Male Identity | Engelsk

Indledning
What is a real man? Many men care about their masculinity and identity. But do we really know what it takes to be a real man? The gender roles have changed a lot the recent years. Some decades ago, gender roles were quite different from today.

At that time, the men were the ones who were dominating - both in society and at home. This meant that it was the man who was responsible for providing food for the whole family and was the one who had the biggest income in the family.

Due to this development that has been through the recent years, the gender roles have changed a lot which also has affected the male identity.

Not only the male identity has been affected but also many relationships between men and women. Today there are many women who has a higher education compared to men. The women are also catching up with the men when it comes to income.

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Uddrag
Another major question is: Has the development of gender roles affected men? You could well imagine that changing their traditional thoughts and actions was a challenge for men as this would require changes in their basic understanding of masculinity.

In times with increased individuali-zation and independence between men and women, traditional family types have changed to be post-modern.

The individualization is a threat to the individual which leads to an unstable identity formation - especially for men. So even though the traditional gender distribution where the man was responsible for getting food on the table and the woman looked after the children

the increase reflexivity and indi-vidualization have led to women creating their own identity, thereby depriving men of their responsibil-ity.

Men can no longer dominate the women and so they will have to find their identity in a different way. To build a family is hard work and it has not become any easier with the way women increasingly strive at work careers.

Equal opportunities for both genders are in Denmark fully accepted but with less parent time at home families struggle to balance family and work life. Both genders will have to adapt and show flexibility and steadily develop their identity.