Contents
Men’s violence against women in Australia is a national crisis. Decades of research and practice evidence show this violence is preventable, if action is taken across whole populations to challenge the harmful gender norms that allow it to occur.
This study explores how to support men’s engagement in the prevention of violence against women and other forms of gender-based violence. Research that builds what we know about how people understand the ways they can address the gendered drivers of this violence is critical. Better evidence about what it means to help more men to actively engage in prevention is key to developing more effective solutions to an entrenched social problem.
This report explores men’s perspectives about the ways that they navigate, challenge or conform to masculine norms across different aspects of their lives. In doing so, it contributes to:
- understanding how to build men’s willingness, capability and confidence to engage in prevention
- clarifying future directions for how prevention efforts might further engage with men.
Methods
Willing, capable and confident: men, masculinities and the prevention of violence against women (Willing, capable and confident) is the second publication from the Man Box 2024 study. This project was led by The Men’s Project, an initiative of Jesuit Social Services, in partnership with Respect Victoria. The Man Box 2024 study updates and expands upon findings from the first Man Box study in 2018. It investigates relationships between men’s attitudes towards stereotypical masculine norms – framed across the study as the Man Box ‘rules’ – and other attitudes and behaviours that can cause harm to themselves and the people around them.
The Man Box 2024 is a mixed-method study comprised of:
- a nationally representative survey of more than 3,500 Australian men aged 18 to 45
- seven focus group discussions with a total of 33 men aged 18 to 45.
The focus group discussions were designed to provide deeper insight into men’s attitudes and behaviours related to masculine norms. Willing, capable and confident centres on Respect Victoria’s analysis of these focus group discussions. It complements and expands upon analysis of survey and focus group data presented in The Man Box 2024: re-examining what it means to be a man in Australia report, published by Jesuit Social Services in February 2024.
The focus group discussions were designed to understand the perspectives of men who do not personally endorse some or all of the Man Box rules, even if they feel social pressure to conform to them. This meant excluding men from the study who, by virtue of their higher level of endorsement of Man Box rules, are more likely to condone violence against women or have perpetrated violence against women.
The Men’s Project and Respect Victoria categorised participants into focus groups to generate a range of perspectives about navigating masculine norms based on common experiences. These included:
- age
- educational and occupational pathways
- fatherhood
- self identification as gay, bisexual, and transgender or gender diverse.
Men were also organised into groups according to their level of endorsement of Man Box rules (i.e. low or moderate). This reduced the risk of conflict over differences in belief systems within each group, and the risk of discomfort to participants when encountering potentially extreme views about violence and gender.
Findings
In Willing, capable and confident we consider:
- how men experience pressures related to social scripts about how they should behave and relate to others
- the ways that men navigate these pressures across relationships and environments.
The report finds that a significant number of men who participated in the study talked about their willingness to prevent or repair the negative impacts of harmful masculine norms in their lives. However, they were sometimes unsure of their capability to act on these desires or lacked the confidence to take action to prevent the negative impact of masculine norms.
The findings in this report are intentionally framed as strengths-based, to highlight their potential use in helping men see themselves as capable of challenging the gendered drivers of men’s violence against women. We do this to increase understanding of the ways that men’s willingness, capability and confidence to engage in gender-transformative action for prevention can be supported through systemic, structural, and settings-based efforts.
How men experience pressure to conform to Man Box rules
Men experience different pressures of what it means to be a man in Australia, including how they should behave and relate to others. Focus group participants experienced pressures to conform to various masculine norms, consistent with rules described in the Man Box 2024 study. Their discussions focused on three themes in particular:
- acting tough and being stoic
- creating financial stability as breadwinners in heterosexual relationships
- complying with heteronormative and heterosexual masculine norms.
Men’s experiences of these pressures are shaped by different social relationships, contexts, and personal histories. For instance, some participants described how pressure to act tough and be stoic has a significant impact upon their ability to express particular emotions in public.
I feel like it’d have to be an extreme context and very public in order for [men crying in public] to come through as alright. Let’s say you had a major accident and one of your mates just passed away in public, people would understand. But there has to be a solid reason. A death.
Participant working in a male-dominated trade, with low level of endorsement of the Man Box rules
Several participants experienced such pressures as unfair or as having negative effects on their ability to seek help from friends, colleagues, family members and intimate partners. Even where they did not personally agree with Man Box rules, participants felt pressure to conform regardless. This resulted in behaviours that were consistent with harmful masculine norms, often due to feared social consequences if they did not conform.
I’d like to say I don’t [relate to the strong man stereotype], but I feel like internally that’s not the truth. I don’t feel comfortable crying in front of anyone. I don’t see it as a thing of weakness from anyone else, but I don’t have the same acceptance of it [for myself] … There’s the fear of judgement.
Participant working in a male-dominated trade, with low level of endorsement of the Man Box rules
Concerns that they would face social exclusion, judgement, or rejection from others influenced how most participants in the study described choosing to either conform to or resist Man Box rules.
I feel like talking about your feelings or emotions gives a perception that you are weak, and you are not at the same level as the others around you. Sometimes you can feel very small and tiny as a result. It’s generally your positives like excitement and happy, and all of those positive emotions are fine, because they are all upbeat and signs of strength, and when you are showing vulnerability, that’s where people perceive it as weakness.
