We also looked at the impact of agreeing to the Man Box rules on different areas of young people's lives, including health and wellbeing, physical appearance, relationships, risk-taking, violence and bystander behaviour. However, there is a significant minority (on average about 30 percent) of young people who support most of the Man Box rules. Outside the Man Box Little interest or pleasure in doing things in the last two weeks.
This created two comparable categories to explore the influence of endorsement of the Man Box rules. We then move on to sections that explore young men's views on the rules of the Man Box and its influence on their behaviour.
Why this study?
Our aim was to explore young men's attitudes and behaviors on a range of topics including gender norms, health and wellbeing, physical appearance, relationships, risk-taking, violence and bystander behaviour. It also looks at the influence of these beliefs on various areas of young men's lives. Promundo's research is based on and builds on a wider field of research and thinking about masculinities and men's attitudes and behaviour.
This study is the first national survey of men's attitudes and behaviors as they relate to manhood and. In late 2017, Promundo gave The Men's Project access to the Man Box study, and work to conduct this research in Australia began.
About the study
Indeed, during the focus groups several young people commented on how influential different cultural norms for gender roles can be. To complement and enable a more detailed understanding of the issues covered in the online survey, two focus groups were conducted with eight young people aged 18-30. Focus groups were held in two locations in suburban Melbourne (Narre Warren and Heidelberg) and young people were randomly recruited from a market research panel.
These conclusions and quotes from young men who participated in the research have been incorporated throughout this report. This shows that a significant proportion of young men receive messages about how a 'real man' should act from a range.
Understanding the Man Box
The contents of the Man Box: understanding what 'real men' are supposed to be like. The prevalence of the Man Box rules of acting strongly was evident in the focus group discussions. A central question for this study is the extent to which young men internalize the rules of the Man Box.
In general, most young men seem to reject the strict rules of the Man Box. However, most of the Man Box rules were agreed by a significant minority of young men, on average around one third.
What this means: life inside the Man Box
Those in the Man Box had an average life satisfaction score of 6.8 and those outside the Man Box 6.7. Looking at the average positive affect scale score, we saw no statistically significant difference between those in and outside the Man Box. A statistically significantly higher percentage of young men inside the Man Box reported that they had little interest or pleasure in doing things at some point in the past two weeks.
These questions yielded some interesting findings that illustrate the complexity of life inside and outside the Human Box. Those outside the Man Box were more likely to report having a friend to whom they felt comfortable displaying personal or emotional vulnerability. Those inside the Man Box were more likely to talk to their fathers, or both parents, or their siblings.
Young men in the Man Box were statistically more likely to drink regularly and be involved in traffic accidents. In particular, those in the Man Box are more satisfied with their physical attractiveness than those outside the Man Box. Differences in satisfaction levels regarding these aspects of appearance between those inside and outside the Man Box were statistically significant.
More than half of those in the Man Box reported experiencing some form of bullying or violence in the past month. Young men inside the Man Box were more than six times more likely to commit physical violence than those outside. Those in the Man Box were more than six times more likely to exhibit this type of behavior (45 percent compared to 7 percent), a pattern consistent with findings from the US and UK.
These findings are particularly worrying as they indicate high levels of sexual harassment, particularly by young men in the Man Box. Again, those in the Man Box were statistically more likely to join in or do nothing when they witnessed this behavior.
Looking across the Man Box spectrum in more detail
Perception of Society's Man Box Man Box Score Average Perception of Society's Man Box Average Man Box Score. Percentage of respondents who report experience at a certain point in the past two weeks Man Box. Looking first at life satisfaction, we see that those who endorse the Man Box rules more strongly have higher levels of life satisfaction and positive affect scores than young men in other quintiles, but also have the highest negative affect scale scores and suicidal ideation rates.
Those who are freest from the Man Box have the lowest level of life satisfaction, suggesting that challenges around meaning and happiness with life also exist at the other end of the masculinity spectrum. The impact of stricter adherence to Man Box rules becomes even clearer when we look at responses to a wider range of behavioral questions. This suggests that there may also be challenges and negative outcomes for those breaking free from the Man Box.
