Counselling Men
Men are often deemed invisible within the human services sector. Many ideas revolve around this comment, one major confliction being that men are masculine, and that they display hegemonic masculinity – that being the dominant form of masculinity in society. Research has discovered that men’s health has flourished in recent years with a “focus on ways in which gender constructions impact on men’s health outcomes and everyday lives” (Broom & Tovey 2009, p.1.).
HEGEMONIC MASCULINITY
As said previously, hegemonic masculinity is a term coined by Raewyn Connell for the dominant form of heterosexual masculinity in Western society. Gender socialisation is also a vital factor in determining and understanding problems for men in society. Socialisation is defined as “the process in which an individual learns the culture of a society and internalises its norms, values and perspectives in order to know how to behave and communicate” (Germov & Poole, 2011, p.235.). There is no single form of masculinity; there are only types of masculinities. Connell calls the most dominant form of masculinity hegemonic. Whilst it may not be the most common form, it is the one masculinity, which is culturally dignified, and it is “culturally accepted to answer the problems of legitimacy of patriarchy, which guarantees the dominance of men and the subordination of women” (Connell 2005. p.7.). Many men have the same notion that they need to be strong both mentally and physically, and if they are not it is an embarrassment, therefore presenting how it can be a difficulty for them to seek help when needed.
MEN, MASCULINITY AND HELP-SEEKING BEHAVIOUR
Popular stereotypes have long characterized men as unwilling to seek for help when needed. The r...
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...s violence goes, there are many factors such as sexual assault, intimate partner violence, violent crime, male rape, gangs and prisons.
All social workers must be able to assess the impact of violence on their clients. When assessing this in the lives of men, it is highly important to find ways of asking clear and direct questions without making men feel defensive and/or judged. Social workers must also be careful of the language the use, for example:
“Have you ever committed abuse or domestic violence” may be derogatory and may not elicit the desired response.
“Tell me about any times you may have engaged in any physical behavior with another person” can be seen an a nonthreatening way of beginning a conversation on this topic.
When the threat of violence is highly a problem, it is extremely crucial that safety management become the most central intervention.
The concept of masculinity is considered as the qualities and characteristics of a man, typical what is appropriate to a man. In this article, A Community Psychology of Men and Masculinity: Historical and Conceptual Review, The author Eric S. Mankowski and Kenneth I. Maton, analyze four main themes: "Men as gendered beings, the privilege and damage of being a masculine man, men as a privileged group, and men’s power and subjective powerlessness. The second and fourth themes are described as
One of the many pros of a face-to-face interview is that it is easy to convey emotion. This gave me the opportunity to ask different types of questions and for him to elaborate on these personal inquiries. Also my interviewee was very responsive to my questions and he gave me excellent feedback ranging from general answers to specific, without me asking to further explain. I knew that I could dive more in depth with the questions, which allowed for more information regarding to my sports oriented questions. To be honest, they’re not many cons in regards to my interviewee and how he responded to my questions. Now I didn’t ask sexual questions or how he feels about relationships, which may be a con because I didn’t get his view on this prominent topic in today’s
She taught at universities both in Australia and the United States. Connell highly disagreed that the ideas about what established masculinity are ethically definite. In other words, masculinity is important to whom is referred to. For example, “if women are seen as weak, passive and emotional, then men are supposed to be strong, aggressive, and rational” (Seidman, 221). Additionally, masculinity is based on how people interact with each other in which correlates with their race, class, and sexuality. With this said, Connell said, “to recognize diversity in masculinity: relations of alliance, dominance and subordination… This is a gender politics within masculinity” (Seidman, 223). To point out Connell’s theorizing masculinity, she believes that diversity defines masculinity has its own relationships with authorities. In our text, Seidman gave a brief example of how the roles carry out to the social authority such as President, Senator, CEO, General, media executive, or surgeon. It is stated that while there are many senators, executives, or CEOs who are women, it is definite identify as masculinity because people think those high authorities is only for a male role. In our text, Connell has mentioned that “every society has a dominant or a “hegemonic” type of masculinity” (223). This means that she believes men has the power or control type of their masculinity in the
Domestic violence has been plaguing our society for years. There are many abusive relationships, and the only question to ask is: why? The main answer is control. The controlling characteristic that males attribute to their masculinity is the cause of these abusive relationships. When males don’t have control, they feel their masculinity is threatened and they need to do something about it.
