Facing the Complications of Being an Anti-violent Man

The massive levels of sexual violence that are present today must have a source. Chapter 2 posits that male socialization is a primary contributor to male-perpetrated violence. Few would deny that a male socialization exists but it is rare to examine it. Readers are encouraged to help boys identify those aspects of manhood that negatively influence their lives, and the author shares some concerns about male cultures that boys have expressed to him. The toolbox for recruiters of boys is expanded as freedom from male stereotypes is suggested as a major selling point for boys that challenge traditional male training.

Stereotypes of Older Adults, Older Men, and Male Leaders Predict Expectations, Stance, and Voting Intentions

The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election offered a unique opportunity to examine how stereotypes of older adults, older men, and male leaders impact expectations of candidate job performance and intentions to vote for Biden or Trump. This online study involved 500 college students from two universities from September 30th until November 3 (Election Day). A Biden and Trump model were tested for the relationships among (a) stereotypes from public discourse with (b) expectations of candidates/ presidential performance with (c) voting stance (pro- and anti-Biden vs pro- and anti-Trump) and (d) intentions to vote for Biden/Trump. As expected, for the Biden model, endorsement of older adult (lesser endorsement of senile, unhealthy), male leadership (greater endorsement of assertive and collaborative, lesser endorsement of uncaring), and older male stereotypes (greater endorsement of elder statesman and family-focused) predicted greater expectations of Biden’s performance, which predicted pro-Biden and anti-Trump stances and ultimately voting intentions for Biden. As expected, for the Trump model, endorsement of older adult (lesser endorsement of senile), male leadership (greater endorsement of assertive, collaborative, lesser endorsement of immoral and uncaring), and older male stereotypes (greater endorsement of elder statesman) predicted greater expectations of Trump’s performance, which predicted pro-Trump and anti-Biden stances and ultimately voting intentions for Trump. Taken together, these results suggest examining relevant categories of stereotypes associated with candidates and voting stances provides a fuller picture of voting behavior toward multiple candidates vying for office in addition to political ideology and voting intentions.

Perceptions and Interpretation of Contemporary Masculinities in Western Culture: A Systematic Review

The social construct of masculinity evolves in response to changes in society and culture. Orthodox masculinity is mostly considered to be hegemonic and is evidenced by the dominance of men over women and other, less powerful men. Contemporary shifts in masculinity have seen an emergence of new masculinities that challenge traditional male stereotypes. This systematic review aims to review and synthesize the existing empirical research on contemporary masculinities and to conceptualize how they are understood and interpreted by men themselves. A literature search was undertaken on 10 databases using terms regularly used to identify various contemporary masculinities. Analysis of the 33 included studies identified four key elements that are evident in men’s descriptions of contemporary masculinity. These four elements, (a) Inclusivity, (b) Emotional Intimacy, (c) Physicality, and (d) Resistance, are consistent with the literature describing contemporary masculinities, including Hybrid Masculinities and Inclusive Masculinity Theory. The synthesized findings indicate that young, middle-class, heterosexual men in Western cultures, while still demonstrating some traditional masculinity norms, appear to be adopting some aspects of contemporary masculinities. The theories of hybrid and inclusive masculinity suggest these types of masculinities have several benefits for both men and society in general.

Representaciones Sociales sobre Emociones y Masculinidad en Hombres Bogotanos Social

This article aims to identify the content and organization of social representations about the concept of emotions and masculinity of young Bogota men, from a qualitative study design in the light of social representations through associative techniques such as free listings and questionnaires. In comparison by pairs to 20 young men with employment in Bogotá, Colombia, by means of proactive sampling and convenience, the analysis was carried out in the light of graph theory, after identifying the distance index. It was found that the social representation of the emotion concept is related to a feeling associated to success and motivation, as well as to emotional expressions such as: anger, joy, sadness and happiness. The masculinity concept is permeated by hegemonic elements, linked to strength, power, domination and manhood, related to responsibility and work. It is concluded that the social representation of the concepts of masculinity and emotion is diverse, it is reconciled in several peripheral elements which can be fractured and generate mobility in social representation recognizing the mandates of hegemonic masculinity and male stereotypes.

Sexuality in the Apocrypha

This piece examines references to sexuality in the diverse writings of the Apocrypha. It uses the term “sexuality” broadly to encompass matters pertaining to sexuality, rather than in the more confined sense that is found in discussions of sexual orientation and sexual theory. It will therefore consider a range of ways in which sexual drive or desire finds expression in various contexts, from marriage to sex work, same-sex relations to celibacy, and beyond. It will do so by examining such references in the particular context of the writings being considered and in the light of the broader social context. It discusses each writing or set of writing in turn: 1 Esdras, Baruch, Judith, the Books of the Maccabees, 2 Esdras, Ben Sira/Sirach, Tobit, Wisdom of Solomon, Susanna, the Additions to Esther, and the Letter of Jeremiah. There are sexual elements common to many of these works: male stereotypes about women in their sexuality as dangerous, associated with mockery of men who lose control to women; male predatory behavior; rape and sexual violence in war; linkage of idolatry to profligate sexuality; gender role reversals, which as exceptions confirm the norms; affirmation of sexual attractiveness when not abused and of (arranged) marriage and the processes of procreation and nurture; and disapprovals of sex work and marriage to foreigners or exogamy.

