Emmi Lattu

Critical Studies on Men in Ten European Countries (1): the state of academic research

This article is on the work of the European Research Network on Men in Europe project, “The Social Problem and Societal Problematization of Men and Masculinities” (2000-2003), funded by the European Commission. The Network comprises women and men researchers with a range of disciplinary backgrounds from Estonia, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Norway, Poland, the Russian Federation, and the United Kingdom. The Networks initial focus is on mens relations to home and work, social exclusion, violence, and health. Some of the findings on the Networks fourth phase of work, namely the review of newspaper and media representations of mens practices in the ten countries, are presented. This is the last of four articles reviewing critical studies on men in the ten countries through different methods and approaches.

Critical studies on men in ten European countries: (3) The state of law and policy

This article is on the work of The European Research Network on Men in Europe project “The Social Problem and Societal Problematization of Men and Masculinities” (2000-2003), funded by the European Commission. The Network comprises women and men researchers with a range of disciplinary backgrounds from Estonia, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Norway, Poland, the Russian Federation, and the United Kingdom. The Networks initial focus is on mens relations to home and work, social exclusion, violences, and health. Some of findings on the Networks second phase of work, namely the review of statistical sources on mens practices in the ten countries, are presented. This is the third of four articles reviewing critical studies on men in the ten countries through different methods and approaches.

Critical Studies on Men in Ten European Countries (4) Newspaper and Media Representations

This article is on the work of the European Research Network on Men in Europe project, “The Social Problem and Societal Problematization of Men and Masculinities” (2000-2003), funded by the European Commission. The Network comprises women and men researchers with a range of disciplinary backgrounds from Estonia, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Norway, Poland, the Russian Federation, and the United Kingdom. The Networks initial focus is on mens relations to home and work, social exclusion, violence, and health. Some of the findings on the Networks fourth phase of work, namely the review of newspaper and media representations of mens practices in the ten countries, are presented. This is the last of four articles reviewing critical studies on men in the ten countries through different methods and approaches.

Critical Studies on Men in Ten European Countries (2) The State of Statistical Information

This article is one the work of The European Research Network on Men in Europe project “The Social Problem and Societal Problematization of Men and Masculinities” (2000-2003), funded by the European Commission. The Network comprises women and men researchers with range of disciplinary backgrounds from Estonia, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Norway, Poland, the Russian Federation, and the United Kingdom. The Networks initial focus is on mens relations to home and work, social exclusion, violences, and health. Some of findings on the Networks second phase of work, namely the review of statistical sources on mens practices in the ten countries, are presented. This is the second of four articles reviewing critical studies on men in the ten countries through different methods and approaches.

The recent development of Finnish studies on men: a selective review and a critique of a neglected field

ABSTRACT. Though the study of men and masculinities has always been part of Womens Studies, recent Finnish studies on men have often developed without explicit attention to gender relations. In a Nordic context, Finnish studies on men have been relatively neglected. In this article we provide a concise review of Finnish research on men, including special reference to mens relations to home and work, mens violences, and the social exclusion of men. We present a synthetic account of the recent development of these studies and a critique of the field, and suggest some ways forward in future studies.

Gender, men and masculinities

It sometimes comes as a surprise to some people to learn that the study of men and masculinities has always been part of Women’s Studies (Hanmer 1990). That much is not new: the “man problem” has always � gured alongside the more publicly pronounced “woman problem”. This has been clear in theAnglo-American world, but “men” have also necessarily been a central part of the analysis in NordicWomen’s Studies.

Configurations of Europe

This book has sought to gender men in Europe by drawing on various sources of information and in relation to key themes and policy arenas. In this final chapter, we consider some broad issues concerning the position and impact of men in the context of changing configurations of Europe, including, but not only, in relation to the EU. There are many ways in which the more explicit gendering of men raises new sets of questions about the EU and the changing definitions of ‘Europe’.

Media and Newspaper Representations

In recent years there has been a large expansion of European scholarship on the representation of men and masculinities in a wide variety of media, including film, television, video, magazines, painting, fine art, music, dance, Internet, photography and advertising (for example, Middleton, 1992; Pedersen et al., 1996; Edwards, 1997; Nixon, 1997; Sterr, 1997; Penttila, 1999; Jokinen, 2000). However, relatively little attention has been given to the mundane medium of daily newspapers. When studying men, the daily press appears to have been frequently taken-for-granted, unlike, say, Hollywood film. Newspapers are literally everyday phenomena; their very ordinariness may mean that they are not taken as seriously in studies on men, gender relations and media as other ’more dramatic’ or ’glamorous’ media such as film, video and television. Furthermore, newspapers are generally designed for more local, national or regional audiences and markets than some other media, such as Internet websites, mailing lists and newsgroups.