Hegemonic Masculinity and Mental Health Issues Among Men

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As opined by Judith Butler, in her famous book Gender Trouble in 1992, gender is
a mere construct, a social performance to maintain the power balance in society (Plain
2014). The net result of this is men and women are required to act in certain ways as
dictated by society. Thus, boys or men in order to main the hegemony in society are needed
to display certain specific masculine traits such as bravery, honor, respect and similar kind
of traits. This becomes apparent from the article published in The Gardian (2018), 'As boys,
we are told to be brave': men on masculinity and mental health.
It is hard to define ideology since it does not have a clear definition and is used in
various other ways. The term is used to describe the most common beliefs such as
socialism, liberalism and many more. The concept is believing in an idea and its principles.
Ideology is developed since birth regarding various aspects of society making them values,
norms, and principles (Vovelle 2016).
While ideology is constructed by society, hegemony is constructed by a group of people.
Hegemony is believed in ideologies that are created through social influence by socially
powerful people. It is done in order to gain power or satisfy their best interest. One such
belief in society is observed is hegemonic masculinity. The notion that men are supposed to
be strong, muscular, tough and not cry. The article published in The Guardian is on the
ways hegemonic masculinity have created mental health issues among men. The article
describes the ways men face challenges while confronting their feeling as they are assumed
to remain strong. Analysis has found that there is an existing link between the societal
concept of muscularity and depression (Bell and Adams 2016.).
Exnomination is when the attributes of the superior class who influence the
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ideologies or believe their ideologies as the real ideologies are hidden. A strong link can be
traced between stereotyping and exnomination. The thought of the dominant power is
applied to all by generalizing their concepts and creating hegemony. The height of gender
stereotype is noted to cause mental health issues among men in different ways at a different
point in life. The mental health issues are the outcome of the exnomination that have been
carried on for decades. Men, since their birth, are told to keep their feeling, emotions, and
thoughts within them and not illustrate it since it is associated with women’s traits.
However, the years of exnomibation have resulted in an increased number of men suffering
from depression (Hutcheson 2013).
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