exhibited physical violence toward the female workers, in order to more overtly display their manliness, some men also admitted to being more sexually aggressive at times and purposefully having unprotected sex without the worker's knowledge.{{Cite journal |last=Tsang |first=Eileen Yuk-Ha |date=4 May 2019 |title=Real Men Get the Best Bar Girls: Performing Masculinities in China's Global Sex Industry |url=https://doi.org/10.1080/01639625.2018.1431177 |journal=Deviant Behavior |volume=40 |issue=5 |pages=559–573 |doi=10.1080/01639625.2018.1431177 |s2cid=218525378 |issn=0163-9625|url-access=subscription }}

Research on beer-commercial content by Lance StrateStrate, Lance (1992), "[https://books.google.com/books?id=GJA7CgAAQBAJ&pg=PT78 Beer commercials: a manual on masculinity]", in {{cite book |editor-last=Craig |editor-first=Steve |title=Men, masculinity and the media |publisher=SAGE |location=Thousand Oaks, California |isbn=9780803941632 |date=26 February 1992}}

• Citing:

:* {{cite book |last1=Postman |first1=Neil |last2=Nystrom |first2=Christine |last3=Strate |first3=Lance |last4=Weingartner |first4=Charles |author-link3=Lance Strate |title=Myths, men, and beer: an analysis of beer commercials on broadcast television |publisher=American Automobile Association Foundation for Traffic Safety |location=Falls Church, Virginia |url=https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED290074 |year=1987 |oclc=17165318 |access-date=20 November 2017 |archive-date=1 December 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171201043311/https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED290074 |url-status=live}}

:* {{cite journal |last=Strate |first=Lance |author-link=Lance Strate |title=The mediation of nature and culture in beer commercials |journal=New Dimensions in Communications, Proceedings of the 47th Annual New York State Speech Communication Association Conference III |volume=1989 |pages=92–95 |date=1989 |url=http://archive.nyscanet.org/omeka/ |access-date=20 November 2017 |archive-date=1 December 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171201044710/http://archive.nyscanet.org/omeka/ |url-status=dead}}

:* {{cite journal |last=Strate |first=Lance |author-link=Lance Strate |title=The cultural meaning of beer commercials |journal=Acr North American Advances |volume=NA-18 |url=http://acrwebsite.org/volumes/7148/volumes/v18/NA-18 |date=October 1990 |access-date=20 November 2017 |archive-date=1 December 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171201034456/http://acrwebsite.org/volumes/7148/volumes/v18/NA-18 |url-status=live}} Paper presented at the Advances in Consumer Research Conference, New York.

:* Wenner, Lawrence A. (1991), "[https://books.google.com/books?id=gcBkAAAAMAAJ One part alcohol, one part sport, one part dirt, stir gently: beer commercials and television sports] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230404105550/https://books.google.com/books?id=gcBkAAAAMAAJ |date=4 April 2023 }}", in {{cite book |editor-last1=Vande Berg |editor-first1=Leah R. |editor-last2=Wenner |editor-first2=Lawrence A. |title=Television criticism: Approaches and applications |publisher=Longman |location=New York |isbn=9780801305801 |date=1 January 1991 |url=https://archive.org/details/televisioncritic00vand}} yielded results relevant to a study of masculinity.{{cite book |last=Strate |first=Lance |chapter=Beer commercials: a manual on masculinity |editor-last1=Kimmel |editor-first1=Michael |editor-last2=Messner |editor-first2=Michael |editor-link1=Michael Kimmel |editor-link2=Michael Messner |title=Men's lives |publisher=Allyn and Bacon |location=Boston |year=2001 |edition=5th |isbn=9780205321056}} In beer commercials, masculine behavior (especially risk-taking) is encouraged. Commercials often focus on situations in which a man overcomes an obstacle in a group, working or playing hard (construction workers, farm workers or cowboys). Those involving play have central themes of mastery (of nature or each other), risk and adventure: fishing, camping, playing sports or socializing in bars. There is usually an element of danger and a focus on movement and speed (watching fast cars or driving fast). The bar is a setting for the measurement of masculinity in skills such as billiards, strength, and drinking ability. Men engage in positive health practices, such as reducing fat intake and alcohol, to conform to masculine ideals.{{cite journal |last1=Creighton |first1=Genevieve |last2=Oliffe |first2=John L |year=2010 |title=Theorising masculinities and men's health: A brief history with a view to practice |journal=Health Sociology Review |volume=19 |issue=4 |page=413 |doi=10.5172/hesr.2010.19.4.409 |s2cid=143771206}}{{Clarify|date=April 2018}}

Men, boys and people who were assigned male at birth face gender policing from people who think they are not masculine enough. Gender policing can increase the risk of alcoholism, anxiety, and depression.{{Cite journal |last1=Bauermeister |first1=José A. |last2=Connochie |first2=Daniel |last3=Jadwin-Cakmak |first3=Laura |last4=Meanley |first4=Steven |date=May 2017 |title=Gender Policing During Childhood and the Psychological Well-Being of Young Adult Sexual Minority Men in the United States |journal=American Journal of Men's Health |volume=11 |issue=3 |pages=693–701 |doi=10.1177/1557988316680938 |issn=1557-9883 |pmc=5393921 |pmid=27903954}}

