ABSTRACT
Conversations about men, masculinities and Earth have been dotted throughout scholarly publications and community activities from various quarters for some time. We examine seven main contributing sources: the Euro-pagan Green Man who is a frolicking alternative to the fortified warrior-hero that has characterised Western European masculinities since the so-called Dark Ages; essentialised Earth honouring of the mythopoetic men’s movement that represents the masculinities version of early and essentialist ecofeminisms; ecocritical masculinities that dalliance with literary examinations of men, masculinities and Earth; stalking nature exploring hunting culture and the relationships between modern Western masculinities and extractivism; men in the environmental movement who have challenged malestream norms at risk of being brandished ‘gender traitors’; farming men and the sociology of rural masculinities where intimate connections with Earth are close, common and in some cases accompanied by bold countercultural alternatives to masculine hegemonisation; feminist-inspired ecomasculinities focused on conceptual deconstructions that seek solutions to the structural constraints of male domination. These various considerations represent existing forays in masculine ecologisation. To date, they have been both diffuse and perennial. This chapter is a ‘literature review’ that explores attempts to facilitate transitions from hegemonisation to ecologisation through these various lenses, noting that they have been rather unorganised and have not – as a consequence – gathered momentum. In preparation for formulating ecological masculinities, we give these contributions our considered attention and then propose the need for a metanarrative that gathers them together under the discursive banner of ecological masculinities
