Now masculinity is in crisis

Jackson Katz introduces our investigation into how men are adapting to a changing role

The World Today
3 minute READ

Many commentators have identified a ‘crisis in masculinity’, especially but not exclusively in North America, Europe and the Middle East. But this ‘crisis’ is really just a form of journalistic shorthand that describes what happens to some men − and groups of men − when technological, geopolitical, religious and other systemic and historical changes disrupt old gender hierarchies and social structures, establishing new gender norms and forging new identities.

In these fluid circumstances, some men adapt and evolve to the changing times. For them there is no crisis, only opportunities for growth and for pioneering new ways of being men.

In recent decades, this category of men includes gay, bisexual and transgender men, who have been forging new professional identities and relational arrangements in societies around the world where historical oppression and constraints have eased against non-traditional gender and sexual expression.

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