The political significance of fragile masculinity

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Highlights

  • Fragile masculinity refers to anxiety felt by men who believe they are falling short of cultural standards of manhood.

  • Fragile masculinity can motivate compensatory attitudes/behaviors meant to restore the threatened status of ‘real’ manhood.

  • The correlates and consequences of fragile masculinity have not yet been fully explored in the political realm.

  • Evidence suggests that fragile masculinity leads to support for aggressivepolicies and for Republican politicians.

Recent research in gender psychology finds that males are expected to actively earn and maintain their status as ‘real men’ or risk losing this valued group status. The precariousness of manhood can create anxiety among males who feel that they are failing to meet cultural standards of masculinity—a state we term fragile masculinity. Although research has identified a variety of strategies that men adopt in order to restore their threatened status as ‘real men’, few studies have examined compensatory attitudes and behaviors in the political realm. We review recent evidence suggesting a link between fragile masculinity and aggressive political stances as well as support for the party (Republicans) that tends to endorse such stances. Overall, the evidence, though currently limited, suggests that fragile masculinity is crucial to fully understanding men’s political attitudes and behaviors.

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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