Masculinity

Most characters in the Bible are men, yet they are hardly analysed as such. Masculinity and the Bible provides the first comprehensive survey of approaches that remedy this situation. These are studies that utilize insights from the field of masculinity studies to further biblical studies. The volume offers a representative overview of both fields and presents a new exegesis of a well-known biblical text (Mark 6) to show how this approach leads to new insights.

By presenting the field of masculinity studies, the volume performs a service for those working in biblical studies and related disciplines, but have not explored this approach yet. At the same time, the volume shows, by surveying the past two decades of publications in the field, what results have been achieved so far and where open questions remain. In the exegesis of Mark 6, it becomes clear that one of these challenges, the often very specific and intersectional character of masculinity, can be addressed successfully when consciously combining approaches such as narrative and ritual analyses.

The transition from Qajar rule in Iran (c.1796–1925) to that of rule by the Pahlavi dynasty (1925–1979) set in motion a number of shifts in the political, social, and cultural realms. Focusing on masculinity in Iran, this book interweaves ideas and perceptions, laws, political movements, and men's practices to spotlight the role men as gendered subjects played in Iranian history. It shows how men under the reign of Reza Shah dressed, acted, spoke, and thought differently from their late Qajar period counterparts. Furthermore, it highlights how the notion of being a "proper Iranian man" changed over these decades. Demonstrating how an emerging elite of western-educated men constructed and promoted a new model of masculinity as part of their struggle for political, social, and cultural hegemony, Balslev shows how this new model reflects wider developments in Iranian society at the time including the rise of Iranian nationalism and the country's modernisation process.

Aim: Conformity to traditional masculine gender norms may deter men’s help-seeking and/or impact the services men engage. Despite proliferating research, current evidence has not been evaluated systematically. This review summarises findings related to the role of masculinity on men’s help-seeking for depression.
Method: Six electronic databases were searched using terms related to masculinity, depression and help-seeking. Titles and abstracts were reviewed and data systematically extracted and examined for methodological quality.
Results: Of 1927 citations identified, 37 met inclusion criteria. Seventeen (46%) studies reported qualitative research; eighteen (49%) employed quantitative methods, and two (5%) mixed methods. Findings suggest conformity to traditional masculine norms has a threefold effect on men experiencing depression, impacting: i) their symptoms and expression of symptoms; ii) their attitudes to, intention, and, actual help-seeking behaviour; and, iii) their symptom management.
Conclusion: Results demonstrate the problematic impact of conformity to traditional masculine norms on the way men experience and seek help for depression. Tailoring and targeting clinical interventions may increase men’s service uptake and the efficacy of treatments. Future research examining factors associated with men’s access to, and engagement with depression care will be critical to increasing help-seeking, treatment uptake, and effectual self-management among men experiencing depression.

Failure to achieve a lean and muscular build, a prominent characteristic of masculinity for many men, may lead to body dissatisfaction. In four studies the authors used silhouette measures to assess men's satisfaction with their muscularity and body fat. Across studies, many U.S. men (51-71%) were not satisfied with their body fat level. Further, over 90% of U.S. undergraduate men wanted to be more muscular, as did many Ukrainian (69%) and Ghanaian (49%) men. In the United States, men's ratings of their current and ideal muscularity were associated with endorsement of the male role, and many men desired increased muscularity for reasons related to increased dominance and attractiveness to women. These results suggest widespread desire for increased muscularity among men.

Recent formulations of sexual selection theory emphasize how mate choice can be affected by environmental factors, such as predation risk and resource quality. Women vary greatly in the extent to which they prefer male masculinity and this variation is hypothesized to reflect differences in how women resolve the trade-off between the costs (e.g. low investment) and benefits (e.g. healthy offspring) associated with choosing a masculine partner. A strong prediction of this trade-off theory is that women's masculinity preferences will be stronger in cultures where poor health is particularly harmful to survival. We investigated the relationship between women's preferences for male facial masculinity and a health index derived from World Health Organization statistics for mortality rates, life expectancies and the impact of communicable disease. Across 30 countries, masculinity preference increased as health decreased. This relationship was independent of cross-cultural differences in wealth or women's mating strategies. These findings show non-arbitrary cross-cultural differences in facial attractiveness judgements and demonstrate the use of trade-off theory for investigating cross-cultural variation in women's mate preferences.

