admin | March 14, 2024
Like this edition’s story from Burkina Faso, which was first published in July 2022, our Script of the week (a backgrounder) focuses on conceptions of masculinity.
Here is the part of the introduction to the backgrounder:
- Positive masculinity is a concept that promotes gender equality and the empowerment of women. It takes into account the attitudes, roles, and responsibilities of men and women and focuses on how laws and policies can support and protect this equality in law. In the management of the family, for example, positive masculinity encourages an equitable division of tasks between husband and wife. In married life, it encourages complementarity rather than dependence of one sex on the other. This rule applies everywhere, including in public and at home. Men and women are seen as beings with emotions, strengths, and weaknesses. Positive masculinity fights against all forms of injustice and violence against one gender, especially women. It sees men as being at the centre of these changes, as men are generally the perpetrators of violence against women.
- Positive masculinity, unlike negative masculinity, does not see sexual or physical virility, lack of emotion, self-sufficiency, or dominance as the hallmarks of a “real man.” Instead, it sees these qualities as possible sources of physical aggression, violence, suppression of emotions, isolation, hyper-competitiveness, lack of empathy, and violation of the right to equality. These attitudes can also lead to sexism and chauvinism. Positive masculinity is committed to combating these problems
- Negative masculinity, also known as toxic masculinity, is based on inequality between men and women and women’s dependence on men. In this worldview, roles and responsibilities are clearly divided between men and women. Negative masculinity includes gender stereotypes and sexist, misogynist, and even homophobic behaviour that is perpetuated through the education of boys. They are taught not to be afraid, not to cry, to be strong, and not to express their feelings. They are also encouraged to fight if they have to. And in line with this concept, it is frowned upon for a man to help a woman with household chores such as cooking, washing, and looking after children, which are considered to be women’s activities. These inequalities deprive women of their rights and prevent them from being empowered or from contributing fully to society. Negative masculinity overestimates the importance of male virility while encouraging hyper-competitiveness between men. It sets standards that disregard the differences that may exist between men. This social pressure pushes some men into sometimes dangerous excesses as they try to show off their masculinity.
: Positive and negative masculinity