Study of the history of masculinity emerged during the 1980s, aided by the fields of women's and (later) gender history. Before women's history was examined, there was a "strict gendering of the public/private divide"; regarding masculinity, this meant little study of how men related to the household, domesticity and family life.Tosh, John (1999), "[https://books.google.com/books?id=Br8JCAAAQBAJ Introduction: masculinity and domesticity]", in {{cite book |editor-last=Tosh |editor-first=John |title=A man's place: masculinity and the middle-class home in Victorian England |page=2 |publisher=Yale University Press |location=New Haven, Connecticut |year=1999 |isbn=9780300077797}} Although women's historical role was negated, despite the writing of history by (and primarily about) men, a significant portion of the male experience was missing. This void was questioned during the late 1970s, when women's history began to analyze gender and women.{{Cite journal |last=Davis |first=Natalie Z. |title='Women's history' in transition: the European case |journal=Feminist Studies |volume=3 |issue=3–4 |pages=83–103 |doi=10.2307/3177729 |jstor=3177729 |date=Spring–Summer 1976 |hdl=2027/spo.0499697.0003.309 |hdl-access=free}} Joan Scott's seminal article, calling for gender studies as an analytical concept to explore society, power and discourse, laid the foundation for this field.{{Cite journal |last=Scott |first=Joan W. |title=Gender: a useful category of historical analysis |journal=The American Historical Review |volume=91 |issue=5 |pages=1053–1075 |doi=10.1086/ahr/91.5.1053 |jstor=1864376 |date=December 1986 |s2cid=162012479 |url=https://seer.ufrgs.br/index.php/educacaoerealidade/article/view/71721}}

According to Scott, gender should be used in two ways: productive and produced. Productive gender examined its role in creating power relationships, and produced gender explored the use and change of gender throughout history. This has influenced the field of masculinity, as seen in Pierre Bourdieu's definition of masculinity: produced by society and culture, and reproduced in daily life.{{cite book |last=Bourdieu |first=Pierre |title=Masculine domination |publisher=Polity Press |location=Cambridge, UK |year=2001 |isbn=9780745622651}} A flurry of work in women's history led to a call for study of the male role (initially influenced by psychoanalysis) in society and emotional and interpersonal life. Connell wrote that these initial works were marked by a "high level of generality" in "broad surveys of cultural norms". The scholarship was aware of contemporary societal changes aiming to understand and evolve (or liberate) the male role in response to feminism.{{rp|28}}John Tosh calls for a return to this aim for the history of masculinity to be useful, academically and in the public sphere.Steedman, Carolyn (1992), "[https://books.google.com/books?id=EzD4fdELEioC&pg=PA614 Culture, cultural studies and the historians] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230405004300/https://books.google.com/books?id=EzD4fdELEioC&pg=PA614 |date=5 April 2023 }}", in {{cite book |editor-last1=Grossberg |editor-first1=Lawrence |editor-last2=Nelson |editor-first2=Cary |editor-last3=Treichler |editor-first3=Paula |title=Cultural studies |page=[https://archive.org/details/culturalstudies0000unse/page/617 617] |publisher=Routledge |location=New York |isbn=9780415903455 |year=1992 |url=https://archive.org/details/culturalstudies0000unse/page/617}}

Two concerns over the study of the history of masculinity are that it would stabilize the historical process (rather than change it) and that a cultural overemphasis on the approach to masculinity lacks the reality of actual experience. According to John Tosh, masculinity has become a conceptual framework used by historians to enhance their cultural explorations instead of a specialty in its own right.Tosh, John (2011), "[https://books.google.com/books?id=0E5ARiVe9YUC&pg=PA17 The history of masculinity: an outdated concept?]{{Dead link|date=March 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}", in {{cite book |editor-last1=Arnold |editor-first1=John H. |editor-last2=Brady |editor-first2=Sean |title=What is masculinity?: historical dynamics from antiquity to the contemporary world |pages=17–34 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |location=Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire New York |year=2011 |isbn=9781137305602}} This draws attention from reality to representation and meaning, not only in the realm of masculinity; culture was becoming "the bottom line, the real historical reality". Tosh critiques Martin Francis' work in this light because popular culture, rather than the experience of family life, is the basis for Francis' argument.{{Cite journal |last=Francis |first=Martin |title=A flight from commitment? Domesticity, adventure and the masculine imaginary in Britain after the Second World War |journal=Gender & History |volume=19 |issue=1 |pages=163–185 |doi=10.1111/j.1468-0424.2007.00469.x |date=April 2007 |s2cid=144767677}} Francis uses contemporary literature and film to demonstrate that masculinity was restless, shying away from domesticity and commitment, during the late 1940s and 1950s. Francis wrote that this flight from commitment was "most likely to take place at the level of fantasy (individual and collective)". In focusing on culture, it is difficult to gauge the degree to which films such as Scott of the Antarctic represented the era's masculine fantasies. Michael Roper's call to focus on the subjectivity of masculinity addresses this cultural bias, because broad understanding is set aside for an examination "of what the relationship of the codes of masculinity is to actual men, to existential matters, to persons and to their psychic make-up" (Tosh's human experience).{{Cite journal |last=Roper |first=Michael |title=Slipping out of view: subjectivity and emotion in gender history |journal=History Workshop Journal |volume=59 |issue=1 |pages=57–72 |doi=10.1093/hwj/dbi006 |date=March 2005 |s2cid=144245717}}

According to Tosh, the culture of masculinity has outlived its usefulness because it cannot fulfill the initial aim of this history (to discover how manhood was conditioned and experienced) and he urged "questions of behaviour and agency". His work on Victorian masculinity uses individual experience in letters and sketches to illustrate broader cultural and social customs, such as birthing or Christmas traditions.