Objective: To describe the prevalence and patterns of rape perpetration in a randomly selected sample of men from the general adult population, to explore factors associated with rape and to describe how men explained their acts of rape. Design: Cross-sectional household study with a two-stage randomly selected sample of men. Methods: 1737 South African men aged 18-49 completed a questionnaire administered using an Audio-enhanced Personal Digital Assistant. Multivariable logistic regression models were built to identify factors associated with rape perpetration. Results: In all 27.6% (466/1686) of men had raped a woman, whether an intimate partner, stranger or acquaintance, and whether perpetrated alone or with accomplices, and 4.7% had raped in the last 12 months. First rapes for 75% were perpetrated before age 20, and 53.9% (251) of those raping, did so on multiple occasions. The logistic regression model showed that having raped was associated with greater adversity in childhood, having been raped by a man and higher maternal education. It was associated with less equitable views on gender relations, having had more partners, and many more gender inequitable practices including transactional sex and physical partner violence. Also drug use, gang membership and a higher score on the dimensions of psychopathic personality, namely blame externalisation and Machiavellian egocentricity. Asked about why they did it, the most common motivations stemmed from ideas of sexual entitlement. Conclusions: Perpetration of rape is so prevalent that population-based measures of prevention are essential to complement criminal justice system responses. Our findings show the importance of measures to build gender equity and change dominant ideas of masculinity and gender relations as part of rape prevention. Reducing men's exposure to trauma in childhood is also critically important.

Anthropology has always involved men talking to men about men, yet until fairly recently very few within the discipline had truly examined men as men. This chapter explores how anthropologists understand, utilize, and debate the category of masculinity by reviewing recent examinations of men as engendered and engendering subjects. Beginning with descriptions of four distinct ways in which masculinity is defined and treated in anthropology, special attention is paid to the relations of difference, inequality, and women to the anthropological study of masculinities, including the awkward avoidance of feminist theory on the part of many anthropologists who study manhood. Specific topics discussed include the diverse cultural economies of masculinity, the notion of cultural regions in relation to images of manhood, male friendship, machismo, masculine embodiment, violence, power, and sexual faultlines.

Study of the construct of masculinity has undergone substantial change since the feminist critique of gender in the 1960–70s. This review focuses on constancies and changes within empirical psychological theories and measurement because measures represent masculinity and their underlying assumptions are often obscured. After a brief historical introduction, 5 distinct movements are identified by their assumptions. These movements discuss masculinity as a unipolar construct, an ideology, a source of strain, a socially constructed entity, and, most recently, as a blend of these different movements. The lack of developmental accounts of masculinity and the positioning of masculinity as an acontextual, superordinate organizing element of individual lives are also addressed. Concluding comments address the lack of influence by masculinity researchers on broader psychological thought.

This article concerns alcohol use as it pertains to the construction of White masculinity through an analysis of students' accounts. Seventy-eight face-to-face interviews were conducted with volunteer female and male, African American, European American, heterosexual and homosexual students at a mid-sized university. Results suggest that the meaning of public drinking is to express a form of masculinity. In students' gendered descriptions of their own and peers' drinking behavior, alcohol use among White men was found to symbolize the embodiment of hegemonic masculinity. Masculinities were constructed via drinking stories, the body's ability to tolerate alcohol, and the relevance of drinking too little or not at all, which symbolized weakness, homosexuality, or femininity. Implications for social policy and future research are discussed.

Emerging out of increased attention to gender equality within HIV and violence prevention programming has been an intensified focus on masculinities. A new generation of health interventions has attempted to shift norms of masculinity to be more gender equitable and has been termed ''gender-transformative.'' We carried out a systematic review of gender-transformative HIV and violence prevention programs with heterosexually-active men in order to assess the efficacy of this programming. After reviewing over 2,500 abstracts in a systematic search, a total of 15 articles matched review criteria. The evidence suggests that gender-transformative interventions can increase protective sexual behaviors, prevent partner violence, modify inequitable attitudes, and reduce STI/HIV, though further trials are warranted, particularly in establishing STI/HIV impacts. In the conclusion, we discuss the promises and limitations of gender-transformative work with men and make suggestions for future research focused on HIV and/or violence prevention.

