The Problem

Fostering critical awareness of masculinity and gender inequality around the world is key to developing effective solutions to many social problems. Men in societies throughout the world enjoy privilege in the areas of power, wealth, and status. They are also responsible for a vast majority of acts related to gender violence and oppression around the globe. Yet, men’s health disparities and changing economic patterns offer ever more complex constraints for what it means to be a man around the world.

Recognizing that research on masculinities often centers Western, white, heterosexual masculinities, it is important to consider how masculinities interact with nationality, culture, sexuality, gender identity, class, and other aspects of difference. Understanding masculinities intersectionally requires reflecting on the concepts of male dominance and toxic masculinity. Male dominance refers to the societal and cultural norms that favor men while marginalizing women, transgender people, and children. Toxic masculinity describes the harmful impacts of masculinities that emphasize dominance, the use of violence to solve problems, and the suppression of empathic emotions, like sadness, fear, and compassion. While the specifics of male dominance and toxic masculinity vary across time and cultures, many of these practices recur often enough for patterns to emerge.

Acknowledging the globally harmful aspects of male dominance and toxic masculinity is a point of entry to examine data about men’s wellness, men’s role in global violence, and the perpetuation of oppression around the world. A fundamental characteristic of toxic masculinity is what social psychology researchers describe as the empathy gap, or the decreased capacity of men to show concern for others. Among men in many cultures, there are prescriptive norms for social behavior such as being a contender and winner, maintaining control of oneself and one’s emotions, and being a provider and protector. As these norms are applied in practice, there develops a tendency for men and boys to sympathize less with the emotions, experiences, and values of others. Toxic masculinity also encourages men and boys to hide their own needs, challenges, and distress by shielding their authentic emotive experiences under a facade of dominance and aggression. This emotional suppression, coupled with male-dominated social environments, results in the diminishment of men’s health and impedes men’s relationships. Men are socialized to enact what Michael Kaufman calls a triad of violence—violence toward women, other men, and themselves.