Stefan Dudink believes that the methodological approach (trying to categorize masculinity as a phenomenon) undermined its historiographic development.{{Cite journal |last=Dudink |first=Stefan |title=The trouble with men: Problems in the history of 'masculinity' |journal=European Journal of Cultural Studies |volume=1 |issue=3 |pages=419–431 |doi=10.1177/136754949800100307 |date=September 1998 |s2cid=145772531}} Abigail Solomou-Godeau's work on post-revolutionary French art addresses a strong, constant patriarchy.{{cite book |last=Solomon-Godeau |first=Abigail |title=Male trouble: a crisis in representation |publisher=Thames and Hudson |location=New York |year=1997 |isbn=9780500280379}}

Tosh's overall assessment is that a shift is needed in conceptualizing the topic back to the history of masculinity as a speciality aiming to reach a broader audience, rather than as an analytical tool of cultural and social history. The importance he places on public history hearkens back to the initial aims of gender history, which sought to use history to enlighten and change the present. Tosh appeals to historians to live up to the "social expectation" of their work, which would also require a greater focus on subjectivity and masculinity. This view is contrary to Dudink's; the latter called for an "outflanking movement" towards the history of masculinity, in response to the errors he perceived in the study. This would do the opposite of what Tosh called for, deconstructing masculinity by not placing it at the center of historical exploration and using discourse and culture as indirect avenues towards a more-representational approach. In a study of the Low Countries, Dudink proposes moving beyond the history of masculinity by embedding analysis into the exploration of nation and nationalism (making masculinity a lens through which to view conflict and nation-building).{{Cite journal |last=Dudink |first=Stefan |title=Multipurpose masculinities: gender and power in low countries histories of masculinity |journal=BMGN: Low Countries Historical Review |volume=127 |issue=1 |pages=5–18 |doi=10.18352/bmgn-lchr.1562 |date=March 2012 |doi-access=free |hdl=2066/116820 |hdl-access=free}} Martin Francis' work on domesticity through a cultural lens moves beyond the history of masculinity because "men constantly travelled back and forward across the frontier of domesticity, if only in the realm of the imagination"; normative codes of behavior do not fully encompass the male experience.

Media images of boys and young men may lead to the persistence of harmful concepts of masculinity. According to men's-rights activists, the media does not address men's-rights issues and men are often portrayed negatively in advertising.{{cite book |last1=Farrell |first1=Warren |last2=Sterba |first2=James P. |author-link1=Warren Farrell |title=Does feminism discriminate against men? |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford New York |year=2008 |isbn=9780195312829}} Peter Jackson called hegemonic masculinity "economically exploitative" and "socially oppressive": "The form of oppression varies from patriarchal controls over women's bodies and reproductive rights, through ideologies of domesticity, femininity and compulsory heterosexuality, to social definitions of the value of work, the nature of skill and the differential remuneration of 'productive' and 'reproductive' labor."{{Cite journal |last=Jackson |first=Peter |title=The cultural politics of masculinity: towards a social geography |journal=Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers |volume=16 |issue=2 |pages=199–213 |doi=10.2307/622614 |jstor=622614 |date=April 1991 |bibcode=1991TrIBG..16..199J |s2cid=147461986}}

According to a paper submitted by Tracy Tylka to the American Psychological Association, "Instead of seeing a decrease in objectification of women in society, there has just been an increase in the objectification of both sexes. And you can see that in the media today." Men and women restrict food intake in an effort to achieve what they consider an attractively thin body; in extreme cases, this leads to eating disorders.{{cite news |last=Grabmeier |first=Jeff |title=Pressure to be more muscular may lead men to unhealthy behaviors |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080618040952/http://researchnews.osu.edu/archive/maleobj.htm |archive-date=18 June 2008 |url=http://researchnews.osu.edu/archive/maleobj.htm |publisher=Ohio State University |date=10 August 2006 |access-date=29 July 2008}}

:See also:

:* {{cite journal |last1=Schwartz |first1=Jonathan P. |last2=Tylka |first2=Tracy L. |title=Exploring entitlement as a moderator and mediator of the relationship between masculine gender role conflict and men's body esteem |journal=Psychology of Men & Masculinity |volume=9 |issue=2 |pages=67–81 |doi=10.1037/1524-9220.9.2.67 |date=April 2008 |s2cid=9430583}} [http://u.osu.edu/tracyltylka/files/2015/02/SchwartzTylka-2lditi1.pdf Pdf.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171201041224/http://u.osu.edu/tracyltylka/files/2015/02/SchwartzTylka-2lditi1.pdf |date=1 December 2017 }} Psychiatrist Thomas Holbrook cited a recent Canadian study indicating that as many as one in six people with eating disorders are men.{{cite news |last=Goode |first=Erica |title=Thinner: the male battle with anorexia |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2000/06/25/health/thinner-the-male-battle-with-anorexia.html |work=The New York Times |date=25 June 2000 |access-date=12 May 2010 |archive-date=4 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230404220730/https://www.nytimes.com/2000/06/25/health/thinner-the-male-battle-with-anorexia.html |url-status=live}}

Research in the United Kingdom found, "Younger men and women who read fitness and fashion magazines could be psychologically harmed by the images of perfect female and male physiques." Young women and men exercise excessively in an effort to achieve what they consider an attractively fit and muscular body, which may lead to body dysmorphic disorder or muscle dysmorphia.{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7318411.stm |work=BBC News |title=Magazines 'harm male body image' |date=28 May 2008 |access-date=12 May 2010 |archive-date=31 May 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230531172427/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7318411.stm |url-status=live}}{{cite web |last=Lee |first=Ian |title=Muscle dysmorphia |url=https://uk.askmen.com/sports/bodybuilding/56_fitness_tip.html |website=askmen.com |publisher=Ask Men |access-date=18 November 2017 |archive-date=8 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230108134833/https://uk.askmen.com/sports/bodybuilding/56_fitness_tip.html |url-status=live}}{{cite web |title=Men muscle in on body image problems |url=http://www.livescience.com/health/060815_bodyimage_men.html |website=livescience.com |publisher=LiveScience |date=6 August 2015}} Although the stereotypes may have remained constant, the value attached to masculine stereotypes has changed; Todd Reeser has argued that masculinity is an unstable phenomenon, never ultimately achieved.{{rp|30–31}}

In January 2019, the American Psychological Association warns that conforming to traditional standards of masculinity can cause harm to mental health.{{cite news |url=https://www.latimes.com/health/ny-news-traditional-masculinity-harmful-psychological-association-20190109-story.html |newspaper=LA Times |title=Magazines 'traditional masculinity harmful' |date=9 January 2019 |access-date=13 January 2019 |archive-date=12 January 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190112130606/https://www.latimes.com/health/ny-news-traditional-masculinity-harmful-psychological-association-20190109-story.html |url-status=dead}}

