Fractures of gender and masculinity crisis

Abstract

The objective of this work is to discuss the so-called crisis of masculinity from the perspective of anthropology and gender. It begins with a reflection on the very concept of masculinity, which should be thought of as an attribute, as opposed to an independent entity. Thus, it becomes clear that more than a “crisis of masculinity,” it is an inner repositioning of the notion.The characteristics of traditional masculinity are questioned to give rise to a new male ideal, the New Man, endowed with a new masculinity. While the traditional model of masculinity had a structural character and was strongly ingrained in the social and cultural context, the new masculinity is aimed at the individual. It shifts, then, from masculinity to diverse and plural masculinities,whose guarantor is no longer the social milieu, but rather this new type of professional who dreams of a “psychologically conscious” society: the sychologist. With the new masculinities, defined and delimited from psychology, men will be able to move from self-destruction to self esteem, but always as autonomous more than social beings. On the other hand, the masculine dominanceremains virtually unquestionable. Whether from self-destruction or selfesteem, as a member of a caste or autonomous entity, man, old or “new, continues to enjoy greater opportunities than woman, because the crisis of masculinity has not assumed, to date, a crisis in the structures of gender domination.