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ObjectiveMethodResultsDiscussionFilipino men's self-perceived masculinity and their inclination to seek help are influenced by the cultural context, and barriers in their help-seeking behaviour moderate this relationship. It is hypothesised that higher self-perceived masculinity corresponds to a diminished tendency to seek help, shaped by categorisation into social groups based on masculinity.The respondents were 348 Filipino males, aged 21–45 years, who accomplished the online survey. The participants completed the Male Role Norms Inventory-Revised, Barriers to Help Seeking Scale, and General Help-Seeking Questionnaire. A series of moderation analyses utilising JAMOVI was performed to investigate the moderation of help-seeking barriers on the relationship between masculinity and help-seeking behaviour.Results showed that when Filipino men's self-perception of masculinity increases, their help-seeking behaviour, specifically formal help-seeking, decreases. The following barriers act as moderators – Need for Self-Control and Self-Reliance, Concrete Barriers, and Distrust of Caregivers, significantly influencing the relationship between masculinity and formal help-seeking. Conversely, when seeking informal help, all identified barriers show no buffering effect, as Filipino men prefer informal help-seeking, consistent with the cultural context.Findings support the hypothesis that masculinity predicts their propensity to seek help. Add a one-liner recommendation based on the results. Future authors should focus on conducting localised research that examines the specific cultural factors influencing masculinity and help-seeking behaviours. Additionally, exploring the intersectionality of masculinity with other social factors can provide a more comprehensive understanding of the barriers men face in seeking help. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article examines Western portrayals of white female captives in Moorish societies, focusing on how the film "The Sheik" fueled imperialist ambitions and reinforced Orientalist stereotypes in early cinema. Topics include the narrative framework of silent films, the role of actors like Rudolph Valentino in reshaping masculinity, and the use of captivity and romance tropes to construct identities of the West versus the "Other."

Australia's National Men's Health Strategy 2020–2030 considers men from socio-economically disadvantaged backgrounds to be a priority population and foregrounds the importance of initiatives focused on empowerment. This article seeks to explore young working-class men's experiences with mental health in their years immediately following compulsory schooling. Drawing data from a larger study, we explore five young men who openly discussed their mental health. The analysis focuses on where they struggled, how they struggled and what self-care they enacted. Adopting a health literacy framework, we highlight two broad themes: closing yourself off and opening up. While historically working-class manhood has been centred around stoicism and a reluctance to admitting vulnerability, these case studies suggest that the identity work around masculinities and mental health may be experiencing change. Point of Interest: Historically working-class manhood has been centred around stoicism and a reluctance to admitting vulnerability though this may be changing. This article examines young workingclass men's experiences with mental health in their years immediately following compulsory schooling. To nuance mental health literacy, we adopt a health literacy framework to highlight two broad themes: closing yourself off and opening up. In exploring mental health literacy, we address where working-class boys struggled, how they struggled and what self-care they enacted. The article makes tenuous links between working-class masculinities, mental health and the effects of social change which has implications for treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Though extensive literature exists on Moroccan women in the public sphere, simultaneously less research explores the ways in which men 'do domesticity'. This paper will examine the ways urban Moroccan middle-class men interact within the private spheres of life, why they do so and what this means for gendered subjectivities in Morocco. For some urban middle-class Moroccan men, being a good father means taking an active role in his children's lives and taking care of them with the help of his wife. This is not true for all urban middle-class men, but most said that they were more willing to help with cooking, cleaning and childcare than their father had been: showing a generational shift. Additionally, most participants said that doing housework does not lower the level of a man's masculinity. Despite this, every Moroccan woman that I talked to does most reproductive labour around the house. This paper explores the dynamic nature of Moroccan masculinity across the life cycle: from early marriage, to being a father and being retired. This generational shift is happening due to the confluence of structural changes in education, socioeconomic class and occupation in addition to individuals' desire to be active fathers and husbands. I place urban Moroccan middle-class masculinities in context with Moroccan femininities and highlight both male and female voices. These findings are based on 17 months of ethnographic fieldwork in Rabat, Morocco including 53 semi-structured interviews and extensive participant observation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the wake of deindustrialization, many rural areas in the Global North face challenges such as an ageing population, declining welfare systems and limited job and educational opportunities, problems that have been enhanced by decades of depopulation. Young people have left the countryside for careers in larger cities, contributing to stigmatization of those who stay in rural areas. In Sweden, however, statistics show a slow but steady trend of remigration to rural areas, which is described in municipal and state discourse as positive and necessary to 'save' the countryside. This paper examines the perspective of rural youth who feel differently about such counter-urbanization. Based on a yearlong ethnographic fieldwork with youth, the article shows how young men involved in Swedish greaser culture perceived the influx of urban (re)migrators as a threat to their rural lifestyle and the rural place where they wished to stay. This is interpreted as an expression of subcultural, place-based and temporal resistance towards urban and neoliberal ideals that simultaneously reinforce white, masculine values. As these young men will be part of a rural future, they must be considered in the formulation of sustainable politics for rural areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The document "Radicalization in the Asia-Pacific Region: Themes and Concepts" is a special issue that aims to enhance understanding of radicalization in the Asia-Pacific region. It includes various research papers that explore the diverse socio-economic, political, ideological, technological, and cultural systems influencing radicalization. The papers discuss topics such as the 3 N Model of radicalization, the role of masculinities in recruitment and disengagement from militant groups, and the impact of martialization on individuals' values. Additionally, the document delves into specific case studies from Indonesia, examining the promotion of moderate Islam, relationships between existential anxiety and support for violent extremism, and the role of group identification in religious collective action. The papers highlight the need for context-focused research, interdisciplinary dialogue, and culturally specific perspectives to address the complexities of radicalization in the region. [Extracted from the article]