University-educated participant, with low level of endorsement of the Man Box rules
Study participants described the comparative freedom they experienced when they felt they could manage potential judgement from others or felt they were in a safe environment and could express themselves differently. This demonstrates how men in the focus groups resisted or conformed to masculine norms in context-specific ways. It suggests that men’s behaviours are being shaped by their own personal beliefs about masculine norms, their perception of what others expect them to do, and their perception of the consequences of acting outside of those expectations.
Willing, capable, and confident explores focus group participants’ perceptions of ways that social pressures to conform to harmful masculine norms have changed over time for them personally, and across generations. While pressures to be a ‘real man’ still have tangible impacts on men’s lives in Australia, many of the men in our study indicated that they were happy that these pressures have shifted and were appreciative of the role of various forms of media in reshaping masculine norms.
The introduction of podcasts a few years ago. Hearing other men’s stories about struggling and mental health, stuff like that. It enabled me to open up a lot more. You’re able to think, it’s not just me, there are other people out there with similar thoughts.
Participant working in a male-dominated trade, with low level of endorsement of the Man Box rules
The findings in this report support previous research and practice evidence highlighting the crucial role of context – and in particular peer relationships – in how men decide to conform to or challenge masculine norms.
Pivotal to preventing men’s violence is understanding how to enable men to practice equitable forms of masculinity in their intimate, peer and professional relationships. This report supports existing evidence that demonstrates that by itself, individual attitudinal change may not be sufficient to change men’s behaviour. Population-wide efforts are required to complement changes that may be achieved through prevention work with individual men, in order to transform the social environments where masculine norms are shaped and practiced. This affirms the important role of primary prevention efforts that engage with men as individuals, while also addressing the social systems, structures, organisations and communities that create and enable these masculine norms.
How men navigate pressure to conform to Man Box rules
Focus group participants shared various strategies they employed to navigate Man Box rules across different social and relational settings. Strategies vary according to context, which can influence men’s sense of how willing, capable and confident they are to actively address the gendered drivers of violence against women.
Some men described the ways that they might selectively modulate their behaviours to conform to their peers.
I’ll be dead honest with you. I think being younger … and being pretty immature, I reckon everyone would think it’s funny or whatever [if a friend yells a suggestive comment to a woman on the street]. But I think a certain few and I feel like myself, obviously depending on what it is but you might think, … ‘That was funny’. But then you’d go, ‘Come on, mate. You’re not gaining. You’re just putting someone down’. You’d tell them to pull their head in. You know what I mean?
Participant working in a male-dominated trade, with moderate level of endorsement of the Man Box rules
Understanding the strategies men use to navigate social pressures is an important finding for prevention work that seeks to develop men’s capacity to intervene against harmful attitudes and behaviours. It provides a frame from which to consider why men might make decisions about the attitudes and behaviours they express, challenge, avoid, agree with, or ignore in different aspects of their lives.
Willing, capable, and confident demonstrates the value men place on their friendships, family relationships and intimate partnerships, and their connections with colleagues, teammates, and community. Engaging men in primary prevention means acknowledging the richness of their relationships and the ways that protecting a sense of belonging can shape men’s behaviours.
Where men feel greater pressure to conform to harmful gender norms, the value they place on maintaining these relationships and their social safety can mean that they dismiss, ignore, reinforce or encourage violence-supporting attitudes and behaviours.
The pub test is that we should be standing up for the right thing, but it’s the confrontation and the friendship and the relationship. I don’t want to ruin the relationship.
University-educated participant, with moderate level of endorsement of the Man Box rules
This report supports the assertion made in primary prevention frameworks that shifts in individual attitudes and behaviours are more sustainable when enabled by structural, institutional, and organisational change, and when there is a critical mass of support for healthier versions of masculinity – from family members, partners, employers, friends, workmates, the media and online networks.
Opportunities to build men's willingness, capability and confidence to engage in prevention
Many men understand that adhering to Man Box rules may cause harm for themselves and others around them. A significant number of focus group participants also identified examples of how the gendered drivers of men’s violence against women play out in the places where they live, work, learn, socialise and play. Many participants expressed how these examples caused them discomfort and did not align with their personal values.
This provides an opportunity to further engage men who are already questioning or disconnected from harmful masculine norms. This report demonstrates five key opportunities for building men’s willingness, capability and confidence to address the gendered drivers of violence against women across five broad themes:
- Men see and understand the benefits of emotionally supportive, safe and equitable intimate partner relationships for themselves and their partners.
- Fathers understand how gender norms can influence their parenting and impact their children.
- Men’s families and social networks can support them to let go of harmful ideas about what it means to be a man and can encourage healthy forms of masculinity.
- Men’s increased openness to discuss their mental health and wellbeing can be built upon with gender-transformative primary prevention efforts.
- Workplace initiatives, cultures and reforms provide opportunities to challenge harmful ideas about what it means to be a man.
Future directions for primary prevention
For many people working in primary prevention policy, program design and practice, the findings of this report are likely to affirm decades of experience and practice evidence that speak to the barriers and opportunities related to engaging men and boys in gender-transformative work. To further prevention work with men, it is critical for the sector to:
- embed approaches to working with men that are consistent and coordinated across prevention, early intervention, response and recovery
- build evidence about what works to shift harmful masculine norms across whole populations, within different settings and cohorts, and to test that knowledge in policy and practice
- support media to build men’s willingness, capability and confidence to be part of prevention.