Introduction

Issues surrounding men and masculinities have become ‘hot politics’ in late capitalist societies. Much of the new focus on men’s identities has been a consequence of structural changes in contemporary societies interacting with the social and political effects of feminism. The new politics of masculinity is rooted in the claim that the social, political and economic conditions of late capitalist societies have exerted pressure on men’s traditional roles and identities, producing a generation of men less secure than their fathers were about their place and function in society. The restructuring of the family, a changing workplace, the expansion

of equality legislation, the challenges of feminism and alternative sexualities have all opened social debate around men’s subjectivities and ‘proper’ social roles. The political discussions that have surrounded men’s identities have meant that men, the traditional ‘genderless masters’ of public/political arenas, have been publicly and politically interrogated as gendered subjects; and more specifically as problematic gendered subjects. Men’s gender identities are now a political matter: a cause of concern. The key terms that have emerged in popular discourses about the

plight of the modern man have been ‘crisis’, ‘loss’ and ‘change’. The ‘crisis of masculinity’ thesis implies that the old certainties surrounding men’s traditional roles in the family and workplace have been swept away through social changes and increases in women’s equality, leaving the modern man dazed and confused about his roles and place in society. The qualities of ‘manliness’ have also been framed as under threat, attacked and undermined by feminism, gay culture and commercialism. The idea that men’s losses have resulted in equality gains for women has been common in recent discussions about ‘male’ crisis. Such claims have at times created the illusion that women are winning the ‘sex war’.