"The notion of ‘think manager - think male’ has been demonstrated in many studies. The current study examines whether leaders are perceived as more effective when they have ‘feminine’, ‘masculine’ or ‘androgynous’ characteristics, and how this relates to the leader’s and followers’ sex. Using carefully matched samples of 930 employees of 76 bank managers, we studied the relationship between managers’ gender role identity (perceived ‘femininity’, ‘masculinity’ and ‘androgyny’) and how this relates to leadership effectiveness in terms of transformational leadership and personal identification with the leader. Our findings show that among both male and female leaders, ‘androgyny’ was more strongly related to transformational leadership and followers’ identification than ‘non-androgyny’, and that leaders’ ‘femininity’ was more strongly related to leadership effectiveness than ‘masculinity’. Furthermore, the results show that women paid a higher penalty for not being perceived as ‘androgynous’ (mixing ‘femininity’ and ‘masculinity’), in comparison to men with regard to personal identification. When examining same- versus cross-sex relationships, we found that ‘non-androgynous’ male managers were rated higher by their male employees than by their female employees. Our findings suggest that women and men who are interested in being perceived as effective leaders may be well advised to blend ‘feminine’ and ‘masculine’ behaviors, and even more so when they are in situations of non-congruency (i.e., women in leadership roles and leading in cross-sex relationships). We discuss the implications of these findings for both theory and practice.
Key words: Androgyny, gender-role identity, transformational leadership, personal identification, gender, management."

""Largely based on pre-theory that ties high testosterone (T) to masculinity, and low T to femininity, high T is mainly studied in relation to aggression, mating, sexuality, and challenge, and low T with parenting. Evidence, however, fails to support this, and the social variability in T is better accounted for by a competition–
nurturance trade-off as per the Steroid/Peptide Theory of Social Bonds (van Anders et al., 2011). Four key domains are discussed: adult–infant interactions, sexual desire, sexual behavior, and partnering. Empirical engagements with gender/sex are shown to lead to important insights over assumptions about masculinity–femininity. Humans are discussed within a comparative framework that attends to cross species principles informed by human insights alongside human-specific particularities like social constructions, which are critical to evolutionary understandings of the social role of T. This paper thus integrates seemingly orthogonal perspectives to allow for transformative approaches to an empirically supported social phenomenology of T.""

Popular media and academic literature often portray men as happy beneficiaries of nonrelational or casual sex—a view that is consistent with traditional notions of masculinity. This study examined the validity of this notion, using semistructured interviews to explore ways that 19 college-age men defined and enacted “hooking up” and “friends with benefits” scripts. Men's definitions reflected both standard and alternate conceptions of these scripts, and their experiences indicated variability in intentions and outcomes. Whereas a few men embraced the no-strings-attached nonrelational scripts, most rejected the script or enacted an amended version that allowed for greater relational connection. Further, their experiences were not all positive and were not all devoid of emotional connection. These alternative enactments challenge the pro-masculine, universally positive conceptualization of nonrelational sex portrayed in the media and in some empirical research.

Research documents the link between traditional ideologies of masculinity and sexual risk among multi-ethnic male adolescents and White male college students, but similar research with Black heterosexual men is scarce. This exploratory study addressed this gap through six focus groups with 41 Black, low to middle income heterosexual men aged 19 to 51 years in Philadelphia, PA. Analyses highlighted two explicit ideologies of masculinity: that Black men should have sex with multiple women, often concurrently; and that Black men should not be gay or bisexual. Analyses also identified two implicit masculinity ideologies: the perception that Black heterosexual men cannot decline sex, even risky sex; and that women are primarily responsible for condom use. The study's implications for HIV prevention with Black heterosexual men are discussed.

