Gender, Men, and Masculinities

Gender involves men as well as women. Attempts to understand gender have sometimes used the idea of sex roles; and sometimes have treated men and women as simple categories. But the most fruitful approach is to see gender as a system of social relations. Masculinities are the patterns of social practice associated with the position of men in any society’s set of gender relations. Bodily difference is not a fixed determinant of gender patterns; it is, rather, a point of reference in gender practices.