Men who join militant Islamist networks often frame their participation in masculine terms, as protectors, warriors or brothers. While the role of masculinities in recruitment to jihadi groups has received increasing attention, their role in disengaging men from armed groups (and particularly men in the global south) have not. This paper explores the role of masculinities in shaping men's paths out of jihadi networks. Based on life history research with Indonesian former militant Islamist we suggest that men's pathways out of armed groups are defined by negotiating alternate masculinities, which reposition their gendered role in society from those associated with militancy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As one of the India's rarest kinds of cancer, Male Breast Cancer (MBC) manifests in late presentation, delayed diagnosis, often in the terminal stage, and shock because of a complete unawareness and lack of prior knowledge about the existence of such a disease. Drawing on in-depth interviews with 6 MBC patients of whom 5 patients died within 7–16 months after their respective diagnosis, 9 members of their families, and 5 physicians, this study has revealed that dying with MBC in India is doubly stigmatised as the patients with cancer, which is perceived as a stigma itself, have been diagnosed with an illness of supposed feminine organ, that challenges the masculine identity of the patients. The sense of shame and stigma often results in concealment of the reality from others, and in some instances, the family members also practice complete nondisclosure to the MBC patients themselves to protect them from the sense of 'indignity' associated with a 'woman's disease'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When European nationals left to join Islamic State, the media extensively reported on many of these individuals. Women's news coverage had a recurrent narrative—the "jihadi bride." Academic research has strived to analyse the nature of this coverage, effectively critiquing the narrative. Male jihadists have received limited attention in research on the roles of gender and media. This article seeks to contribute to a gap in knowledge concerning the comparative aspects of gendered representations by evaluating the differences between male and female news media coverage of two high-profile cases: the British woman Shamima Begum and the German man Denis Cuspert. Key findings show that Begum is primarily framed as a reject of British society and a "doubly deviant" woman. Cuspert is portrayed as radical, charismatic, active, and influential over youth. While aligning with previous research on gendered media tropes, this study advances knowledge by demonstrating how each individual's framing does not merely emphasise gendered personality traits but also connects to broader societal and political factors in domestic contemporary cultural settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Health technology is changing the way consumers engage with health professionals and their own well-being. Although digital solutions often focus on supplementing physical care, some have potential as an alternative to offline engagements. This research considers how such phygital experiences can promote well-being and social connectedness. Specifically, we explore how online mental health apps help men to engage in well-being discourses, conversations that they would feel unable to have or uneasy about having without the anonymity of the online setting. However, unlike other phygital products, this app can hinder ongoing offline therapy and even deter some men from seeking professional medical help. Data are drawn from an online peer-support forum and interviews with men struggling with mental illness and mental health advocates. The manuscript concludes by recognising the imperative for research furthering understanding of consumption practices associated with poor mental health and marketing practices that promote mental well-being. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Hegemonic masculinity has developed an appearance on Twitter that spreads to every layer of society and naturalizes digital hegemonic masculinity. In the present study examining the digital hegemonic masculinity towards male sports journalists using Twitter in Türkiye, the comments made by male users on the Twitter posts of 9 sports journalists were analyzed using the netnographic method and 5 sports journalists were interviewed to support the results. As a result of the study, it was determined that male sports journalists were exposed to the discourse of digital hegemonic masculinity on Twitter. Based on the findings of the study, it was found that male sports journalists were exposed to profanity/insult as well as physical and online threats on Twitter. Particularly the individuals who are classified as social hooligans (social media fan) and use Twitter with anonymous credentials act in an organized manner and strengthen the discourse of digital hegemonic masculinity and hegemonic discourse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractTailored language and communication strategies underpin men’s engagement with public health initiatives. The aim of this study was to explore men’s preferences for language and communication in mental health promotion and provide recommendations for current and future programs. A sequential mixed-methods design was used including five focus groups and 21 individual interviews with 64 men. Interpretive description was used to inductively derive three themes: (1) Using coded language to confer mental health, which highlighted the tacit meaning and implications of language as well as men’s covert strategies to communicate their challenges and emotions; (2) Summoning masculine capital with association and metaphors, wherein men’s strategies for conveying mental health in acceptable and relatable ways are chronicled; and (3) Dynamism language to signal action and growth, illustrating participants’ preference for strength-based approaches and gain-framed messaging that positions men as drivers of self-management and personal development. Important implications for men’s mental health promotion are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a novel approach to youth mental health by examining the connections between young Finnish men’s mental health, ideals of masculinity, and public discourses of mental health. Drawing from critical sociological and feminist theories on gender, power, and therapeutic culture, we apply a thematic discursive analysis to a questionnaire data (n = 910) about men’s mental health targeted at young men (primarily aged 15-29). The findings illustrate how young Finnish men consider ‘traditional’ ideals of masculinity widespread in Finland, restricting the actions of men, and upheld by narrow representations of gender. In addition, young men display critical reactions to the public discourses of mental health, especially the ones they feel are repeated in the media. These discourses are seen as insufficient and too individualised, echoing therapeutic culture. Based on our results, we argue that the highly individualised and gendered discourses of mental health, deriving from therapeutic culture and rooted in Finnish cultural and institutional practices, are inadequate for supporting young men’s mental health. Instead, these practices can create a vicious cycle where the often-well-intended efforts can limit and guide young men towards restricted gendered possibilities to express themselves, talk about mental health, and seek support if needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Agribusinesses invest in harnessing the goodwill affiliated with US agrarianism and farm iconography, hoping publics transfer the goodwill they attach to farming onto corporations. To make apparent agribusiness’s rhetorical strategies, we analyze “For the Farmers,” a 2021–2022 John Deere and Anheuser-Busch collaborative campaign to raise money for the nonprofit Farm Rescue. We theorize how productive tensions—farmers as thriving vs. farmers as needy and farms as human spaces vs. farms as machine spaces—mobilize the contradictions of agribusiness mythmaking in the twenty-first century. Our analysis of this campaign’s beer packaging and promotional video offers scholars who are invested in food rhetoric and agricultural communication an invitation to notice how agribusiness atmospheres both host contradiction about imagined pasts and recenter white masculinity to evoke a secure future based on trust of industrial-scale farming and the hydrocarbon economy. By theorizing how rhetorical affect aligns drinking beer with rescuing farmers, we offer a model of critiquing agribusiness’s reliance on myths to promote their brands. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractCatalan director Lluís Quílez’s 2021 Netflix film, Bajocero ostensibly tells the story of men against nature. This article views the film as a rape-revenge thriller that narrativizes a ‘traditional’ masculine identity in crisis and attempts to rehabilitate via an ideal Spanish masculine based in the rural. Released in the aftermath of La manada rape trial, the film burdens the male body with both the believing of women and enacting justice. As one of the first fictional narratives to take on rape in post-manada Spain, the film provides an opportunity to address masculinity in relation to violence against women. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractUsing Street Participatory Action Research (Street PAR), we examined the role of subjective neighborhood quality in bypassing adolescence (through adultification) and pro-violence attitudes among Black male youth. One hundred and thirty-seven street-identified, Black adolescent males (M/SDage = 18.07/1.66) were recruited using snowball sampling through social networks of individuals who identified as “street” or engaged in illegal activity. Respondents reported on neighborhood quality, bypassing adolescence, and pro-violence attitudes. Results showed that poorer perceived neighborhood quality correlated positively with bypassing adolescence and pro-violence attitudes. Bypassing adolescence mediated the association between neighborhood quality and pro-violence attitudes. Thus, street-identified Black boys who had more negative perceptions of their neighborhoods endorsed more positive attitudes toward violence and greater bypassing adolescence, or perceived adultification through street life. This novel finding contextualizes the development of violence attitudes in this understudied population and may suggest that bypassing adolescence is an important site of resilience within a street-identified Black masculinity framework. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article critically reflects on a television trend that remains poorly documented, namely that of representing male virginity as being caused by a form of neurodivergence. As part of an interdisciplinary research project on sexually inexperienced emerging adults (SIEA) in North American films and TV series, a textual analysis has been conducted for four TV series portraying sexually inexperienced men on the spectrum (The Good Doctor, Atypical, The Big Bang Theory, L’Heure bleue). Our research shows that this tendency to associate men’s sexual inexperience with autism is an important issue that reveals the persistence of gender and ableist norms in TV series. For instance, TV series contribute to the reproduction of the stereotype that a man on the spectrum is de facto sexually inexperienced, and then prioritize a “virginity loss” narrative. Characters also acquire maturity after their first sexual encounter, resulting in increased masculine capital. Considering that such series seek to represent neurodiversity, the lack of diversity when it comes to representing sexual inexperience is questioning. The fact that narratives invariably allow neurodivergent men to gain sexual experience seems to reinforce the cultural norm that sexual activity is mandatory, especially for adult men. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of the study is to investigate the construction of street dances in the city of Rio de Janeiro, describing urban dancers and their daily ‘art of doing’, listening to their voices and observing their physical and virtual interactions. In this paper, a specific methodological approach is applied towards a tactical plan in order to understand the urban dance phenomenon within the universe of hip-hop culture. This particular approach includes the analysis of eleven narratives of young dancers and their everyday experiences, their personal life stories, interlinked with categories such as masculinity and business. The results reveal the complexity of hip-hop and street-dance culture in general, and specifically among young Brazilians. The narratives of these young men have provided an effective means for representing hip-hop dancers’ concerns and bodily articulations in order to comprehend their dance practice and the construction of spaces, but also indicate aesthetic and commercial dimensions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article analyzes President Vladimir Putin’s gender-based humor as a way of exploring Russia’s ontological insecurity. Our research explores how Russia’s masculine ontological insecurities are trapped in the realities of patriarchy challenged in a contemporary globalized world. We integrate a constructivist ontology with poststructuralist attention to language to understand the role of gender-based humor in the (re)production of gendered hierarchies, and therefore in sustaining Russia’s ontological security. To achieve our goal, we examined 29 videos of Putin’s speeches broadcast between 2012 and 2022 through the lenses of “feminization” and “masculinization.” The study concludes that it is necessary to take political humor seriously. Its deployment helps Putin to maintain a consistent narrative of Russian self-identity based on associations with masculinity and the feminization of the Russian nation and its foes in the eyes of a conservative segment of the Russian populous. Ultimately, such humor aims to alleviate feelings of insecurity and anxiety, maintaining a heteronormative gendered order in Russian foreign affairs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing from the field of Cultural Memory Studies, this article examines the process of recollection as depicted in Sangre de amor correspondido (Seix Barral, 1982) by Manuel Puig (1932–1990). Within this novel, we witness the portrayal of memory processes through the eyes of Josemar, a marginalized construction worker from a small rural town in Brazil. The protagonist endeavors to narrate his life experiences through the lens of idealized hegemonic masculinity. Some scholars think that gender represents a fundamental facet of identity. Furthermore, identity emerges from introspective processes driven by memory. Consequently, this paper asserts that the integration and signifying of masculine prostheses hinge upon the articulation and solidification of a self-narrative rooted in "masculinity's social frameworks of memory." Through narration, hegemonic masculinity assumes a foundational role within individual identity; simultaneously, it disseminates the patterns—these social frameworks of memory—used for the interpretation and organization of life experiences as recollections. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Following the emergence of the Black Lives Matter movement, a new wave of progressive athlete activism emerged. While a section of sport media members supported these athletes and their causes, a subset of anti-progressive pundits and critics emerged resisting the new wave of politically active Black athletes. I argue that sport media pundits like Clay Travis at Fox Sports represent sport media monetizing white male backlash to "woke" Black athletes. By promoting these voices, these outlets committed to amplifying white male grievance politics and emboldened anti-Black racism in sport media, all while increasing polarization and partisanship, paralleling conservative political news pundits during the Trump era. This essay critically and closely reads and contextualizes the increasingly rightward rhetoric of Travis, explaining how he connects Trumpian rhetoric to sports punditry more broadly and allows major sport media an opportunity to advance overtly conservative, racist, and sexist dialogues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article examines a selection of narratives and images from newspaper articles, advertisements and educational programs to explore the controversies they reflect regarding the participation of women in athletics in Fin-de-Siècle Mexico and Argentina in 19th- and 20th-centuries. Topics include a discussion of the notion of feminine masculinity in modern female athletes, a description of a marimacho, and how the violence inscribed in masculine-feminine binary opposition is instituted.

This article aims to explain how masculine images of Thai slim and slender young men are constructed as homoerotic and homosexual desires focusing on the first generation of commercial gay magazines in the 1980s. Questioning the role of media in the formation of Thai gay culture, the paper explores the connection between consumer culture and the emergence of the modern Thai gay community during the 1980s. Not only do the text/articles in Thai gay magazines tell us about Thai gay culture and history, but the images of men whose photographs appear in Thai magazines also tell us much about the culture of masculinity in Thailand. Thai urban gay people perceived this masculine image and used it to achieve and sustain their sexual imagination. The article demonstrates the representation of male slim and slender bodies in specific social and cultural contexts, which Thai gay men had gradually learned about homoeroticism. It has been found that the homosexual attraction to the slim body image of Thai young men is culturally different from the Western paradigm of big-body gay clones involved in Western gay culture magazines. It could be noted that the cultural and social context behind these homoerotic relations is the changing way of presenting the masculine body of the Thai gay community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Blued is the most popular gay dating app among Chinese sexual minority men. This study explored the textual self-presentation of the profiles on Blued in terms of motivation, appearance focus, and exclusion. A total of 10,000 profiles were randomly selected from a dataset of 197,516 profiles using an interval sampling method. A total of 230 features were developed, and six themes were extracted from 4,881 profiles based on content analysis. The themes were motivation, personal information, partner preference, partner non-preference, sexual preference, and communication preference. Body and age were the most commonly mentioned self-presentations, followed by attractiveness and masculinity. Self-presentations largely focused on the users' photos are prominent on Blued. Exclusion against those who were "overweight," "elderly," "unattractive," and "effeminate" was common. Network analysis was used to analyze and visualize the co-occurrence of these features. Appearance focus and exclusion features were linked with both "hookup" and "no hookup" motivations. Photo-focused communication was linked to the exclusion of others. "No hookup" motivation was associated with more social motivation (e.g., making friends and chatting) and trait-focused communication (e.g., being polite and permanent). "Hookup" motivation was associated with genital presentations (i.e., "big penis" and "like big penis"). Most self-presentation features of sexual preference were sexual role-specific. The results indicate a widespread focus on appearance and exclusion on Blued, which may negatively affect the mental health of Chinese sexual minority men. