Attention seeking hoe of color. 24. F. She/Her pronouns. Feel free to ask me to tag stuff.
For the first time in its 127-year history, the American Psychological Association has issued guidelines to help psychologists specifically address the issues of men and boys — and the 36-page document features a warning.
‘Traditional masculinity ideology has been shown to limit males’ psychological development, constrain their behavior, result in gender role strain and gender role conflict and negatively influence mental health and physical health,’ the report warns.
The new ‘Guidelines for the Psychological Practice with Boys and Men’ defines ‘masculinity ideology’ as ‘a particular constellation of standards that have held sway over large segments of the population, including: anti-femininity, achievement, eschewal of the appearance of weakness, and adventure, risk, and violence.’ The report also links this ideology to homophobia, bullying and sexual harassment.“
And this is news?
On an individual basis? No, not remotely alas.
However, it is news that this is now formally recognised and codified by a respected learned body. It can now be cited with supporting evidence after scientific analysis. That has meaning in and of itself
We been knew.
However, now we scientifically peer reviewed been knew.
Yesterday I posted this after reading the news article. Now I’ve read through most of the report and here’s some of my favorite pieces.
For instance, socialization for conforming to traditional masculinity ide- ology has been shown to limit males’ psychological development, constrain their behavior, result in gender role strain and gender role conflict (Pleck, 1981, 1995; O’Neil, 2008; O’Neil & Renzulli, 2013), and negatively influence mental health (e.g., O’Neil, 2008, 2013, 2015) and physical health (Courtenay, 2011; Gough & Robertson, 2017)
Further complicating their ability to receive help, many men report experiencing gender bias in therapy (Mahalik et al., 2012), which may impact diagnosis and treatment (Cochran & Rabinowitz, 2000). For instance, sev- eral studies have identified that men, despite being 4 times more likely than women to die of suicide worldwide (DeLeo et al., 2013), are less likely to be diagnosed with internalizing disorders such as depression, in part because internalizing disorders do not conform to traditional gender role stereotypes about men’s emotionality (for a review, see Addis, 2008). Instead, because of socialized ten- dencies to externalize emotional distress, boys and men may be more likely to be diagnosed with externalizing disorders (e.g., con- duct disorder and substance use disorders) (Cochran & Rabinowitz, 2000).
Expression of romantic or sexual attraction might pres- ent gay, bisexual, transgender, and gender nonconforming individuals with gender role–related conflict that is, in part, born from violations of heteronormative gender role ideals (Schwartzberg & Rosenberg, 1998), and potentially alienate sexual- and gender-minority men from a complete male identity (Wester & Vogel, 2012). This may ostracize some gay, bisexual, trans- gender, and gender-nonconforming indi- viduals from an inherent sense of male identity (APA, 2015), leading to feeling pressured to adopt dominant masculine roles to reduce feelings of minority stress (Green, 2005; Skidmore, Linsenmeier, & Bailey, 2006)
Additionally, some sexu- al and gender minority individuals do not wish to label their gender identity and do not feel masculine behaviors are an essential component of male gender iden- tity (Bockting, Benner, & Coleman, 2009). For these individuals, masculinity may be conceptualized as a set of characteristics that fall on a spectrum and are expressed differently from one individual to anoth- er, vary over the course of one’s identity development, or may depend on external context (Diamond & Butterworth, 2008; Nagoshi & Brzuzy, 2010; Vegter, 2013).
Further, despite ethnic minority boys and men’s engagement in positive behaviors, they may be stereo- typed and subject to labeling by educa- tors, law enforcement, and mental health professionals as aggressive or hypermas- culine. For instance, Goff, Jackson, Di Leone, Culotta, and DiTomasso (2014) demonstrated how African American boys are more likely to be perceived as older, less innocent, more responsible for their actions, and being more appropriate tar- gets for police violence. Thus, while most men experience pressures to conform to hegemonic masculinity, some men, par- ticularly those from marginalized groups, may be targets of gendered, racial, and heterosexist stereotypes (Vaughns & Spielberg, 2014).
(via dangercupcakemurdericing)