This article focuses on the implications of recent work in feminist theory, and on questions of masculinity, stressing the need to take account of the complex and variable nature of gender identities, and to work with men on exploring the constraints of dominant models of masculinity.

This article explores the cultural and structural forces that help influence the reproduction of sexist, misogynistic, and antifeminine attitudes among men in team sports. It first shows how the segregation of men into a homosocial environment limits their social contact with women and fosters an oppositional masculinity that influences the reproduction of orthodox views regarding women. However, this research also shows that when these same men compete in the gender-integrated sport of cheerleading, they positively reformulate their attitudes toward women. These findings therefore suggest that gender-integrating sports might potentially decrease some of the socionegative outcomes attributed to male team sport athletes, possibly including violence against women.

Advancing theorizations of communication in post-truth politics, where computational/big data or cognitive bias approaches often dominate the description of and proposed solutions to the problem, this article aims to theorize the cultural production of social trust, which underpins public truth-making. It argues that performing mediated trust is preconditional to public truth-making (oftoverlooked in post-truth accounts). Advocating that a more detailed theory of post-truth political performances requires amalgamating intra-and interdisciplinary resources and broadening perspectives, it unites insights from social trust theory, reality television (RTV) studies, gender studies, and political communication. It identifies and critiques an aggressive emotional and a palpably toxic (especially white) masculinist logic in a popular strand of posttruth political performance. This conjuncturally specific, traditionally aggressive masculinist post-truth political communication is best understood as a transposable style, set of practices, and disposition toward them-a cultural logic called "aggro-truth." Aggro-truth thus moves beyond the general concept and label of post-truth by a. showing that it has a particular, widely circulating, sub-form with its own particular cultural logic for operationalizing mediated trust in post-truth tellers (such as Donald Trump); and b. demonstrating how that logic works by focusing on Trump, while noting broad evidence of transnational variations for further research.

The bulk of the extant literature on the psychology of boys, men and masculinity has been focused on the important challenges of: a) creating an awareness about the detrimental effects of constricted forms of masculinity on boys and men and their relationships with others; and b) developing remedial approaches to psychotherapy that are designed to help boys and men recover

Evolutionary approaches to human attractiveness have documented several traits that are proposed to be attractive across individuals and cultures, although both cross-individual and cross-cultural variations are also often found. Previous studies show that parasite prevalence and mortality/health are related to cultural variation in preferences for attractive traits. Visual experience of pathogen cues may mediate such variable preferences. Here we showed individuals slideshows of images with cues to low and high pathogen prevalence and measured their visual preferences for face traits. We found that both men and women moderated their preferences for facial masculinity and symmetry according to recent experience of visual cues to environmental pathogens. Change in preferences was seen mainly for opposite-sex faces, with women preferring more masculine and more symmetric male faces and men preferring more feminine and more symmetric female faces after exposure to pathogen cues than when not exposed to such cues. Cues to environmental pathogens had no significant effects on preferences for same-sex faces. These data complement studies of cross-cultural differences in preferences by suggesting a mechanism for variation in mate preferences. Similar visual experience could lead to within-cultural agreement and differing visual experience could lead to cross-cultural variation. Overall, our data demonstrate that preferences can be strategically flexible according to recent visual experience with pathogen cues. Given that cues to pathogens may signal an increase in contagion/mortality risk, it may be adaptive to shift visual preferences in favour of proposed good-gene markers in environments where such cues are more evident.

Kaul, Nitasha. 2021. "The Misogyny of Authoritarians in Contemporary Democracies", International Studies Review, viab028,https://doi.org/10.1093/isr/viab028
https://academic.oup.com/isr/advance-article/doi/10.1093/isr/viab028/6303451

Abstract (in English)