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Gender differences in cannabis use, related harms, and in the development and progression of cannabis use disorder have been reported. Better understanding and identifying why these differences exist is important in developing and tailoring prevention and treatment approaches. Methods: This qualitative interview study explored influences of gender on cannabis use trajectories. Twenty-three adults (10 cisgender women, 12 cisgender men, 1 non-binary person) who had received treatment for cannabis-related problems were asked about the relationship between their gender and cannabis experiences. Results: Reflexive thematic analysis was used to develop five themes. First, many participants seemingly did not perceive a strong relationship between their gender and cannabis use. Second, men's cannabis use was impacted by masculinity facilitating the initiation and escalation of use, while simultaneously acting as a barrier to seeking treatment. Third, men's motivations for using cannabis were almost always reported to be recreational, which is likely linked to men's use being more normative. Fourth, almost all women reportedly used cannabis to cope, especially with mental health problems. Fifth, social relationships and gender dynamics constrained women's cannabis use, particularly where many felt pressured into seeking treatment due to increased stigma for women who use cannabis. Conclusions: Our findings revealed gender differences in cannabis use trajectories, including treatment seeking, barriers, and facilitators, emphasizing the importance of developing gender-specific approaches for reducing cannabis-related harms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fictional narratives centred around the Partition of India in 1947 usually voice the plight of the women caused by the communal riots and hatred among religious communities. Saadat Hasan Manto, in his short story 'Thanda Gosht' (trans. 'Cold Meat'), translated into English by Khalid Hasan as 'Colder than Ice', brings out the other side of Partition's gendered narrative – the impact of the violent creation of borders on Indian men. Through the notion of 'strange encounters', the paper demonstrates the metaphoric connection between the female body and the contested land of pre-Partition India while the masculine and oppressive Ishwar, who symbolises political leaders mandating the Partition, fails to exert his supremacy as he is traumatised by the psychological repercussions of the aftermath of violence- sexual on a micro level, communal on a macro level. By critiquing the familiarity and strangeness that underscore the Self-Other binary, the essay visualises alternate paradigms of gendered nationalist encounters- how the male communalist perpetrator's masculinity is a product of myriad privileges, his hegemonic power in a patriarchal system being one. It will also interrogate notions of shame and honour that pervade such gendered encounters underlined by violence to demonstrate how Manto's stories subvert that discourse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To examine the associations of dimensions of masculinity—respect/toughness and anti-femininity/hypersexuality—with sexual risk behaviors and protective behavioral intentions and the effects of awareness of anti-Blackness. Participants: 127 Black heterosexual men were recruited from four Historically Black Colleges and Universities and one Minority Serving Institution in the South. Methods: Students completed an online survey as part of a pilot study to assess the sexual health needs of Black college students. Results: Our results indicated that respect/toughness and anti-femininity/hypersexuality were significant correlates of protective behavioral intentions. After accounting for awareness of anti-Blackness and age, anti-femininity/hypersexuality was a significant correlate of sexual risk behaviors. Conclusions: Our study highlights the complex multi-dimensional construct of masculinity and how forms of anti-Blackness continue to influence HIV vulnerability. Therefore, there is a need to include structural factors within research to better understand behaviors among Black college men and incorporate dimensions of masculinity that promote healthy sexual behaviors in interventions and programming. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyses the perceived problems and proposed solutions concerning absent Australian servicemen fathers during the Second World War, and places them within the broader context of contemporary ideas about masculinity. The absence of servicemen fathers led to concerns from all areas of society about the impact on their children, in particular sons. There were fears that being raised solely by women would lead to boys becoming lonely, effeminate, spoilt, or juvenile delinquents. It was suggested that existing male family members, such as uncles and grandfathers, as well as male teachers, act as surrogate fathers and become role models. Boys' clubs, such as Scouts and the YMCA, also provided boys with access to male role models, and their weekly meetings, Father Son events, and camping provided opportunities for imparting the 'code of boyhood' and the development of masculine qualities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examined the feasibility of a one-week self-compassion intervention delivered exclusively online to competitive men athletes. Information regarding the content of the intervention, including specific modules and protocols, are included in this manuscript. Our findings are encouraging for the feasibility of the intervention, with data trends in hypothesized directions (e.g., self-compassion levels increased at post-intervention). The men athletes generally considered the self-compassion intervention helpful, particularly for easing emotional suffering from sport-specific difficult experiences and to move forward adaptively. Recommendations based on our evaluation of the intervention are also included for those hoping to deliver similar services in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite recent trends toward introducing female characters with increasingly active roles in video games, there is still a noticeable conservatism regarding shaping central female protagonists in Ubisoft’s franchises. However, in Assassin’s Creed Origins, the trajectories of the protagonists, Bayek and Aya, are as different as possible. While Bayek’s gamic narratives are centered on family values aimed at avenging the death of his dead son, Aya’s story and scholarly origins revolve around direct cooperation with elite politicians like Cleopatra to achieve the same purpose. I show that Aya embodies hegemonic femininity based on her social location, not only in class and race but also in gender as a source of power superior to the masculinity of her husband, Bayek (the “intersectional domination” framework). Subsequently, analyzing relevant comments on Reddit, I argue that the ambivalent reactions to Aya’s femininity coincide with a postfeminist playerbase, with ambiguous and often contradictory attitudes towards Aya’s better intersectional location. Considering digitally mediated misogynist tensions exemplified by #Gamergate and other viralized communities via Reddit, I explore the inequalities between the two characters in Assassin’s Creed using a postfeminist lens and highlight potential implications for video games and gender studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractThis study aimed to explore contextual factors influencing couples’ leisure practices and experiences through in-depth interviews with 15 Taiwanese heteronormative married couples. Findings suggested that despite Taiwanese women’s performance in the public sphere, husbands benefit from using work-family narratives and attendant gender order and practices as unconscious “social defenses” to rationalize leisure inequality generated by gender norms. When married women are under pressure to accept gender norms attached to wives or mothers, they reconfigure their understanding of gender roles to implicitly acknowledge male dominance in a “system justification” manner. In addition, they further redefine motherhood in the way they feel best fits their position in the family and curb their desire for personal leisure. Unequal gender relationships determine couples’ perceptions and patterns of leisure, which contributes, at least in part, to the persistence of leisure inequalities in the family environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates the imagined utopia of Chinese masculinity to uncover contemporary ideals of Chinese manhood and prototypes of gender relationships. To this end, the study involves in-depth interviews with 25 danmei creators and online questionnaires collected from danmei communities in mainland China. This study contributes to previous scholarly discussions by delineating danmei’s fandom and danmei’s literary formulae. The created masculinities in danmei reflect rising female creators’ subjectivities. Nevertheless, danmei’s political implications in China are limited and cannot be generalized as a move to overthrow the patriarchy or oversimplified as a step towards a feminist movement. Among the different archetypes of relationships, the pairing of two strong male characters enjoys the most popularity, which attests to women’s projection of independent subjectivity and rising neoliberal sensibilities in China. However, these emergent masculinities, initiated by female creators, persist in negotiations with the market and the state. The danmei industry in China, although subject to stringent surveillance, continues to flourish through underground avenues such as piracy and overseas purchasing agents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractThis paper conceptualises the inaction of school leadership teams in response to systemic sexual harassment as institutional gaslighting, a theoretical tool to date unutilised in studies of sexual harassment in educational settings. Drawing on case studies of two women teachers who experienced sustained sexual harassment in Australian schools, and whose leadership responded with denial, minimisation and intentional mixed messaging, we argue that schools are home to and perpetuate unequal epistemic terrains, where women’s knowing is under­mined by dominant operations of the school that work to maintain structural and cultural norms. These norms, we suggest, are informed by hegemonic masculinity and feminine stereotypes of irrationality and deviance, and prevent violence against women in schools being addressed. We argue that institutional gaslighting is a productive concept to expose the epistemic injustice that delegitimates women’s knowledge of their experience and help in addressing systemic issues with responding to sexual harassment in schools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: This study explored factors associated with help seeking among cisgender men college and university students who experienced sexual victimization. Methods: We used multilevel logistic regression on data from 33 campuses (n = 4,474 students, 4,674 incidents) to model the association between cisgender men’s help seeking and incident, individual, and campus factors. Results: Incident, individual, and campus factors were associated with help seeking odds. Some factors were associated with increased help seeking odds (e.g. perpetrator in a position of power, being gay or having a disability, campus-level racial diversity), others with decreased odds (e.g. drinking before an incident). Conclusions: Findings have implications for programs and policies. Future studies should attend to the roles of masculinity, power, and campus contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article draws from Stuart Hall and Sarah Banet-Weiser to examine how ‘orthodox’ and ‘dissident’ popular feminist literature cite the manosphere to reflect and (re)produce cultural norms about men, masculinity and, politically pressingly, the possible relations men can have with feminism. While orthodox feminism represents men as patriarchal threats to the realization of a feminist social order, dissident feminism represents men as natural threats to women and criticizes other feminists for refusing to accept the ‘reality’ that men and women are ‘naturally’ different. Despite this difference, each contributes to a feminist culture in which it is both ‘popular’ to extract insights about man as a general social category by making use of the manosphere, and in which the idea that men and feminism are necessarily antagonistic is central. Each participates, in other words, in a representational project wherein ‘man’ poses a fundamental threat to ‘woman’. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reads Bad Bunny’s gender performance as queer in his album X100PRE. Utilising methodology proposed by Juana María Rodríguez, we focus on “queer gestures” rather than “categories of identification” to argue that Bad Bunny experiments with a markedly queer gender fluidity. We first explore the queer affect of nostalgia in the song “Como antes” and Bad Bunny’s Instagram posts, then investigate the role of fashion in the “¿Quién tú eres?” video, using Umberto Eco’s approach to clothing as a code that communicates gender, power, and social distinction. Finally, we examine how Bad Bunny’s gender performance challenges normative masculinity in the United States from the perspective of a racialised, colonised Puerto Rican subject. This analysis reveals how gender fluidity has permeated the genre of reggaetón, traditionally linked to hypermasculinity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article describes the masculinity narratives of working-class Syrian and Turkish youths in