Masculinity studies and male violence: Critique or collusion?

SynopsisDespite a more comprehensive understanding of male violence and an increase in interventions and punitive measures there has not been a concurrent diminution in men's usage of violence. There has been an increase in critical work by male masculinity theorists examining men and masculinity with some focus on men's violence. This article will provide an overview of the masculinity theories and their uneasy relationship with feminism in relation to their engagement with male violence. The three specific criticisms of this work are: that men are constructed as the real victims of masculinity; that masculinity becomes disembodied from men and as such masculinity becomes problematised instead of the practices of men; and that despite the alleged alignment with feminism the male masculinity theorists are often not reflexive about their work in terms of both political and personal commitments.