Gender,” simply defined, refers to the meaning given to manhood and the social organization of men's and women's lives. Another widely used measure, the Conformity to Masculine Norms Inventory (James R Mahalik et al., 2003), instead focuses on men's individual masculine beliefs, contained in "I" statements, in addition to asking young men to the social pressure they experience. about masculinity, although The Man Box survey also asks about men's own endorsement of views on masculinity. The “Act Like a Man” box or “Man Box” has been a widely used teaching tool over the past thirty years in efforts to engage men and boys in critical reflections on men and gender (Kivel, 2007).
Individual traits in Man Box are not necessarily bad and some can be really useful or desirable in some circumstances. Man Box norms also support forms of privilege and unfair advantage for men, and attitudes and behaviors of men that support inequality. This research by The Man Box provides key information on contemporary Australian norms of masculinity – both perceived societal norms of masculinity and young men's own norms of masculinity.
Men and the Man Box – A commentary – Dr Michael Flood
Young men's perceptions of masculine social expectations appear contradictory or ambivalent, for example for homophobia, paid work and parenting, and violence. Research on men and gender finds a consistent gap between perceived social norms for manhood and men's own attitudes about being a man. First, in line with other scholarship, there is a significant gap between young men's perceptions of societal support for Man Box rules and their own adherence to these rules.
They were more likely to personally endorse the Man Box message that men should "act strong even if they feel scared or nervous inside," with nearly half (47 percent) agreeing. Virtually identical levels of endorsement of men's patriarchal control of relationships are evident in the Man Box survey, e.g. One of The Man Box survey's key findings is that there is significant diversity in young men's own views of gender.
Diversity in young men's ideals and practices of manhood is also linked to other forms of social difference, including ethnicity, class and sexuality. Although the Man Box study's sample is too small to examine this, other research among young men finds that men's attitudes about gender and masculinity vary by ethnicity. Men's violence against women and men's violence against other men are actually related to both.
While the Man Box limits men's physical and emotional health, it also brings forms of privilege or unfair advantage to men and imposes great costs on women (Flood, 2018b). These inequalities are largely perpetuated by men's attitudes and behaviour, and the Man Box survey finds disturbingly high levels of approval of male privilege among young men. A key strategy to undermine the Man Box is therefore a 'social norms' approach that closes the gap between men's perceptions of other men's agreement with sexist norms and the actual extent of this agreement (Flood, 2018a).
Conclusion and Recommendations
Responses to the Man Box survey and focus groups indicate that perceptions of these social pressures vary within the community and may change over time. However, there is a substantial minority average of about 30 percent of young men who subscribe to most Man Box rules. The more closely young men adhere to the norms of the Man Box, the more likely they are to experience these negative feelings and behaviors.
In a finding different from those in the US and Britain, there is no statistically significant difference in levels of life satisfaction and positive affect between those inside and outside the Man Box. There is a diversity of experiences and views among young men when it comes to norms about being a 'real man', with some evidence that those most outside the Man Box have poor mental health and wellbeing outcomes can experience. But it is clear that those who most strongly endorse the Man Box rules report the worst outcomes in terms of mental health, experiencing/advocating bullying violence, perpetrating sexual harassment, binge drinking and car accidents.
These findings should fuel efforts to support young people to understand, critique, and negotiate Man Box norms. At all levels of society there should be a focus on building awareness of Man Box norms and their harmful impacts, weakening their cultural grip and promoting positive alternatives. On an individual level, everyone (both men and women) can take action by talking about Man Box pressures with boys and the men in their lives and modeling positive alternatives to Man Box norms in front of boys and young men. .
The following recommendations are informed by this research and analysis by Associate Professor Dr Michael Flood, including the framework for action he identified in order to break down human box norms. The recommendations contain actions that, if implemented, will begin to break down Man Box norms at the societal, community and individual levels. Programs and initiatives under these policies should focus on ways boys and men can live positive alternatives to Man Box norms.
