Emergence and history of Psychology of Men in West and Pakistan

Psychology of Men: 

    The new psychology of men has emerged over the past 15 years within the larger fields of men's studies and gender studies. Informed by the academic breakthroughs of feminist scholarship, the new psychology of men examines masculinity not as a normative referent, but rather as a problematic construct. In so doing, it provides a framework for a psychological approach to men and masculinity that questions traditional norms of the male role and views some male problems as unfortunate byproducts of the male gender role socialization process. This article introduces this new field, covering the gender role strain paradigm, masculinity ideology, and the 3 varieties of male gender role strain-- discrepancy-strain, dysfunctionstrain, and trauma-strain. Implications for practice are presented. 

Masculine Psychology: 

    Masculine Psychology is a relative term sometimes used to describe and categorize issues concerning the gender related psychology of human male identity, as well as the issues that men contain during their lives. It also relates to concepts such as Masculinity and Machismo. 

Emergence & History of Psychology of Men: 

1.Declaration of Rights of Men and of Citizen: 

    National Consistent Assembly in August 1789, is a fundamental document of the French Revolution and in the history of human and civil rights, influenced also by the doctrine of Natural right (the rights of men are held to be universal): valid at all times and in every place, pertaining to human nature itself. It became the basis for a nation free individuals protected equally by law.

2.The Men’s Right Movement:

    It is a part of the larger men’s movement. It branched off from the men’s liberation movement on the early 1970s. The men’s rights movement is made up of a variety of groups and individuals who are concerned with issues related to male disadvantage, discrimination and oppression. The movement focuses on numerous social issues including (family law. Parenting, reproduction, domestic violence) and government services (including education, compulsory military services and health policies), which men’s rights advocates say discriminate against men. Some scholars consider the men’s rights movement or parts of the movement to be a backlash to feminism. Men’s rights activists contest claims by feminists that men have greater power privilege r advantage than women and argue that modern feminism has gone too far and has harmed men’s rights. 

    The modern men’s rights movement emerged from the Men’s liberation movement, which appeared in the first half of the 1970s when some scholars began to study feminist ideas and politics. The men’s liberation movement acknowledged men’s institutional power while critically examining the costs of traditional masculinity. In the late 1970’s the men’s liberation movement split into two separate strands with opposing views: the pro-feminist men’s movement and the anti-feminist men’s right movement. The men’s right movement generally incorporates points of view that reject feminist and pro-feminist ideas. Men’s rights activists have said that they believe that feminism has overshot its objective and harmed men. They believe that rights have been taken away from men and that men are victims of feminism and feminizing influences in society. They dispute that men as a group has institutional power and privilege and believe that men are often victimized and disadvantaged related to women. Men’s rights group generally rejected the notion that feminism is interested in men’s problems, and some men’s rights activists have viewed the women’s movement as a plot to conceal discrimination against men.

3. Gender Role Strain: 

    Gender Role Strain is the stress related to experience with a gender role. A research has been conducted in the Gender-Role strain paradigm and it has been a great way to explain some of the physical and psychological problems that many men encounter. Pleck (1995) proposed three types of strain: 

i. Discrepancy Strain: The Person unsuccessfully meets traditional gender role standards. 

ii. Trauma Strain: This occurs after experiencing a traumatic event or process during socialization into the traditional masculine gender role. 

iii. Dysfunction Strain: It occurs when fulfillment of a gender role is hazardous.