Contemporary democracy in multiple countries has been under assault from what has been variously called right-wing populism, authoritarian populism, cultural majoritarianism, new nativism, new nationalism, quasi-fascism, and neo-fascism. While the authoritarian behaviors of several electorally legitimated leaders in these countries have been in focus, their misogyny is seen as merely an incidental part of their personality. This article highlights the centrality of misogyny in legitimating the political goals and regimes of a set of leaders in contemporary democracies—Trump, Modi, Bolsonaro, Duterte, and Erdogan (all but Trump are still in power)—in countries from across Global North/South, non-West/West, with mixed populations and different majority religions. The argument proceeds as follows. First, I clarify the conceptualization of misogyny and explain why it matters. Second, I demonstrate the substantive misogyny of political leaders who are/have been heads of hegemonic right-wing political projects in five contemporary democracies (Trumpism, Modification, Bolsonarismo, Dutertismo, and Erdoganism). Third, I put forward three systematic ways in which misogyny works as an effective political strategy for these projects, by enabling a certain politics of identity to demonize opponents as feminine/inferior/anti-national, scavenging upon progressive ideas (rather than rejecting them) and distorting them, and sustaining and defending a militarized masculinist approach to policy and delegitimizing challenges to it. This article, thus, contributes to the literature on how masculinity, misogyny, and gender norms more broadly intersect with political legitimacy, by arguing for understanding the analytic centrality of misogyny to the exercise of political power in multiple global projects.

Abstract (in Spanish)

La democracia contemporánea en varios países ha sido atacada por lo que se ha denominado de diversas maneras como populismo de derecha, populismo autoritario, mayoritarismo cultural, nuevo nativismo, nuevo nacionalismo, cuasifascismo, neofascismo. Si bien se ha centrado la atención en los comportamientos autoritarios de varios líderes legitimados electoralmente en estos países, su misoginia se considera simplemente una parte incidental de su personalidad. En este artículo, se destaca la centralidad de la misoginia en la legitimación de los objetivos políticos y los regímenes de un conjunto de líderes en las democracias contemporáneas: Trump, Modi, Bolsonaro, Duterte y Erdogan (todos menos Trump se encuentran en el poder) en países del norte/sur global, orientales y occidentales, con poblaciones mixtas y diferentes religiones mayoritarias. El argumento procede de la siguiente manera. En primer lugar, aclaro la conceptualización de la misoginia y explico por qué es importante. En segundo lugar, demuestro la misoginia sustantiva de los líderes políticos que son, o han sido, jefes de proyectos políticos hegemónicos de derecha en cinco democracias contemporáneas (trumpismo, modificación, bolsonarismo, dutertismo, erdoganismo). Por último, planteo tres formas sistemáticas en las que la misoginia funciona como una estrategia política eficaz para estos proyectos, al permitir: una determinada política de identidad para demonizar a los oponentes como femeninos/inferiores/antinacionales; una búsqueda de las ideas progresistas (en lugar de rechazarlas) y distorsionarlas; sostener y defender un enfoque masculinista militarizado de la política y deslegitimar los desafíos que se le plantean. Por lo tanto, en este artículo se contribuye a la literatura sobre cómo la masculinidad, la misoginia y las normas de género se cruzan de manera más amplia con la legitimidad política, al defender la comprensión de la centralidad analítica de la misoginia en el ejercicio del poder político en múltiples proyectos globales.

Abstract (in French)

La démocratie contemporaine de multiples pays a été prise d'assaut par ce qui a été diversement qualifié de populisme de droite, de populisme autoritaire, de majoritarisme culturel, de nouveau nativisme, de nouveau nationalisme, de quasi-fascisme ou de néo-fascisme. Bien qu'une attention ait été accordée aux comportements autoritaires de plusieurs dirigeants légitimés par l’électorat de ces pays, leur misogynie est souvent simplement considérée comme étant une composante accessoire de leur personnalité. Cet article met en évidence la centralité de la misogynie dans la légitimation des objectifs et régimes politiques de tout un ensemble de dirigeants de démocraties contemporaines—Trump, Modi, Bolsonaro, Duterte et Erdogan (tous sauf Trump sont encore au pouvoir)—de pays du monde entier, qu'ils soient des pays du Nord, du Sud, occidentaux ou non-occidentaux, et dont les populations sont mixtes et les religions majoritaires sont différentes. Je traite cet argument de la manière suivante: D'abord, je commence par clarifier la conceptualisation de la misogynie et par expliquer en quoi elle est importante. Ensuite, je démontre la misogynie substantielle des dirigeants politiques qui sont/ont été à la tête de projets politiques de droite hégémonique dans cinq démocraties contemporaines (Trumpisme, Modification, Bolsonarisme, Dutertisme, Erdoganisme). Enfin, je mets en avant trois manières systématiques dont la misogynie fonctionne comme stratégie politique efficace pour ces projets, en permettant: une certaine politique de l'identité diabolisant les opposants comme étant féminins/inférieurs/anti-nationaux, une récupération et une déformation des idées progressistes (plutôt que de les rejeter), et le maintien et la défense d'une approche masculiniste militarisée de la politique tout en délégitimant les contestations de celle-ci. Cet article contribue ainsi à la littérature portant sur la façon dont la masculinité, la misogynie et les normes de genre s'entrecroisent avec la légitimité politique en plaidant pour une compréhension de la centralité analytique de la misogynie dans l'exercice du pouvoir politique dans de multiples projets mondiaux.