File:I Won't Cry Daddy.jpg, 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.{{cite book |last=Lindsey |first=Linda L. |title=Gender Roles: A Sociological Perspective |date=2015 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-31-734808-5 |page=70 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qjjbCgAAQBAJ&q=%22big+boys+don't+cry%22}}{{cite journal |last=Levant |first=Ronald F. |title=The new psychology of men |journal=Professional Psychology: Research and Practice |date=1996 |volume=27 |issue=3 |pages=259–265 |doi=10.1037/0735-7028.27.3.259 |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/232569489 |access-date=21 December 2018 |archive-date=1 March 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200301184158/https://www.researchgate.net/publication/232569489_A_New_Psychology_of_Men |url-status=live}}{{cite book |last1=Worell |first1=Judith |title=Encyclopedia of Women and Gender: Sex Similarities and Differences and the Impact of Society on Gender |date=2001 |publisher=Academic Press |location=San Diego, California |isbn=978-0122272455 |page=[https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofwo0000unse_g9b9/page/835 835] |url=https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofwo0000unse_g9b9/page/835}}]]

{{See also|Toxic masculinity}}

In 1987, Eisler and Skidmore studied masculinity, creating the idea of "masculine stress" and finding three elements of masculinity which often result in emotional stress:

• The emphasis on prevailing in situations requiring body and fitness
• Being perceived as emotional
• The need for adequacy in sexual matters and financial status

Because of social norms and pressures associated with masculinity, men with spinal-cord injuries must adapt their self-identity to the losses associated with such injuries; this may "lead to feelings of decreased physical and sexual prowess with lowered self-esteem and a loss of male identity. Feelings of guilt and overall loss of control are also experienced."{{Cite journal |last1=Hutchinson |first1=Susan L. |last2=Kleiber |first2=Douglas A. |title=Heroic masculinity following spinal cord injury: Implications for therapeutic recreation practice and research |journal=Therapeutic Recreation Journal |volume=34 |issue=1 |date=January 2000 |url=http://js.sagamorepub.com/trj/article/view/1110 |access-date=13 March 2017 |archive-date=20 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230320214432/https://js.sagamorepub.com/trj/article/view/1110 |url-status=live}} Research also suggests that men feel social pressure to endorse traditional masculine male models in advertising. Brett Martin and Juergen Gnoth (2009) found that although feminine men privately preferred feminine models, they expressed a preference for traditional masculine models in public; according to the authors, this reflected social pressure on men to endorse traditional masculine norms.{{cite journal |last1=Martin |first1=Brett A.S. |last2=Gnoth |first2=Juergen |title=Is the Marlboro man the only alternative? The role of gender identity and self-construal salience in evaluations of male models |journal=Marketing Letters |volume=20 |issue=4 |pages=353–367 |doi=10.1007/s11002-009-9069-2 |date=December 2009 |citeseerx=10.1.1.477.5034 |s2cid=143193100}} [http://www.basmartin.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/Martin-Gnoth-2009.pdf Pdf.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211024192003/https://basmartin.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/Martin-Gnoth-2009.pdf |date=24 October 2021 }}

In their book Raising Cain: Protecting The Emotional Life of Boys, Dan Kindlon and Michael Thompson wrote that although all boys are born loving and empathic, exposure to gender socialization (the tough male ideal and hypermasculinity) limits their ability to function as emotionally healthy adults. According to Kindlon and Thompson, boys lack the ability to understand and express emotions productively because of the stress imposed by masculine gender roles.{{citation |last1=Kindlon |first1=Dan |last2=Thompson |first2=Michael |contribution=The road not taken: turning boys away from their inner life |editor-last1=Kindlon |editor-first1=Dan |editor-last2=Thompson |editor-first2=Michael |title=Raising Cain: protecting the emotional life of boys |pages=1–20 |publisher=Ballantine Books |location=New York |year=2000 |isbn=9780345434852 |postscript=.}}

In the article "Sexual Ethics, Masculinity and Mutual Vulnerability", Rob Cover works to unpack Judith Butler's study of masculinity. Cover goes over issues such as sexual assault and how it can be partially explained by hypermasculinity.{{Cite journal |last=Cover |first=Rob |title=Sexual ethics, masculinity and mutual vulnerability: Judith Butler's contribution to an ethics of non-violence |journal=Australian Feminist Studies |volume=29 |issue=82 |pages=435–451 |doi=10.1080/08164649.2014.967741 |date=2014 |s2cid=143116739}}

A theory of masculinity in crisis has emerged;{{cite book |last=Horrocks |first=Roger |title=Masculinities in Crisis: Myths, Fantasies, and Realities |year=1994 |publisher=St Martin's Press |isbn=978-0333593226 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=k24dAQAAMAAJ}}{{cite book |title=Marked Men: White Masculinity in Crisis |last=Robinson |first=Sally |year=2000 |publisher=Columbia University Press |location=New York |isbn=978-0-231-50036-4 |page=5}} Australian archeologist Peter McAllister said, "I have a strong feeling that masculinity is in crisis. Men are really searching for a role in modern society; the things we used to do aren't in much demand anymore".{{cite news |last=Rogers |first=Thomas |title=The dramatic decline of the modern man |url=http://www.salon.com/2010/11/14/manthropology_interview/singleton/ |newspaper=Salon |date=14 November 2010 |access-date=3 June 2012 |archive-date=12 July 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120712150156/http://www.salon.com/2010/11/14/manthropology_interview/singleton/ |url-status=dead}} Others see the changing labor market as a source of stress. Deindustrialization and the replacement of smokestack industries by technology have allowed more women to enter the labor force, reducing its emphasis on physical strength.{{citation |last=Beynon |first=John |contribution=Masculinities and the notion of 'crisis' |editor-last=Beynon |editor-first=John |title=Masculinities and culture |pages=75–97 |publisher=Open University Press |location=Philadelphia |year=2002 |isbn=978-0-335-19988-4}}{{rp|86–89}}