Holivudo Kultūros atspindžiai tarpukario Lietuvos periodikoje

This article gives an overview of modern American society’s impact on the culture of interwar Lithuania; it studies how Hollywood formed Lithuanian gender stereotypes, reflected in periodicals and advertisements (1918–1940). The influence of Hollywood culture on interwar Lithuanian stereotypes has not been studied thoroughly. This work analyses the stereotypes found in selected periodicals by using gender stereotype theories and illustrating them with photographs and excerpts. One of the most popular interwar Lithuanian female stereotypes was based on the Hollywood idol Greta Garbo. She created a stereotype of a cruel, self-confident, modern woman. This article also discusses the Hollywood-based body cult, which became a goal for many Lithuanian women. After the analysis of advertisements, another tendency was noticed – young girls’ desire to become famous. Hollywood also formed three different male stereotypes: the caveman, the womanizer, and the gentleman. These modern stereotypes stand in contradiction with traditional manly virtues, they emphasize compassion and empathy, which are very important in critical situations. During the study, it was determined that Hollywood culture’s stereotypes began a sexual revolution. These stereotypes altered the concept of a traditional relationship through Lithuanian periodicals – it became much more open and oriented towards satisfying individual needs.

The quest for acceptance: a blog-based study of autistic women's experiences and well-being during the identification and diagnosis of their autism

Introduction: Mental wellbeing and the female experience are important research topics in the field of autism, and appear to interact, with autistic women appearing to show poorer outcomes in their wellbeing compared to men. Methods: Autistic women’s experiences of coming to recognise and understand their autism were explored, using data collected from blogs written by autistic women about their diagnostic or self-identification experiences. We were particularly interested in wellbeing, and how this contributed to, was affected by, and interacted with the identification and diagnostic process. Blogs from twenty bloggers were submitted to a thematic analysis. Results: The issue of acceptance was a strong central issue, under which we developed themes of self-understanding and self-acceptance, being understood and accepted by others (including peers, clinicians, and others in the autism community), and the exhaustion resulting from trying to be accepted and be understood, including when going through the diagnostic process, and after receiving a formal diagnosis. Conclusions: Diagnosis and identification have both positive and negative effects on autistic women’s well-being, with difficulties following diagnosis stemming from facing male stereotypes of autism. We consider the implications of our findings for clinicians, researchers and those that work with autistic women.

MASCULINITY IN A POSTMODERN TEXT: CONCEPT, IDENTITY, CHARACTER

The paper considers masculinity representation in a postmodern text. The author reveals the theoretical background of the origin and development of masculinity studies as a branch of gender research. The key parameters of masculinity include sexual, social, cultural, national, and age components. Specific traits of masculine personages are explicated in postmodern texts of different styles. Masculinity is treated as an objectivated realization of androcentrism which loses its dominant positions in the bipolar world of gender dichotomy due to the postmodern transformations of the outlook. It acquires the features which form a new image of a man in consciousness, community, and a text. The paper proves that contemporary society does not possess gender polarity, it witnesses weakening of “hegemonic masculinity” and diffusion of boundaries between men and women as subjects of social intercourse. There appear new aspects of masculinity which destroy male stereotypes; masculinity splits into plurality of identities often being polarized inside this sex-gender group. The paper reveals the characters framed linguistically in a text. Resulting from restructured social relations and reestimation of values, they turn up not as a traditional character of a father in a literary text but a “divorced father” who performs his father’s duties remotely as a spouse, a “domestic partner”, “ex-husband”, and/or “lover (boyfriend)”. All the newly formed gender identities and the corresponding text constructs obtain relevant lingual nominations. Analysis of dictionary definitions enables to fix the correlation between the systemic meaning of masculine gender identities and their contextual semantics. The article concludes that postmodern masculinity is no longer interpreted as a biologically determined entity but rather as a performative option of a personal choice.

Only a Burden for Females in Math? Gender and Domain Differences in the Relation Between Adolescents’ Fixed Mindsets and Motivation

Gendered occupational and educational choices have often been traced back to gender differences in students’ domain-specific ability self-concept and intrinsic motivation. This study explored the role of believing in an “innate” math or language arts ability (i.e., having a fixed mindset) for gender differences in students’ ability self-concept and intrinsic motivation in 423 female (49%) and 447 male (51%) tenth graders from Germany (age M = 16.09 years, SD = 0.68, range: 14–18 years). In line with math-male stereotypes, believing in “innate” math ability was associated with lower ability self-concept and intrinsic motivation in female but not male students. In language arts, students’ mindsets were unrelated to their motivation. The results suggest that a fixed mindset presents an additional burden for female students in math, but not for male or female students in language arts.

Facing stereotypes: ERP responses to male and female faces after gender-stereotyped statements

Despite gender is a salient feature in face recognition, the question of whether stereotyping modulates face processing remains unexplored. Event-related potentials from 40 participants (20 female) was recorded as male and female faces matched or mismatched previous gender-stereotyped statements and were compared with those elicited by faces preceded by gender-unbiased statements. We conducted linear mixed-effects models to account for possible random effects from both participants and the strength of the gender bias. The amplitude of the N170 to faces was larger following stereotyped relative to gender-unbiased statements in both male and female participants, although the effect was larger for males. This result reveals that stereotyping exerts an early effect in face processing and that the impact is higher in men. In later time windows, male faces after female-stereotyped statements elicited large late positivity potential (LPP) responses in both men and women, indicating that the violation of male stereotypes induces a post-perceptual reevaluation of a salient or conflicting event. Besides, the largest LPP amplitude in women was elicited when they encountered a female face after a female-stereotyped statement. The later result is discussed from the perspective of recent claims on the evolution of women self-identification with traditionally held female roles.