Istanbul on their lived experiences of socio-economic inequalities, everyday violence, and discrimination. Based on qualitative fieldwork conducted in 2020 and 2021 with male youths in two districts, it emphasizes the common experiences of Syrian and Turkish male youths shaped by their working-class predicaments, but also demonstrates that certain forms of masculinity performances emerge as strategies to tackle the difficulties in their lives. Turkish youths’ masculinity narratives display nationalism and anti-migrant discourses, whereas Syrian youths seek to affirm their dignity against racism through performances of masculinity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Building on a feminist critical discourse analysis, this study reveals the mechanism of the continuous reproduction of hegemonic masculinity in a Chinese manosphere, Hupu, the biggest sports fandom platform in China. As an ideological foundation on Hupu, hegemonic masculinity directs misogynistic practices (e.g. sexualization of women and misogynistic lexicon development) and shapes an imagined community of toxic brotherhood. In turn, the misogynistic practices and this community of brotherhood also reproduce hegemonic masculinity, ensuring a cycle of the maintenance of a toxic manosphere. We further consider the socio-political context in contemporary China to criticize how state power, platform affordances, and hegemonic masculinity are intertwined and jeopardize Chinese feminism both online and offline. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper draws on a wider study that sought to explore the constructions of masculinity and professional identities of nine foundation-phase male educators teaching in rural contexts of the Mpumalanga Province of South Africa. Using case study methodology, we interviewed each of the teachers twice. We use Connell’s theory of masculinity alongside Crenshaw’s intersectionality theory to showcase the complex ways in which the local context, together with its racialised and patriarchal history, produces a particular position of ambivalence in how the nine male teachers constitute their masculinities. Some of the male teachers exhibit a caring masculinity that challenges the hegemonic, toxic masculinities of the context, while simultaneously enjoying and claiming male privilege – a form that supports patriarchy and undermines women teachers. We argue that this ambivalent position does little to bring about transformed gender relations in the foundation phase. We therefore call for teacher training programmes to address male privilege and patriarchy to assist men to unlearn their socially assumed position of authority. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This experiment examines how a police interviewer’s judgment error and apology affect a sexual violence victim’s secondary victimization, trust in the interviewer, rapport, and willingness to provide information. Ninety students from Peru were asked to imagine being sexual violence victims and were interviewed online by a mock police interviewer. Participants were randomized into three conditions: judgment error without apology, judgment error with apology, and a no-error control. The judgment error involved suggesting the victim was partly responsible for their victimhood, citing women’s clothing choices and questioning men’s masculinity. Our findings show judgment errors reduced trust, rapport, and willingness to provide information while increasing secondary victimization; apologizing improved trust and rapport but did not affect secondary victimization or willingness to provide information. These outcomes indicate that judgment errors in sexual violence victim interviews can negatively impact the interviewing process and outcomes and highlight the importance of an apology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Contemporary discourses on feminism’s role in Australian boys’ lives focus on how feminism might guide strategies that train boys to resist negative or ‘toxic’ performances of masculinity and instead encourage them to strive for a ‘healthy’ or ‘positive’ masculinity. In this article, I question whether training young people to attach themselves to a particular masculinity is aligned with a commitment to queer politics or serves the interests of boys, particularly queer boys or gender-diverse young people. I begin by tracing unsettled contests over masculinity's ontological foundations, including the roles of biology, identification, ‘gendered’ traits, and affective attachments. Through the method of autoethnography, I then explore issues that arise in the logic and implementation of common desires to train boys into ‘healthy’ men. I argue that, drawing on a queer liberation tradition, feminism can be an invitation to solidarity and freedom as well as a ‘way out’ or ‘refuge’ from the regulatory policing of gender norms associated with boyhood. I suggest a detachment or disaffection with masculinity does not have to lead to an identity crisis and can instead be part of a feminist killjoy survival kit [Ahmed, Sara. 2017. Living a Feminist Life. Durham: Duke University Press]. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay explores the development of narcissistic vulnerability and manifestations of toxic masculinity in some Chinese males, examining the interplay of cultural, historical, and psychological factors. Drawing on psychoanalytic theories and clinical case studies, the author argues that certain aspects of Chinese culture—such as authoritarian social structures, rigid gender roles, transgenerational trauma, and dysfunctional family dynamics—can contribute to these phenomena. The deprivation of crucial selfobject experiences, vital for a cohesive sense of self, may lead to compensatory performances of stoicism, achievement obsession, and domination that align with toxic masculine ideals. Two clinical vignettes illustrate how these dynamics manifest across different generations, despite China’s socioeconomic progress. The essay conceptualizes toxic masculinity as potentially stemming from developmentally-impeded narcissistic health in some cases, calling for approaches that address core ruptures to guide affected individuals towards greater self-acceptance and healthier relationships. However, the author cautions against overgeneralization, emphasizing that these dynamics may only reflect the experiences of a subset of Chinese males rather than being universally applicable across Chinese culture and society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fatherhood is rooted in various cultural, societal, and even religious belief systems. In the South African context, where fathers are often perceived to be absent or uninvolved, fathers’ parental identity development might be hindered. This study focused on fathers’ commitment, exploration, and reconsideration in the process of forming a parental identity within the South African sociocultural context. Eight emerging and early adult black South African fathers were interviewed. Through reflexive thematic analysis, a nuanced visage of fatherhood that carries both the old ideologies of material provision and the newfound valuing of nurturing care was constructed. The complexities of balancing ideas of fatherhood, manhood, and personhood were evident in how participants struggled to align their aspirations of being physically present and emotionally engaged fathers with the reality of being providers in a financially strenuous context. Participants embraced the idea of a family unit as a foundation and also appreciated the value of communal notions of child-rearing. While the challenging nature of fatherhood was often met with reconsideration, a firm commitment was evident. This qualitative inquiry into the experiences of fatherhood addresses the personal, socio-economic, and cultural aspects embedded in the formation of parental identity among black South African men. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article introduces a conceptual framework rooted in social work principles to support the mental well-being of Black males within the nurturing and supportive setting of the Black Church. It addresses how historical trauma, societal views of Black masculinity, and social determinants of health have made Black men more likely to experience mental health challenges. The framework combines vulnerability theory and social work theory to focus on Black men's strengths and cultural sensitivities. It emphasizes the Black Church as a critical resource for promoting mental wellness and resilience. The approach includes implementing effective interventions to challenge stigma, improve the availability of mental health services, and encourage Black men to seek assistance. This article presents a holistic approach aimed at addressing mental health disparities experienced by Black males. It proposes using the strengths of the Black Church to promote resilience, facilitate healing, and encourage Black men to prioritize their mental well-being. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Traditional masculine norms state men are tough, protective, and sexually assertive. Young Black men must weigh the rewards and costs of adhering to or deviating from these norms within the college environment, as their choices can be detrimental to their health. Using the ecological-exchange framework, we examined adherence to or deviation from traditional masculine norms from focus groups with 13 Black heterosexual men at two Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and one Minority-Serving Institution. Participants formed their masculinity through experiences with male role models and mothers but felt conflicted in their need to adhere to or deviate from norms. This reflects the processes men go through to develop their masculinity and highlights needed interventions focused on cultivating healthy masculinity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the dual star image of Hollywood film star George Sanders (1906-1972), drawing on fan magazines, and other media sources and interviews with a family member. The focus is on the ambivalence of Sanders' persona and his role in establishing the archetype of the cad. Initially, Sanders was portrayed by fan publications as a pin-up, whose attractiveness even came to briefly have a propaganda function. His association with a type of masculinity that was misogynistic, queer and attractive was paradoxical. His duality was reinforced by the roles he played on screen and by the sudden appearance in Hollywood of his older brother, Tom Conway, who acted as his shadow and his double. Sanders hated his stardom, but he made use of his star status to attempt to establish alternative careers; in writing, singing, and in a particular ill-fated business venture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the past two decades, the literature on norm diffusion in the post-Soviet space has grown dramatically. Increasingly, scholars have stressed the role of geopolitical competition between powerful international actors, notably Russia and the European Union (EU), in achieving and/or resisting liberal-democratic reform in the region. This article contributes to this recent research by adding a corrective to the literature, exploring the agency of local rather than external actors in the contestation of global gender equality norms through the high-value cases of Armenia and Georgia. By uncovering taken-for-granted gendered power dimensions in local norm contestation – a subject barely addressed in the norm diffusion literature – the article offers an explanation for the persistence of non-democratic trends in the post-Soviet space as a whole. Specifically, the article examines populist political masculinities contesting EU gender equality policies and related norms concerning violence against women and lesbian, gay, bisexual, and trans (LGBT) rights, arguing that in Armenia and Georgia, it is local populist actors, using taken-for-granted patriarchal and heterosexual discourses to reclaim local masculinities and their political legitimacy, who represent a major challenge to gender equality norms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explores the Arabesk films of Orhan Gencebay and their representation of masculinities. It compares their approach with that of other Yeşilçam melodramas within the productive years of the Turkish popular cinema between the late 1960s and 1980, focusing on the treatment of fallen women and men's corporeal performances in need of female approval. Gencebay's filmography presents an opportunity to decipher an indecisive, modernized and quasi-authentic masculinity constructed upon the moral dilemmas engendered by the absence of traditional village relations in an urban setting. Although Arabesk masculinities have a generally positive attitude toward fallen women and present a milder approach to tradition, they often fall back on patriarchal modes of thought by putting the emancipation of women down to men, thus finding common ground with other masculinities prone to violence in Turkish cinema of the period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 1980s was marked by the emergence of new cinematic forms in Turkey, including films concerning issues related to various forms of women's oppression involving sexual objectification, rape, and subordination. Through a close textual analysis, this article discusses how the 1982 film Iffet attempts to create a rape–revenge story, romanticizing sexual aggression against women through hysterization of the protagonist. This study examines the film's representation of the concepts of patriarchy, honor, virginity, and hegemonic masculinity within Turkey's socio-political atmosphere in the 1980s. Mulvey's feminist film theory and Brownmiller's description of rape myths were used for the analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]