The crisis has also been attributed to the questioning of male dominance and rights granted to men solely on the basis of sex following the feminist movement.{{rp|83–86}} British sociologist John MacInnes wrote that "masculinity has always been in one crisis or another", suggesting that the crises arise from the "fundamental incompatibility between the core principle of modernity that all human beings are essentially equal (regardless of their sex) and the core tenet of patriarchy that men are naturally superior to women and thus destined to rule over them".{{cite book |last=MacInnes |first=John |title=The end of masculinity: the confusion of sexual genesis and sexual difference in modern society |year=1998 |publisher=Open University Press |location=Philadelphia |page=11 |isbn=978-0-335-19659-3}}

According to John Beynon, masculinity and men are often conflated and it is unclear whether masculinity, men or both are in crisis. He writes that the "crisis" is not a recent phenomenon, illustrating several periods of masculine crisis throughout history (some predating the women's movement and post-industrial society), suggesting that due to masculinity's fluid nature "crisis is constitutive of masculinity itself". Film scholar Leon Hunt also writes: "Whenever masculinity's 'crisis' actually started, it certainly seems to have been in place by the 1970s".{{cite book |last=Hunt |first=Leon |year=1998 |title=British low culture: from safari suits to sexploitation |publisher=Routledge |location=London, New York |page=73 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3dvtQEetWrsC&pg=PA73 |isbn=978-0-415-15182-5}}

{{main|Herbivore men|Straight man cancer}}

In 2008, the word "herbivore men" became popular in Japan and was reported worldwide. Herbivore men refers to young Japanese men who naturally detach themselves from masculinity. Masahiro Morioka characterizes them as men 1) having gentle nature, 2) not bound by manliness, 3) not aggressive when it comes to romance, 4) viewing women as equals, and 5) hating emotional pain. Herbivore men are severely criticized by men who love masculinity.{{Cite journal |last=Morioka |first=Masahiro |title=A phenomenological study of 'Herbivore Men' |journal=The Review of Life Studies |volume=4 |pages=1–20 |date=September 2013 |url=http://www.lifestudies.org/press/review.html |access-date=13 March 2017 |archive-date=6 March 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120306153227/http://www.lifestudies.org/press/review.html |url-status=live}} [http://www.lifestudies.org/press/rls0401.pdf Pdf.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171025222313/http://www.lifestudies.org/press/rls0401.pdf |date=25 October 2017 }} Some contemporary Japanese writers like Ao Omae have made the nature of masculinity a focus of their fiction.{{cite web |last1=Margolis |first1=Eric |title=Ao Omae confronts identities and alienation of modern youth |url=https://www.japantimes.co.jp/culture/2023/06/10/books/ao-omae/ |website=The Japan Times |access-date=27 July 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230611010704/https://www.japantimes.co.jp/culture/2023/06/10/books/ao-omae/ |archive-date=11 June 2023 |date=10 June 2023 |url-status=live}}

In Chinese and Taiwanese popular culture, phrases such as "{{lang|zh-TW|大 男人}}" ({{zh|l=big man}}), "{{lang|zh-TW|死 異 男}}" ({{zh|l=damned hetero male}}), and "{{lang|zh-CN|直男癌}}" ({{zh|l=straight male cancer}}) are used as pejoratives referring to men exhibiting misogyny, dominance, and homophobia.{{cite web |author1=漫游者181 |title=直男癌是怎樣的症狀?7點符合代表你已癌症末期 {{!}} 鍵盤大檸檬 {{!}} ETNEWS新聞雲 |url=http://www.ettoday.net/dalemon/post/13327 |website=鍵盤大檸檬 |date=3 December 2015 |access-date=16 July 2017 |language=zh-TW |archive-date=24 February 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210224131345/https://www.ettoday.net/dalemon/post/13327 |url-status=live}}

During Margrethe Silberschmidt's research of urban and rural men in East Africa, she concludes that men experience disempowerment when they cannot fulfill their role as breadwinner and feel inferior to women when they cannot provide for their family.{{Cite journal |last=Silberschmidt |first=Margrethe |date=1 April 2001 |title=Disempowerment of Men in Rural and Urban East Africa: Implications for Male Identity and Sexual Behavior |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0305750X00001224 |journal=World Development |language=en |volume=29 |issue=4 |pages=657–671 |doi=10.1016/S0305-750X(00)00122-4 |issn=0305-750X |access-date=11 May 2022 |archive-date=4 July 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120704163400/http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0305750X00001224 |url-status=live|url-access=subscription }} The changes in East Africa's cultural and economic framework can partially be attributed to British colonial rule because it altered the gender division of labor. There was an increase in wage labor which led to a demand for more skilled workers in an environment where there were primarily unskilled workers. Eventually, there was a shift to growing cash crops and the emphasis was put on men to be the breadwinner. A man's social value is traditionally connected to his ability to provide so when he can no longer do that, it negatively impacts his ego. Masculinity is seen as an entity to be protected, and when a man feels disempowered, he finds other ways to reaffirm their masculinity. Research that examines the struggles among men and look into their personal experiences can help to understand the social structures of masculinity.{{Cite journal |last=White |first=Sarah C |date=1 June 1997 |title=Men, masculinities, and the politics of development |url=https://doi.org/10.1080/741922357 |journal=Gender & Development |volume=5 |issue=2 |pages=14–22 |doi=10.1080/741922357 |issn=1355-2074 |pmid=12292610|url-access=subscription }}

