British researchers have found that almost half of young men surveyed in a new report struggle with their mental health, while a similar number feel that being a man is not something to be proud of.
The Red C report, ‘What Masculinity Means in Today’s World,’ discovered that 49% of the male respondents aged 18-34 admitted to struggling with mental health issues while a similar number had difficulty expressing their feelings.
Researchers surveyed just over a thousand male participants and found that 45% of younger men reported feelings of confusion as they struggle with societal pressures and a friction between modern and ‘traditional’ representations of masculinity.
“Some of the beliefs I have of what a man is are not acceptable anymore. There is a juxtaposition between being strong and “manly” but also soft and emotional,” said one respondent in his 20s.
A participant in his 30s remarked,
“Men are now expected to be fully part of the family and contribute equally to raising a family, yet are also still expected to be the breadwinner. Whereas decades ago, men were only expected to be the breadwinner.”
Social media came in for criticism as almost 60% of participants believe that it is damaging society’s overall perceptions of men and amplifying harmful stereotypes.
“There are a lot of negative stories of how men have treated women, which makes people assume all men are the same, which isn’t the case,” commented one 20-year-old.
“There is a feeling that men are responsible for patriarchy and (you feel) a sense of guilt, although things were this way before I was born and in spite of personal effort for equality/equanimity,” another added.
“Social media is damaging to men’s mental health as society have an expectation of what a man should be. This puts pressure on men to live up to this expectation,” said another.
When presented with the statement, “Being a man is something to be proud of,” only 51% of male respondents agreed, while the report also found that 54% of men in the 18-34 bracket found it hard to find a partner, a figure mirrored by women participants in the same research.
In terms of cultural depictions of masculinity, most respondents wanted a more authentic representation on-screen, such as more realistic body shapes, with only 21% being satisfied with this being the case already, falling to just 9% for the over 55 age cohort.
“Screen representations of men tend to concentrate either on highly masculine traits or perceived weaknesses, rather than any realistic picture of normal men,” said one participant in his 70s while another remarked that, “very few men are portrayed as struggling with issues – they’re always shown as strong and capable.”
One 27-year-old participant felt his Asian background wasn’t being portrayed properly on-screen, saying, “There is a tendency to stereotype a token Asian man as having an accent with other undesirable traits. And other roles are typically filled by white men.”
Shane McCormack