This review examines the interlocking of violence, gender, and subjectivity within the overarching framework of the sexualization of the social contract. Tracking the question of gendered belonging to the nation state, the article discusses the anthropological literature along with feminist and critical theory to shed light on the relation between reproduction and death as a way of giving life to the nation-state.

Formerly incarcerated Latino men (FILM) have been significantly impacted by the HIV/AIDS and alcohol abuse epidemics in the United States. In this analysis, we examine the role of social, economic and cultural marginalization in the likelihood of alcohol-related sexual risk taking behavior among FILM. We recruited a non-random sample of FILM, ages 18-49 (n = 259). We performed logistic regression modeling to test four hypotheses examining the direct and moderating effects of socio-cultural factors. Drinking before sex was strongly associated with high likelihood of condomless intercourse (adjusted odds ratio, AOR = 2.93; 95% CI 1.74, 4.94). Low acculturation and social marginalization factors were significant moderators of the association between high-risk alcohol use and sexual risk behavior among FILM. Our data suggest that risk reduction initiatives geared towards reducing alcohol-related sexual risk taking among FILM should target FILM with low levels of acculturation, and those...

The beach has long been a privileged site in Australian culture, and surfers have become icons of it. These men are often referred to as straight as steel, strong as granite, austere and inviolate. Drawing on over three decades worth of surfing I unpack this hegemonic understanding of men who surf, and reveal in its place the importance of feelings and bodies to their lives. Through an analysis of going surfing I articulate the role feelings and bodies play in how men belong, how they bond with their ‘turf’, come to understand themselves as masculine, and how they learn to do masculinity.

Key words: masculinity, bodies, emotions, affects, surfing, Australia.

Amidst spiralling media interest, and set against a backdrop of a decade in which an initial trickle of self-help literature for men turned into a cascade of writing on male identities, a concern with men and masculinities has belatedly emerged onto the Gender and Development (GAD) agenda. Posing challenges that strike at the core of what GAD claims to be about or for, this newly discovered interest in men provides an entry point for reflection on some of the basic tenets and tendencies of GAD in theory and practice. By opening up space for reflection on taken-for-granted assumptions about women and men, gender relations and indeed the concept of gender itself, recent work on men also offers the opportunity to begin to move beyond the static stereotypes that continue to pervade the field.

A much-cited point by those who study the intersection of gender and disability is that masculinity and disability are in conflict with each other because disability is associated with being dependent and helpless whereas masculinity is associated with being powerful and autonomous, thus creating a lived and embodied dilemma for disabled men. This article maps and critically evaluates the conceptual development of this dilemma of disabled masculinity, tracing how several developments in the fields of disability studies and the critical study of men and masculinities have shaped sociological understandings of disabled masculinity. We suggest that, while social science scholarship has increasingly moved beyond a static understanding and toward a dynamic view of the articulation and interaction between masculinity and disability, there are nevertheless several problems that require attention. The most critical issue conceptually is that the focus of study has been more on masculinity and how it intersects with ‘disability’ as an almost generic category, rather than on how masculinity (or masculinities) intersect(s) differently with various types of impairment. Thus, though there is quite a bit of research on the dilemma of disabled masculinity for men who acquire a physical impairment post-childhood and for groups of men with diverse impairments studied as if they were a homogenous group, less research has been conducted with men who have specific impairments, particularly early-onset, intellectual or degenerative impairments. In this paper we urge researchers to open up the concept of intersectionality to accommodate a range of differences in bodily, cognitive, intellectual and behavioral types (impairments) in their interaction with various masculinities and to show more explicitly how context and life phase contribute to this dynamism.

