Traditional Masculinity’s Impact on Health and Peace

In our ever-evolving societal landscape, it’s imperative to scrutinize the impact of traditional masculinity, not as a personal identity but as a force contributing to negative health and peace outcomes. According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, 72.5 percent of all arrestees were males in 2019. Of the persons arrested for violent crimes, 78.9 percent were males.

While we know that the vast majority of males are not violent and there are challenges with the criminal justice system, these numbers still tell a compelling story: this phenomenon isn’t happenstance. From early childhood and adolescence, boys are groomed to prioritize traits like self-reliance, dominance, and rigid gender roles in the name of masculinity. They are discouraged from expressing their full range of emotions and rewarded for figuring out problems on their own. This ingrained script unfolds into adulthood, where men, molded by these socialization practices, are less inclined to seek mental health support.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the suicide rate among males in 2021 was approximately four times higher than the rate among females. They state that males make up half of the population, but nearly 80 percent of the suicides. The impacts of traditionally masculinity are impacting men and society at large. Therefore, it benefits everybody to take a closer look at traditionally masculine traits and understand their consequences.

In the article below, you will find common traditionally masculine traits and their impacts on health and peace. While not exhaustive, you will also find recommendations for addressing these issues.

Dominance

Dominance, sometimes synonymous with strength and control, can manifest in ways that lead to reluctance around seeking medical care as well as power struggles and conflicts. Traditional gender norms often emphasize strength, creating a cultural expectation that men should downplay the challenges in their life they cannot control. This leads to men enduring health issues on their own. This dominance-driven reluctance to seek medical attention or help when needed can exacerbate preventable issues and lead to delayed diagnoses or interventions.

Recommendations: Shift societal expectations around dominance as a masculine norm. Encourage men to prioritize their well-being and seek medical care without fear of judgment. Celebrate preventive care like the prostate cancer campaign organized by Movember.

In the realm of peace, dominance leads to conflicts and power struggles between individuals or groups. When boys and men assert their interests forcefully, tensions arise and relationships become competitive. In extreme cases, violence erupts. Research shows that men who adhere to traditionally masculine traits like dominance are likely to engage in intimate partner violence.

Recommendations: Challenge the notions that dominance and control are the only ways to be masculine. Focus on peaceful conflict resolution and collaboration. Encourage boys from a young age to extend respect to all people, including girls, women, and gender-diverse communities.

Emotional Suppression and Avoidance of Vulnerability

Since childhood, boys are limited to certain emotions that are deemed masculine such as frustration and anger. When boys feel sad or scared, they are taught to not cry or to be brave. Emotional suppression and the avoidance of vulnerability often leads to underreporting of mental health issues. Men may feel societal pressure to conform to the expectation of emotional stoicism, preventing them from expressing how they feel or exacerbating health issues. For instance, in the Journal of Black Psychology, researchers found that African American men utilized John Henryism, a high-effort method of coping that involves working hard in the face of prolonged stress and discrimination in order to remain stoic was linked with hypertension and depression.  

Recommendations: Dismantle the stigma around mental health among men and within male-dominated cultures. Encourage open conversations and normalize seeking help when needed.

In the context of peace, emotional suppression or the avoidance of vulnerability hinders conflict resolution in personal relationships. When men suppress their emotions to adhere to traditional gender norms, it may lead to unresolved conflicts. Emotional suppression prevents open communication, making it difficult for men to express their feelings, understand the other person, and collaboratively work towards a solution. This lack of communication can lead to deteriorating relationships and in extreme cases, community tensions.

Recommendations: Promote emotional expression and vulnerability at individual and community levels. Encourage healthy communication styles, empathy, and active listening. Create an environment where conflicts can be addressed constructively.

Aggression

Many boys and men have been taught to use aggressive and violent behaviors as a means to resolve interpersonal conflict. Masculine discrepancy stress is a form of stress that occurs when a man believes he is failing to live up to the “ideal” definition of masculinity that is derived from social norms and gender roles. In other words, it is when a man believes he is perceived to be insufficient when it comes to his masculinity. Research has shown that men who experience a high degree of masculine discrepancy stress will act out in stereotypical masculine manners such as through aggression to prove their masculinity to themselves and others. Anger, frustration, aggression and irritability can also be early signs of depression in men.

Recommendations: Talk to men who exhibit aggression to understand the reason behind the behavior. Recognize differences between how men and women navigate depression. Encourage men to express their feelings and adopt healthy stress management strategies.

In terms of peace, aggressive approaches to resolving conflicts such as verbal attacks or physical intimidation escalate tensions and make it challenging to find peaceful resolutions. Research has shown that masculinity has played a role in aggression toward those who do not confirm to strict gender narratives, which lead to violence and hate crimes against transgender and gender-nonconforming people.