{{More science citations needed|section|date=December 2020}}

Masculinities as depicted in the media of countries categorized as the Global South can depict stereotypical gender roles in various ways. In India, such roles have been pushed through Bollywood films.{{Cite journal |last1=Raj |first1=Adharsh |last2=Goswami |first2=Manash Pratim |date=June 2020 |title='Is Macho the In-thing?' Effects of the Representation of Masculinity in Bollywood Cinema on Youngsters |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/342870230 |journal=Global Media Journal: Indian Edition |volume=12 |issue=1 |pages=1–24}} Additionally, there is some indication that Westernized views of masculinity have been pushed onto a global audience through print media advertisements, as well. This has been observed in India with the expansion of availability of transnational men's magazines.{{Cite journal |last=Mishra |first=Suman |date=December 2017 |title=Looking westwards: Men in transnational men's magazine advertising in India |url=http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1742766517734254 |journal=Global Media and Communication |language=en |volume=13 |issue=3 |pages=249–266 |doi=10.1177/1742766517734254 |s2cid=149389725 |issn=1742-7665 |access-date=24 October 2020 |archive-date=1 November 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201101093700/https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1742766517734254 |url-status=live|url-access=subscription }} While there is some evidence of Western and specifically, North American, influence in advertisements found in Chinese and Taiwanese men's magazines as well, it seems that more often than not, those countries' magazines have just adopted a globally uniform perception of masculinity.{{Cite journal |last1=Shaw |first1=Ping |last2=Tan |first2=Yue |date=18 February 2014 |title=Race and Masculinity: A Comparison of Asian and Western Models in Men's Lifestyle Magazine Advertisements |url=https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1077699013514410 |journal=Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly |volume=91 |issue=1 |pages=118–138 |language=en |doi=10.1177/1077699013514410 |s2cid=145119356 |access-date=24 October 2020 |archive-date=27 October 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201027004318/https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1077699013514410 |url-status=live|url-access=subscription }} This theme also presents itself in visual depictions of men in Afghanistan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.{{Cite journal |last=Myrttinen |first=Henri |date=2 October 2017 |title=Depictions and reflections: photographing visualizations of masculinities in Afghanistan and Democratic Republic of the Congo |url=https://doi.org/10.1080/14616742.2017.1364910 |journal=International Feminist Journal of Politics |volume=19 |issue=4 |pages=530–536 |doi=10.1080/14616742.2017.1364910 |s2cid=148885845 |issn=1461-6742|url-access=subscription }}

Sports media outlets have not necessarily promoted a completely "Westernized" version of masculinity, and white, male sports icons may have had an impact when presented alongside those players of other races, such as Asians or black people. A 2019 study found that in Major League Baseball, for example, Korean players and their respective accomplishments tend to be pushed to the side when compared with white, male players in print media and online news outlets.{{Cite journal |last=Choi |first=Yeomi |date=29 January 2019 |title=Major League Baseball and Racialized Masculinities in Korean Digital Media |url=https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/2167479519825618 |journal=Communication & Sport |volume=8 |issue=2 |pages=168–187 |language=en |doi=10.1177/2167479519825618 |s2cid=150733468 |access-date=24 October 2020 |archive-date=26 October 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201026224956/https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/2167479519825618 |url-status=live|url-access=subscription }}

Novels may be affected by Westernized perceptions. Amjad Alsyouf argues that African novelists Tayeb Salih and Chinua Achebe, for example, bring some Western influence to the gender roles portrayed in their respective novels.{{Cite journal |last=Alsyouf |first=Amjad |title=Hegemonic Masculinity in Archetypal African Novels |date=1 December 2018 |url=https://journal.uny.ac.id/index.php/informasi/article/view/21657 |journal=Informasi |volume=48 |issue=2 |pages=169–179 |doi=10.21831/informasi.v48i2.21657 |issn=2502-3837 |doi-access=free |access-date=24 October 2020 |archive-date=26 October 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201026231003/https://journal.uny.ac.id/index.php/informasi/article/view/21657 |url-status=live}}

Masculinity is also an important concept in advertisement branding in the Islamic culture. In Kuwait, Muslim men must remain vigilant in making sure that their consumption decisions are representative of the socially accepted masculine norms — particularly in regard to their fashion choices.{{Cite journal |last=Al-Mutawa |first=Fajer Saleh |date=1 January 2016 |title=Negotiating Muslim masculinity: androgynous spaces within feminized fashion |url=https://doi.org/10.1108/JFMM-11-2014-0080 |journal=Journal of Fashion Marketing and Management |volume=20 |issue=1 |pages=19–33 |doi=10.1108/JFMM-11-2014-0080 |issn=1361-2026|url-access=subscription }} Additionally, advertising in fashion branding choices and its effectiveness has been examined in the context of Chinese male consumers' choices. Men interested in wearing luxury fashion brands were often more concerned with making sure their choices were visually representative of a more professional and refined person, as opposed to someone that simply looked tough or strong.{{Cite journal |last1=Jiang |first1=Jiani |last2=Huhmann |first2=Bruce A. |last3=Hyman |first3=Michael R. |date=20 November 2019 |title=Emerging masculinities in Chinese luxury social media marketing |url=https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/APJML-07-2018-0256/full/html |journal=Asia Pacific Journal of Marketing and Logistics |language=en |volume=32 |issue=3 |pages=721–745 |doi=10.1108/APJML-07-2018-0256 |s2cid=212780718 |issn=1355-5855|url-access=subscription }} This kind of focus on visual portrayals can also appear in media depictions. In the Japanese film Sooshokukeidanshi, one of the main characters is made to appear like more of an outsider than the other male characters because of his unique style choices being seen as less traditionally masculine than the cultural expectation is, in Japan.{{Cite journal |last=Kroo |first=Judit |date=10 August 2018 |title=Gentle masculinity in East Asia: 'Herbivore Men' and interlocutor constructed language |url=http://www.jbe-platform.com/content/journals/10.1075/japc.00012.kro |journal=Journal of Asian Pacific Communication |language=en |volume=28 |issue=2 |pages=251–280 |doi=10.1075/japc.00012.kro |s2cid=149917168 |issn=0957-6851 |access-date=24 October 2020 |archive-date=24 October 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201024113113/https://www.jbe-platform.com/content/journals/10.1075/japc.00012.kro |url-status=live|url-access=subscription }}

