Motivation

This paper will examine the concept of ‘precarious manhood’ and its consequences. There is an idea emerging in recent social psychology research that traces a number of social problems to the idea that, crudely expressed, “while women are born, men are made.” These problems include: men’s violence against women, violent aggression between men, the prevalence of homophobia / transphobia, and bullying that takes the form of restrictive gender policing.

I will first proceed by analyzing this line of research in consultation with the other concepts explored during the semester (particularly ‘altruistic punishment’ and its relation to enforcing conformity to group norms). The ultimate goal of the paper is to determine what action might be taken to counteract the causes of this phenomenon, and/or to mitigate its effects.