The political significance of fragile masculinity
Section snippets
What is fragile masculinity?
A long tradition of research into masculinity examines the prevailing cultural expectations to which men are expected to conform [1,2]. Only recently have scholars begun to document the fraught nature of these expectations—and the psychological and behavioral consequences for men who fear they are falling short of strict masculine standards [3]. A new (but fast-growing) body of psychological research demonstrates that manhood is ‘precarious’—that is, males are expected to actively achieve and
Consequences of fragile masculinity
Much of what we know about the consequences of fragile masculinity comes from studies that experimentally reduce men’s confidence in their manhood. Manhood threat is most often induced by insinuating that the participant is high in femininity—the primary trait that prevailing American cultural standards demand that men avoid. Popular approaches have men engage in stereotypically feminine tasks (e.g., hair braiding) [11] or give participants false feedback on a gender knowledge test indicating
Fragile masculinity’s role in politics
The political realm may be an especially appealing arena for men to prove and (if necessary) restore their manhood status. In politics, men may choose between parties, politicians, ideologies, and policies that vary in terms of their gendered connotations. In the context of politics, masculine stances and policies are those that convey toughness, aggression, and risk tolerance—qualities that might be relevant in the domains of national security and foreign policy. It may thus be the case that
Conflict of interest statement
Nothing declared.
References and recommended reading
Papers of particular interest, published within the period of review, have been highlighted as:
• of special interest
•• of outstanding interest
Acknowledgement
We thank Marie Helweg-Larsen for comments and valuable feedback on an earlier version of this article.
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‘STFU and start listening to how scared we are’: Resisting misogyny on Twitter via #NotAllMen
2022, Discourse, Context and MediaCitation Excerpt :The #NotAllMen hashtag is some trump level fragile nonsense. Use of the adjective ‘fragile’ as part of the pre-modification of the noun ‘nonsense’ here alludes to ‘fragile masculinity’ - a term from behavioural science to mean an anxiety experienced by some men that they might ‘fail to convincingly demonstrate their manhood [and thus] risk losing their status as “real men”’ (DiMuccio and Knowles, 2020: 25). Ex-US President Donald Trump is invoked here through the phrase ‘trump level’, which quantifies the degree to which the hashtag is fragile ‘nonsense’.
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