Adharsh Raj and Manash Pratim Goswami write that in India, young people often copy negative behaviors seen as being traditionally masculine in Bollywood films. Turkish young people can also fall prey to such negative media influence, According to Özlem Akkaya.{{r|Akkaya}} In a 2018 study, young males often thought that the violent behavior displayed by the main character, "Behzat", in the Turkish television crime series, Behzat Ç. Bir Ankara Polisiyesi, was relatable to what they already experienced in their own day to day lives (and therefore, saw violence as a seemingly reasonable thing to occur in the series).{{Cite journal |last=Akkaya |first=Özlem |date=2018 |title='The Crisis of Masculinity' on the Screen: Conflicted Masculinities in Behzat Ç. Bir Ankara Polisiyesi and Poyraz Karayel. |journal=Global Media Journal: Turkish Edition |volume=9 |issue=17 |pages=128–173}}

In the Global South, many societies still follow very patriarchal norms. Through media depictions and real-life scenarios, men are seen as being the head of the family — those that provide financially, have decision making power, and really are in charge. The image of the nuclear family being the societal norm is also ever-present in many places. When men are not able to fulfill that traditionally masculine, fatherly role, they may have a difficult time proving themselves as being worthy enough to have relationships with their children.{{Cite journal |last1=Lesch |first1=Elmien |last2=Kelapile |first2=Chandapiwa |date=December 2016 |title='In My Dream She Finds Me...And She Wants Me Just the Way I Am': Fatherhood Experiences of Unmarried Men in South Africa |url=http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1097184X15601476 |journal=Men and Masculinities |language=en |volume=19 |issue=5 |pages=503–523 |doi=10.1177/1097184X15601476 |s2cid=142050341 |issn=1097-184X |access-date=24 October 2020 |archive-date=10 February 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230210235929/https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1097184X15601476 |url-status=live|url-access=subscription }} In South Africa, for example, females often take on more of a culturally masculine role in providing for the household, due to the high percentage of absent fathers in some communities.{{Cite journal |last1=Lesch |first1=Elmien |last2=Brooks |first2=Shannon |date=August 2019 |title=Man Talk: Exploring Sexual Communication Between Fathers and Sons in a Minority South African Community |url=http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11199-018-0988-3 |journal=Sex Roles |language=en |volume=81 |issue=3–4 |pages=173–191 |doi=10.1007/s11199-018-0988-3 |s2cid=149873689 |issn=0360-0025|url-access=subscription }}{{Cite journal |last=Martial |first=Agnès |date=28 May 2013 |title=Richter, Linda & Morell, Robert (eds.). — Baba. Men and Fatherhood in South Africa |journal=Cahiers d'études africaines |volume=53 |issue=209–210 |pages=488–492 |doi=10.4000/etudesafricaines.14485 |issn=0008-0055 |doi-access=free}}{{Cite web |last=Africa |first=Statistics South |title=General Household Survey, 2016 {{!}} Statistics South Africa |url=http://www.statssa.gov.za/?p=9922 |access-date=23 October 2020 |language=en-US |archive-date=21 October 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201021135953/http://www.statssa.gov.za/?p=9922 |url-status=live}} Fathers' decision to desert the mother and their biological child is fairly common in South Africa, particularly with regard to those fathers who are younger and come from lower income families. They are often trying to provide for their own nuclear families and cannot also fulfill the cultural obligations commonly attached to fatherhood.

While gender equality has not been achieved, changes are happening in regard to these commonly believed gender roles, particularly with gender justice work in the Global South. In New Delhi, India, males are more frequently becoming involved in this work, while also trying to remain mindful of how their privileged status as men affects the public perception of what they are doing.{{Cite journal |last=Gilbertson |first=Amanda |date=1 February 2018 |title=Of Mindsets and Men: Tackling Masculinity, Patriarchy, and Privilege in Delhi |url=https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1097184X18755493 |journal=Men and Masculinities |volume=23 |issue=2 |pages=266–287 |language=en |doi=10.1177/1097184X18755493 |s2cid=149213138 |access-date=24 October 2020 |archive-date=27 October 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201027065345/https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1097184X18755493 |url-status=live|url-access=subscription }} In Pakistan and Afghanistan, the tide is also turning, and men's involvement in opposing violence against women is generally seen as being very positive, a good thing for all. However, there are some who still very much see conflict and violence against women as simply going hand in hand with those cultures.{{Cite journal |last=Wu |first=Joyce |date=3 October 2019 |title=Men and anti-violence initiatives: transnational feminist reflections from Afghanistan and Pakistan |url=https://doi.org/10.1080/0966369X.2018.1502161 |journal=Gender, Place & Culture |volume=26 |issue=10 |pages=1369–1385 |doi=10.1080/0966369X.2018.1502161 |s2cid=150074837 |issn=0966-369X|url-access=subscription }}

Some want to shift the focus from specifically viewing females as the ones deserving of stronger rights to everyone deserving the opportunity to be viewed as an equal; however, this can create the potential for men to fall back into the mindset of "male victimhood", as opposed to focusing on female oppression. Although gender equality is becoming a more acknowledged topic in South Africa, for instance, fathers would often rather still hold on to the more traditional gender roles – and pass those ideas down to their sons.{{Cite journal |last1=Lesch |first1=Elmien |last2=Brooks |first2=Shannon |date=1 August 2019 |title=Man Talk: Exploring Sexual Communication Between Fathers and Sons in a Minority South African Community |url=https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-018-0988-3 |journal=Sex Roles |language=en |volume=81 |issue=3 |pages=173–191 |doi=10.1007/s11199-018-0988-3 |s2cid=149873689 |issn=1573-2762|url-access=subscription }}

The International Men and Gender Equality Survey (IMAGES) has also been developed and the results from countries in the Global South studied more in recent years.{{When|date=April 2023}} Although the survey indicated areas for further improvement, a significant recent finding comes in regard to men's childhood upbringing and their attitudes surrounding gender equality. If men were raised seeing more equal division of household labor tasks, older female relatives working in non-traditional occupations, less violence toward females, etc., those behaviors and attitudes had a tendency to carry over into their adult lives, according to the survey.{{Cite journal |last1=Levtov |first1=Ruti Galia |last2=Barker |first2=Gary |last3=Contreras-Urbina |first3=Manuel |last4=Heilman |first4=Brian |last5=Verma |first5=Ravi |date=6 November 2014 |title=Pathways to Gender-equitable Men: Findings from the International Men and Gender Equality Survey in Eight Countries |url=https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1097184X14558234 |journal=Men and Masculinities |volume=17 |issue=5 |pages=467–501 |language=en |doi=10.1177/1097184X14558234 |s2cid=145452643 |access-date=24 October 2020 |archive-date=27 October 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201027180548/https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1097184X14558234 |url-status=live|url-access=subscription }}

A 2012 study found some evidence that youth have perhaps, inadvertently, made contributions toward greater acceptance of gender equality. Popular culture consumed by youth and those of lesser social status in East Asia, including manga, singing competitions, bands, and more are starting to showcase more modernized males that combine some stereotypically masculine and feminine aspects in their behaviors.{{Cite journal |last=Louie |first=Kam |date=November 2012 |title=Popular Culture and Masculinity Ideals in East Asia, with Special Reference to China |journal=The Journal of Asian Studies |language=en |volume=71 |issue=4 |pages=929–943 |doi=10.1017/S0021911812001234 |issn=0021-9118 |doi-access=free |hdl=10722/190534 |hdl-access=free}}

In South Africa, stricter governmental policies are being put into place regarding abuse and violence. Additionally, initiatives like the "One Man Can" program were formed, which aim to provide HIV prevention and an anti-violence program to men in the country.{{Cite journal |last1=Dworkin |first1=Shari L. |last2=Hatcher |first2=Abigail M. |last3=Colvin |first3=Chris |last4=Peacock |first4=Dean |date=June 2013 |title=Impact of a Gender-Transformative HIV and Antiviolence Program on Gender Ideologies and Masculinities in Two Rural, South African Communities |url= |journal=Men and Masculinities |language=en |volume=16 |issue=2 |pages=181–202 |doi=10.1177/1097184X12469878 |issn=1097-184X |pmc=3848879 |pmid=24311940}} The 'We Can End Violence against Women' campaign is another anti-violence initiative in Pakistan, developed by the Oxfam GB group in South Asia. In 2019, the program garnered much voluntary male participation in its gender equality work out of Afghanistan and Pakistan.

{{Columns-list|colwidth=22em|

• Brannon Masculinity Scale
• Christian manliness
• Emasculation
• Femininity
• Gender role
• Men's World Day
• Model of masculinity under fascist Italy
• Mythopoetic men's movement
• Toxic masculinity
• Virility

}}

{{Reflist|30em}}

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• {{cite book |last1=Jenkins |first1=Earnestine |last2=Clark Hine |first2=Darlene |title=A question of manhood: a reader in U.S. Black men's history and masculinity |url=https://archive.org/details/questionofmanhoo00hine |url-access=registration |publisher=Indiana University Press |location=Bloomington |year=1999 |isbn=9780253213433}}
• {{cite book |last=Kimmel |first=Michael |author-link=Michael Kimmel |title=Manhood in America: A Cultural History |year=2012 |edition=3rd |orig-year=1996 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=New York |isbn=9780199781553}}
• {{citation |last=Laurie |first=Ross |contribution=Masculinity |editor-last=Boyd |editor-first=Kelly |title=Encyclopedia of Historians and Historical Writing vol 2 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0121vD9STIMC&pg=PA778 |year=1999 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |pages=778–80 |isbn=9781884964336}}, Historiography.
• {{cite book |last1=Pleck |first1=Elizabeth Hafkin |last2=Pleck |first2=Joseph H. |title=The American man |url=https://archive.org/details/americanman0000plec |url-access=registration |publisher=Prentice-Hall |location=Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey |year=1980 |isbn=9780130281425}}
• {{cite journal |last=Pozzo |first=Barbara |title=Masculinity Italian style |journal=Nevada Law Journal |volume=13 |issue=2 |page=15 |url=http://scholars.law.unlv.edu/nlj/vol13/iss2/15 |date=2013}}
• {{cite book |last=Taylor |first=Gary |title=Castration: an abbreviated history of western manhood |publisher=Routledge |location=New York |year=2002 |isbn=9780415938815}}
• {{cite book |last=Theweleit |first=Klaus |author-link=Klaus Theweleit |title=Male fantasies |url=https://archive.org/details/malefantasies02klau |url-access=registration |publisher=University of Minnesota Press |location=Minneapolis |year=1987 |isbn=9780816614516}}
• {{cite book |last=Stearns |first=Peter N. |title=Be a man!: males in modern society |publisher=Holmes & Meier |location=New York |year=1990 |isbn=9780841912816}}

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{{wiktionary|masculinity}}

Bibliographic

• [http://mensbiblio.xyonline.net/ The Men's Bibliography], a comprehensive bibliography of writing on men, masculinities, gender and sexualities, listing over 16,700 works. (mainly from a constructionist perspective)
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20060501135951/http://www.boyhoodstudies.com/ Boyhood Studies], features a 2200+ bibliography of young masculinities.

Other

• [https://www.npr.org/series/323986426/men-in-america Men in America], series by National Public Radio

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Category:Anthropology

Category:Social constructionism