Recommendations: Create affirming and compassionate spaces for people to explore intersecting influences of masculinity. Raise awareness about the issues that sexual and gender minority communities face. Discuss the messages that boys and men have received that promote harassment or discrimination of sexual or gender minorities.  

Self-Reliance

The traditionally masculine trait of self-reliance poses challenges when boys and men do not rely on medical systems to address health issues. Similar to how dominance leads men to avoid preventative care, rigid adherence to traditional masculinity traits such as self-reliance leads to less mental health service access than people with flexible attitudes around gender. For instance, a man experiencing symptoms of depression might avoid seeking therapy or counseling due to the masculine belief that he should handle his problems on his own.

Recommendations: Encourage men to seek help when it comes to mental health. Point to popular male role models in the media who have spoken up about mental health. Emphasize the importance of early intervention.

In the context of peace, it is vital to recognize that peace is not solely the absence of violence. It is the strengthening of resilient communities to withstand adversity. When members of a community take on self-reliance or independence in the name of masculinity, the community misses out on stronger social ties and increased feelings of loneliness and disconnection.  Studies have also shown that rigid male gender norms is related to men’s fear of intimacy and discomfort with affection with other men.

Recommendations: Foster a culture that values interconnectedness. Encourage individuals to lean on their social networks during difficult times. Emphasize strength in both seeking and offering support to create a more resilient community.

Risk-Taking

According to the CDC, unintentional injuries were the 3rd leading cause of death among males in 2018. For men ages 1-44, unintentional injuries were the 1st leading cause of death in 2018. Traditionally masculinity promotes risk-taking behaviors as a notion of strength or a carefree attitude. These behaviors put the health of boys and men at risk. Research has shown that men that aligned with masculine norms were more likely to normalize risky health behaviors such as heavy drinking and tobacco use.

Recommendations: Increase education about the impact of risky health behaviors. Help boys and men recognize the consequences of applying a carefree attitude when it comes to health. Provide alternative examples of positive risk-taking such as stepping outside of one’s comfort zone.

In the context of peace, risk-taking behaviors can lead to impulsive and dangerous behaviors that can harm communities. For instance, research has shown that men primed with masculine traits increase their dangerous driving habits such as speeding. These behaviors pose a direct threat to other drivers, pedestrians, and the community.

Recommendations: Community awareness campaigns and educational initiatives can play a vital role in discouraging risky behaviors.

Rigid Gender Norm Adherence

While some of the traditionally masculine traits such as strength and self-reliance are not inherently negative, the rigid adherence to masculine norms to avoid masculine discrepancy stress is detrimental to boys, men, and society.

According to a study, some men consider health care to be feminized, or in other words, to be for female and passive receipts of medical treatment, which to them, is valued less than being ‘male, resilient, and independent.’ It is the rigid adherence to gender norms that results in men dealing with issues around alcohol use, sexual behaviors, among others.

Recommendations: Expand the definition of masculinity and highlight positive male role models who are exemplifying healthy expressions of manhood.

In the context of peace, rigid notions around masculinity that emphasize aggression toward or dominance over boys who hold identities or characteristics outside of traditional masculinity influence boys to engage in bullying, homophobic and misogynistic behaviors, and sexual harassment. In addition, studies have shown that men who endorse sexist male role norms are likely to aggress against participants who violate these norms. Men who rigidly adhere to masculine norms that promote sexism and patriarchal notions also tend to endorse and commit higher levels of intimate partner violence and sexual violence toward women.

Recommendations: Promote healthier and peaceful expressions of masculinity. Dismantle stereotypes that contribute to harmful behaviors. Educate communities about gender-based violence.

In dissecting the impacts of traditional masculinity on health and peace, it becomes evident that expanding our understanding of masculinity is not just a noble pursuit; it is a necessity for the well-being of individuals and society at large. The adherence to rigid traditional masculine norms such as emotional suppression, dominance, and aggression, has proven detrimental to both the mental health of men and peace within communities.

However, this examination is not an attack but an opportunity for transformation. Despite the years of socialization into traditional masculine norms, many boys and men are already challenging these narratives, seeking healthier and more peaceful expressions of masculinity. By shedding light on their stories, we can break down stereotypes and encourage a shift toward positive masculinity.

The recommendations outlined in this article, while not exhaustive, provide a roadmap for change. Encouraging emotional expression, redefining the concept of dominance, and promoting help-seeking behaviors pave the way for a masculinity that prioritizes both physical and mental health as well as peaceful coexistence.

The narrative of masculinity is ever-evolving; it’s a narrative we can collectively edit. In doing so, we create a future where boys and men can embrace healthier, more peaceful, and more fulfilling expressions of their identity.