Edward H. Thompson

Men and masculinities: scales for masculinity ideology and masculinity-related constructs.

This review evaluates 11 masculinity ideology measures that examine attitudes toward men and masculinities and 6 instruments for other masculinity-related constructs. Four conclusions regarding the available measures and the future development of instrumentation in the area are drawn from the review. First, there is evidence that measures of gender orientation and measures of gender ideologies are independent, and have differential correlates. Instruments that attempt to determine gender orientation and masculinity ideology concurrently will have limited utility by virtue of not distinguishing between these two constructs. Second, there is also evidence that gender ideologies about men are distinct from, and have differential correlates than, gender ideologies about women and gender relations in general. Thus, measures intending to index attitudes toward masculinities should not include gender-comparative items. Third, measures of the gender-related conflicts or stresses of manhood are likely to predict males’ behavior more directly than measures of masculinity ideology. Finally, a number of the existing instruments measuring either masculinity ideology or personal experiences with masculinity standards direct attention too narrowly toward a single definition of masculinity.

Attitudes toward the male role and their correlates

This study investigated relationships between college mens attitudes toward the male role and five theoretical concomitants of the role. It was expected that males endorsing traditional male-role norms would be more homophobic, more strongly support the Type A behavior orientation, support less self-disclosure to male and female friends, and approve of the maintenance of asymmetrical decision-making power with their intimate partner. Men from two liberal arts college in a New England metropolitan area (N=223) provided the data to test the hypotheses. Endorsement of the traditional role was associated with all predicted concomitants, expect the measure of disclosure to male friend. The results are discussed in terms of the pervasive nature of the antifemininity norm within the male role.

Does Masculinity Thwart Being Religious? An Examination of Older Men’sReligiousness

Previous work shows a significant relationship between gender orientation and being religious in samples of college-age and adult men. Before entering later life, men with a feminine orientation have greater religious involvement than other men. In a sample of older men from three Massachusetts counties, this study assessed the bearing of mens gender orientation and gender ideology on their religious involvement. Gender orientation more than masculinity ideology was found to be a reliable predictor of older mens religiousness. Similar to studies of younger men, a feminine orientation was a significant determinant of the older mens religious participation, commitment, and intrinsic orientation. Older men who define self in very masculine terms, however, engaged in a quest religiosity. When the masculinity ideology contains norms that prescribe the virtues of a traditional masculinity and acquiring status, mens religious orientation was extrinsic (or means) oriented. These important findings are discussed in terms of how masculinity is at times a barrier to mens private devotion and at other times can be a trigger to questing.

Older Men's Social Participation: The Importance of Masculinity Ideology

The central question was, independent of marital status and health, is the satisfaction that older men derive from their social networks linked to gender ideology? Based on the 135 older men within a larger study of community-based older adults, findings show that masculinity ideology is inversely related to the size of networks and the extent of mens social participation; however, endorsing the traditional masculinity ideology is directly associated with the satisfaction men derived from their social participation. Older men who believe in the traditional masculinity script felt satisfied in their relationships, whereas men who reject this ideology and reported a greater need to discuss private feelings had developed larger networks and increased their involvement in their networks during the year between the T1 and T2 interviews. Discussed in the context of covert and face-to-face intimacy pursuits, abiding by the cultural of hegemony masculinity seems to yield less interaction but greater satisfaction among older men.

Sexual Aggression in Bars: What College Men Can Normalize

This study investigated if college mens sexual aggressiveness in bar and off-campus party settings should be viewed as contextually-specific normative masculinity performances as much as sexual aggressiveness. A sample of 264 college men drawn from 22 colleges and universities completed a questionnaire assessing gender ideologies and sexual experiences. Most men self-report they engage in sexually aggressive behavior in drinking settings. Over 90% revealed they had used overt sexually aggressive tactics in the bar/party setting. A regression analysis controlling for background differences among the men found masculinity ideology predicted sexual aggressiveness. College men endorsing the toughness expectations of masculinity ideology, and who perceive themselves in terms of socially desirable qualities that emphasize assertiveness and willingness to take risks, are the men most likely to be sexually aggressive in bar settings. College mens sexual aggressiveness seems to be normative in drinking settings and evidence of men doing masculinity in a misogynic-tolerant environment.

Single-parent families.

With the increase in the number of single-parent families in recent years, the attention paid to this family form has grown considerably—in both the academic and the public media. This increased concern with single-parent families has, however, often manifested itself as a concern about a growing “problem,” a problem that may threaten the American family.

Masculinities and violence : A father-son comparison of gender traditionality and perceptions of heterosexual rape

This study investigated whether two generations of men-84 college men and 43 of their fathers-perceived rape differently and if perceptions of rape covaried with their masculinity ideology. The working hypothesis was that men who endorsed traditional standards of manhood would normalize the mans behavior described in vignettes and not as often recognize forced sex as rape. The authors assumed older men would uphold a more traditional ideology and less readily evaluate the descriptions of forced sex as rape. Findings surprisingly revealed that college men and their fathers (analyzed either as groups or as father-son pairs) did not differ in their masculinity ideology nor in their evaluations of forced sex. Mens judgments of whether a woman was raped were independent of generation but not of masculinity ideology.

Older Men’s Blueprint for “Being a Man”

Does the cultural blueprint for “being a man” direct older men into patterns of conduct and emotions similar to younger men? In the absence of cultural guidelines for aging as a man, this theoretically grounded article discusses the masculinity standards that are likely to influence how older men go about their lives. Framed by Brannon’s mid-1970s conceptualization of masculinity as an ideology, we reexamined existing narrative and interview-based research within ninety-eight prior studies to identify the masculinities voiced by older men. The narratives mirrored Brannon’s four-dimension model of the cultural guidelines for being a man. Masculinity matters, and without unique guidelines for being an older man, men live by and struggle with traditional masculinities that have influenced them across their life course.

Gendered Policies and Practices that Increase Older Men's Risk of Elder Mistreatment

SUMMARY We aim to detail some of the ways that social policy and gendered practices put older men at risk of elder mistreatment. Research on the abuse and neglect that older adults experience has often focused on the characteristics of the victims and the dynamics within families, emphasizing factors such as the likelihood of an intergenerational cycle of violence, substance abuse and dependency, and older mens financial status as key risks in elder abuse. The effect on men from this type of analysis is that elder mistreatment remains an individual or family problem rather than being viewed as a larger societal concern. This article challenges the individualistic focus by outlining the importance of societal forces affecting older mens risk of mistreatment.

“Widowerhood”: Masculinities and Spousal Loss in the Late-1960s

This study examined the distinctly gendered experiences of young widowers. Using qualitative longitudinal data from the 1960s Harvard Bereavement Study, we evaluated the interview transcripts of 19 widowers (median age = 38) who had been interviewed 3 weeks, 8 weeks, 13 months, and 2–4 years after the wifes death. Our findings indicate that the off-time spousal loss ruptured the ontological security that marriage provided and created two types of difficult situations for the widowers. Coping with deep sadness and grief, the men divulged their unspoken dependency on their marriage and on their late wife. They also struggled as single fathers, especially if they tried to singlehandedly care for their children. Becoming an off-time widower in the 1960s compelled the men to reclaim their masculine identity. Mens identity-rebuilding strategies involved promptly returning to work, and many men began dating and repartnering to recoup the normalcy of being married.