masculinity

Editor: Justin Healey
ISBN 978 1 920801 25 0
Year 2005

Price: $19.95

  

Masculinity: Men and Boys
Volume 216, Issues in Society

Recent public debate has focused on a ‘crisis in masculinity’ in Australia. Evidence of this ‘crisis’ among boys and young men is manifold: under-achievement at school; high suicide rates; criminal and anti-social behaviour; aggression; homophobia; sexual assault; cultures of sexism and violence in sport. How can society help boys to realise their potential as men when there is a lack of male role models due to absent fathers and few male teachers? This book investigates ‘masculinity’ and how boys and men can define a positive male identity, particularly in the areas of education, peer group, attitudes to women and in relationships.

Chapter 1  Boys' Issues
The education of boys: educational and social indicators; Is there a crisis in boys’ education?; Masculinity’s unfashionable sons must be shown their worth; Figures that make claims of a crisis in masculinity add up; Which crisis in masculinity?; Research the key to improving boys’ outcomes; We need to rediscover fatherland; Guiding principles for success in educating boys; Boys’ experiences of masculinity; Boys talk: what macho means; Homophobia; The effects of homophobia; Getting over homophobia; Boys’ behaviour; Ways to discipline boys; Boys: getting personal, giving boys direction.

Chapter 2  Mens' Issues
More about men; Men’s health; Australia’s sexist male sub-culture is not limited to footballers; Pub violence will continue as long as the culture of male aggression does; Body image issues for men; Masculinity and sexuality; Homophobia rules; Here is the real masculinity crisis; Masculinity is redundant; A masculinity worth promoting is lost for the sake of a few laughs; The crisis of masculinity – is there the need for a men’s movement?

Glossary; Facts and Figures; Additional Resources; Index



FAST FACTS from this volume
  • In 2000, 3.4% fewer Year 3 boys and 4.4% fewer Year 5 boys achieved the national reading benchmarks than girls.
  • 15.3% of Australian boys lack the literacy skills to benefit sufficiently from their education opportunities, compared with just 8.7% of girls.
  • 69% of 15-year-old girls scored at or above the OECD mean in reading literacy tests, compared with 55.4% of males.
  • While girls’ performance in literacy results has remained relatively stable over the past 25 years, overall, boys’ results have fallen to a significant degree.
  • Girls are achieving higher average marks in the majority of subjects at Year 12, and the ‘gap’ between boys’ and girls’ total marks has widened.
  • In NSW, the difference between boys’ and girls’ average Tertiary Entrance Score rose from 0.6 marks in 1981 to 19.4 marks in 1996.
  • In most states, boys and girls are fairly evenly represented among the top one or two per cent of students in Year 12 overall results, but the majority of mid-level to upper performers are girls, while boys dominate the bottom performers.
  • While male students are more likely to participate in extracurricular sports activities, female students are likely to participate to a greater extent in extracurricular activities than male students and in doing so increase their level of attachment to the school.
  • Boys report less positive experiences of schooling than girls in terms of ‘enjoyment of school, perceived curriculum usefulness and teacher responsiveness’.
  • Males made up just 43.1% of domestic higher education students in Australia in 2002, compared with 45.9% in 1992.
  • Males make up an overwhelming proportion of students experiencing disciplinary problems and school exclusion.
  • Teenage boys are more likely than teenage girls to be unemployed, be involved in a car crash, have problems with the law, experience alcohol and substance abuse or commit suicide.
  • In some schools boys account for eight out of every ten suspensions and exclusions.
  • Nationally, girls’ results in Year 3 and Year 5 Literacy Benchmark tests are up to five percentage points higher than boys.
  • The Year 12 retention rate for girls is between 11 and 12 percentage points higher than it is for boys.
  • Girls’ average levels of achievement in a majority of subjects assessed at senior secondary level are higher and the gap in the total has been widening.
  • In the 20 years from 1975, the proportion of 14-year-old boys failing to meet basic literacy benchmarks increased from 30 per cent to 35 per cent. Boys’ literacy achievement in years 3 and 5 now lags behind that of girls by 4.5 percentage points. Year 12 retention rates are 11 per cent higher for girls, driving a 6 per cent higher rate of university entry.
  • Only 29 per cent of Australian males aged 25-34 have a tertiary education, compared with 38 per cent of females.
  • In Year 12 girls outperform boys in all states and territories for which information is available. The most extreme example is in NSW, where there was not one Higher School Certificate subject in which the boys’ average mark was higher than the girls’ in 2000.
  • In 2002, 70 per cent of boys and 80 per cent of girls stayed to Year 12. In 1977, the figures were much closer – 34 per cent and 37 per cent – so while both have increased, boys have not kept pace with girls.
  • Most recent estimates show that boys are arrested for criminal offences at least five times more than girls.
  • The rates of male juvenile property crime doubled from the 1970s to the 1990s, while violent juvenile crime rates increased five-fold.
  • In 2002, the suicide rate per 100,000 population of 15-24 year old males was 19, compared with 4.3 for 15-24-year-old females.
  • Recent research with same-sex-attracted young people showed that: 81% of young men and 53% of young women (69% overall) had been harassed and abused at school, making school a more violent place for these students than the streets; 59% were harassed by other students; young men were more likely targets for verbal abuse (52%) than young women (39%) but overall nearly half (46%) had been verbally abused.
  • Young men aged 15-24 are twice as likely to die from motor vehicle accidents as young women and four times more likely to die from suicide.
  • Men aged 25-64 years have a death rate nearly twice that of females. They’re four times more likely to die from coronary artery disease or suicide and twice as likely to die from cancer.
  • Men are more likely to die or suffer permanent disabilities at work.
  • Men are less likely to admit to health problems and ignore warning signs associated with ill health and men use health services far less than women.