Media and Advertising Isn’t Doing Men Justice

Article here. Excerpt:

'Whilst recent years have seen a dramatic shift in society for women across the UK (and, indeed, the world), the ideology of masculinity has largely been left behind. The term ‘modern masculinity’ is frequently thrown around in today’s world, yet people struggle to define what it actually is or looks like - in many instances - simply defaulting to the clunky application of 'feminine' traits to the modern male identity to try to make sense of it. This suggests - unfairly, we would argue - that perhaps not much has changed about the representation of male identity at all.

Academic frameworks such as David and Brannon’s ‘Four Rules of Masculinity’ and Promundo’s ‘The Man Box’ show that little has overtly evolved over the years with how men might define themselves, leaving more traditional ideals of ‘maleness’ in place.

At the same time, there has been a growing anxiety about the male role within society. Over the past five years especially, events such as the #MeToo movement have led to an increased attention on male aggression and violence towards and against women. The resulting heightened and justified focus on female empowerment has resulted in a greater emphasis being placed on defining 'toxic masculinity' rather than on defining a more positive representation of 'modern masculinity' - an unhelpful situation where the multitudes, nuances and subtleties of modern masculinity are often overlooked or ignored altogether.'