The Battle for/against Masculinity: Ideologies and Research.

A selection of texts from the English-language literature on Masculinity are examined, assessing how ideological rhetoric and empirical data-gathering interact. Overall, it emerges that published texts construe Masculinity as either a problem (feminist, critical masculinity studies) or an asset (defenders of “natural” Masculinity). While some authors are upfront regarding which understanding of Masculinity they support, others present their work as purely data-driven or simply fail to acknowledge important factors, such as ideologies, methodologies and emotions. More transparent, reflexive and reproducible empirical research is needed.