Many antecedents and consequences of an accelerated sexual maturation are associated with negative experiences with the opposite sex. Here we show a connection between menarcheal age, a salient sign of female sexual maturation, and the implicit attitude toward men in later adulthood. In Study 1, earlier age at first menstruation was associated with automatic negative evaluations of male faces but not female ones. Study 2 revealed a relationship between early age of menarche and an implicit association between the concepts male and danger. In Study 3, the earlier the menarche, the larger was the estimated egocentric distance of virtual male voices and the shorter the estimated distance of female voices. These results, obtained about a decade after onset of menstruation, suggest that apparently subtle differences in the onset of sexual maturation may have long-lasting implications for intersexual relationships.

Multi-level meta-analytic techniques were used to examine the overall relationship between self-reported gender-role dimensions (psychological femininity and psychological masculinity) and self-reported relationship satisfaction. Twenty-six studies (43 effect sizes) were included in the femininity-relationship satisfaction meta-analysis, and 26 studies (43 effect sizes) were included in the masculinity-relationship satisfaction meta-analysis. Femininity revealed a stronger association with relationship satisfaction than masculinity: there was a medium relationship (r = .28) between femininity and relationship satisfaction, and a small relationship (r = .13) between masculinity and relationship satisfaction. Sex/gender was not a moderator in either meta-analysis. Publication biases were not detected. Implications and recommendations are discussed.

This paper examines the impact of facial cues on leadership emergence. Using evolutionary social psychology, we expand upon implicit and contingent theories of leadership and propose that different types of intergroup relations elicit different implicit cognitive leadership prototypes. It is argued that a biologically based hormonal connection between behavior and corresponding facial characteristics interacts with evolutionarily consistent social dynamics to influence leadership emergence. We predict that masculine-looking leaders are selected during intergroup conflict (war) and feminine-looking leaders during intergroup cooperation (peace). Across two experiments we show that a general categorization of leader versus nonleader is an initial implicit requirement for emergence, and at a context-specific level facial cues of masculinity and femininity contingently affect war versus peace leadership emergence in the predicted direction. In addition, we replicate our findings in Experiment 1 across culture using Western and East Asian samples. In Experiment 2, we also show that masculine-feminine facial cues are better predictors of leadership than male-female cues. Collectively, our results indicate a multi-level classification of context-specific leadership based on visual cues imbedded in the human face and challenge traditional distinctions of male and female leadership.

This paper seeks to underline the negotiated character of male identities by demonstrating the means by which lifestyle magazine advertising has caused men to gaze upon images of their own bodies and by outlining the implications of this inversion of the male gaze. The paper begins by delineating the unfinished nature of our bodies and their role in identity projects. It then charts the emergence of men's lifestyle magazines in the UK and their position in the representation of male bodies. Next, the paper outlines the traditional understanding of the male gaze and identifies how that gaze is being inverted by the advertising images contained in men's lifestyle magazines. The paper then explains how men can adopt multiple subject positions in their consumption of such advertising and what the implications of this are for the negotiation of male identities. Finally, conclusions are drawn and recommendations made for further research.

This study reports on the experiences of 45 male focus group participants with a history of depression. Men responded to questions addressing the interaction between the male role, masculinity, depression, and experiences with treatment for depression. Using a qualitative, thematic-based coding strategy, three primary themes emerged. First, participants described aspects of the male gender as being in conflict or incongruent with their experiences of depression and beliefs about appropriate help-seeking behaviors. Second, men outlined alternative symptom profiles that could interfere with the recognition of depression and willingness to seek help. Finally, men expressed a range of positive and negative reactions toward depression treatment and treatment providers. Implications for health care providers are provided.