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From Suzanne H. Lease, Ph.D.:

Although the gendering effects of society on women have been acknowledged for some time now, similar effects on men are only recently being identified and studied. As with most research topics, our understanding of the social context of masculinity, or the societal rules about being a man, is moving from simplistic to more complex. In the early studies, researchers in this area identified the "proscriptive roles" for men – the messages about what men "should" be. When I talk about these roles with students (I am faculty in a Counseling Psychology doctoral training program) or with fellow colleagues, my approach is that the normative roles are simply that, societal rules that guide our behavior as gendered individuals. We internalize these messages to greater or lesser extents and one of the interesting side aspects of this research is learning how these societal messages change over time or differ based on other variables (socioeconomic background, education, age, life experience, etc.) The roles are neither good nor bad; however, in some situations they are effective and sources of strength and in others they detrimental. This perspective helps the research team to stay away from "male-bashing" or advocacy work. The norm of "being tough" is a good example of strengths and costs. It serves many protective features (protection of family or other loved ones, of the greater society), but can also lead to the high-risk behavior of underusing preventative or early medical care for health conditions. Some of my colleagues (Jim Mahalik, Jim O'Neil, Stephen Wester) are studying those aspects of masculinity and its relation to healthcare use and health-related behaviors. As I look at their research, I understand it to be an analysis of how gender socialization can set the stage for behaviors that are not life-enhancing. For me that is a very different position than "men bad, women good."

However, even in that early research on identifying male role norms, there was recognition that these messages are so closely tied to the dominant society that anyone who identified differently than the dominant group (whether based on race, culture, socioeconomic status, sexual orientation, physical ability/disability, etc.) might endorse a different set of male role norms or might endorse similar ones, but interpret them differently. Although we have expected this to be the case, we are only beginning to test it. My research focuses on this area.

Our very preliminary work (with Turkish men and with a small sample of men who live in the US) is suggestive of these differences in the meaning of masculinity. For example, there were not large differences in the importance of some of the traditional role norms for the Turkish and US men, but what those role norms meant for the men in terms of working with colleagues or interactions with romantic partners did seem to differ. This implies that masculinity might mean something different based on cultural identification. This specific project explores the differences in importance of the various role norms between men identifying as White or Black American/African American. It also looks at the relations of those role norms with measures of interpersonal relationships – with both work colleagues and romantic partners – and if the patterns of those relations differ by group. If so, this gives us some indication that the meaning of those role norms differs by group identification (again using toughness as an example, Black and White American men might agree on the importance of toughness, but differ on what toughness means in terms of how it relates to interactions with others).

In my role as a faculty member training future psychologists who will work in the community, it is important for me to study and educate my students on how men's (and women's) internalization of societal messages about masculinity and femininity affects their relationships with others, including relationships at work. One of my particular interests in career psychology so I am intrigued with how some of the aspects of masculinity can be both beneficial and detrimental in the workplace. This study allows for the exploration of some of those work relationships, but I expect this is an area that I will continue to study based on what we find in this research. As a female, I do have to be conscious of my values and beliefs about gendered relationships and clearly examine how they might and might not affect my framing and understanding of the research questions. I believe I am able to do this although, obviously, I am not the objective evaluator of this. Fortunately, the research team has a nice gender mix of men and women and we can provide some checks for each others' views as we conduct the research.