In one of our class discussions on hegemonic masculinity, we attempted to define a general list of characteristics or behaviors that one should have in order to attain this ideal. However, there was no consensus on these qualities. Frequently, the qualities that we would suggest would be those that were the opposite of qualities associated with women. For example, if we would categorize being emotional as a trait assigned to women, we would assign the trait of being impassive to men. This would also occur when we considered which behaviors would be considered masculine. While we assumed women would perform work inside of the house, we assigned men to work outside of the house, doing activities such as maintaining the yard or fixing the car. Most of, if not all of, the qualities and behaviors we assigned as being a part of hegemonic masculinity perpetuated the idea of gender inequality. When we assumed that those characteristics would be considered aspects of hegemonic masculinity, we restricted them to only being assigned to men because if a woman could possess those characteristics, it wouldn’t be considered a masculine aspect. This also explains how hegemonic masculinity can perpetuate
Masculinity is described as possession of attributes considered typical of a man. Hegemonic masculinity is a form of masculine character with cultural idealism and emphasis that connects masculinity to competitiveness, toughness, and women subordination. Masculinity hegemonic is the enforcement of male dominion over a society. Masculine ideology dates back to the time of agrarian and the industrial revolution in Europe when survival compelled men to leave their homesteads to work in industries to earn a living for their families while women remained at home to take care of family affairs (Good and Sherrod 210). Women did not work in industries then because industrial labor was considered too physical beyond their capacity. This led to definition of roles which placated the position of men in a society while condemning women as mere subordinates who cannot do without men. The critics of gender stereotypes in America describe the following five hegemonic features of masculinity: frontiersman ship, heterosexuality, occupational achievement, familial patriarchy, and physical force and control (Trujillo 4). The advent of the 20th century led to sweeping changes in American masculinity.
his Essay will analyse, introduce, and discuss the terms Hegemonic Masculinity and Emphasized femininity, if it still applies in modern times and the use of these concepts to comprehend the role of the man and female in Eastern Asia, in relation to post-war Japan. In order to present a clear and linear argument I will divide this essay into three parts: In the first part I will define the term hegemonic masculinity, the common traits and the influence that it has in society; the essay will continue then in explaining and outlining the term emphasized femininity. The second part will analyse the impact of the notions of hegemonic masculinity and emphasized femininity in relation to post war Japan has. The last part will briefly identify some
In this paper, I argue that while sexual violence is arguably the monopoly of men, it is culturally cultivated rather than biologically determined. Consistent with the concept of Hegemonic Masculinity which theorises male domination of other males and subordination of females (Connell, 2005), I assert that rape is particularly rampant in societies where sexual violence is an effective means of attaining this status quo. Thus when rape is institutionalised in the context of war where masculinity is measured by the ability and willingness to assert violence upon the enemy, rape becomes rampant because it is not only condoned but authorised (Price, 2001). I then debunk the claims of biological determinism that men are inherently predisposed to rape in order to ensure reproductive continuity (Knauft et.al, 1991) by highlighting that victims of non-consensual sexual penetration are often males, children and post-menopausal women through whom reproduction cannot occur. Thus, rape does not demonstrate biological propensity but rather societal pursuit of male dominance. I conclude that since the occurrence of rape is consistently higher in more patriarchal societies, the issue of rape is more deep-rooted than isolated cases of unregulated male testosterone or criminality but it is rather the by-product of cultural legitimisation of male sexual violence.
According to feminist Victoria L. Bromley, if feminism is about combating all forms of inequalities, including oppression, towards all social groups, then feminists must study how masculinity oppresses both men and women. Patriarchy, men’s powers and dominance, hegemonic masculinity, the idea that the “dominant group” in society is most powerful, and hyper masculinity, the exaggeration of the emphasis on male characteristics, all lead to oppression through multiple forms: privileges and unearned privileges, hierarchies of power and exclusion. Bromley argues that the feminist approach towards eliminating oppression, is to use an intersectional analysis, a theoretical tool used for understanding how multiple identities are connected and how systems
Drijber, B., Reijnders, U., & Ceelen, M. (2013). Male victims of domestic violence. Journal Of Family Violence, 28(2), 173--178.
and their daily lives. This presentation of masculinity can alter how men respect women in the
Jensen provides evidence throughout the text for three assumptions on why masculinity must be terminated from pertaining to just males. It is proposed that masculinity is harmful for both men and women, that men are surrendering their humanity by conforming with masculinity, and
Masculinity is a subject that has been debated in our society for quite some time. Many wonder what it means to be masculine, as it is difficult to define this one –sided term. Pairing this already controversial term with “feminist studies” can bring about some thought - provoking conversation. Feminist studies of men have been around for many years with regards to the feminist movement. It seeks to create gradual improvements to society through its main principle of modifying the ways in which everyone views what it means to be a man. Feminist studies of men bring forth the discussion of hegemonic masculinity; how this contributes to the gender hierarchy, the radicalized glass escalator and ultimately the faults of this theory.
The concept of hegemonic masculinity, as described by R. W. Connell, is becoming more applicable than ever, namely in the world of sport. This notion was developed nearly twenty-five years ago, yet remains highly influential in the social construction of gender roles. In current Western societies, there is an automatic assumption that women involved in sports are all lesbians, and men posses more masculine traits than one who is not involved in sports. This double standard emphasizes the inequalities within the athletic community. The emphasis on masculinity brings forth different consequences for men and women, where men are regarded as strong and powerful, while women are intrinsically seen as more masculine (Baks & Malecek,
We live in a world where society has defined masculine and famine characteristics and features that have influenced our culture. Men are seen as: