The term ‘men’s politics’ can be used to
describe:
- policies and politics made by men;
- policies which promote the interests of men as a social group or of
specific groups of men, such as fathers, i.e. an identity policy approach; - an emancipatory critique of the dominant understanding of ‘man’ as a
category, and of masculinity. In this sense men’s policies consist of
questioning and making visible dominant gender norms, role expectations and the
functions ascribed to men and masculinity.
For further information see: Dag Schölper: Soziologie/Ethnologie /
Frauen- und Maennerforschung / Dag Schoelper / Männer- und
Männlichkeitsforschung/ ein Überblick [German].
Women’s policies as a blueprint?
The division of gender into female and male is
predominantly viewed as given and natural (For more information see: Conference
‘Alles Gender? Oder was?’). The term men’s policy is then liable to lead to
questionable expectations about similarities to women’s policy. Despite this,
the way in which women’s policy came about historically rules out any such
analogy.
A short history
In the 19th century the struggle for
women’s rights focussed on the right to responsibility and independence in
society (Louise Otto, 1849)[1]. During this period, women struggled for access to the public sphere
which was still restricted to men (See: Vater werden, Vater sein, Vater
bleiben for further information).
The sociologist Pierre Bourdieu (1997) describes
this sphere as a place where games are played arguing that next
to politics and
war, it is generally seen as the most serious sphere in
existence [2]. The economy, religion, arts, culture and sports also
belong to these so-called games.
Women fought a long battle for access to these
spheres which had previously been reserved for men, the bearers of hegemonic
masculinity (Carrigan/Connell/Lee). At the same time, women have also fought to
end some of the games that are played in them. This exposed the flaws in the
dominant, accepted ideas about the masculine and questioned common sense ideas
behind masculinity. In this sense, women’s policy has always been men’s policy.
Men’s policy today
In the last couple of years men’s policy has
become institutionalised in various ways. In 2001, for example, the Austrian
ministry for social affairs set up a department for men’s affairs (for further
information see: men’s
parties). In Switzerland, a lobby organisation for men and
fathers has been founded (for further
information see: männer.ch). In Germany, the network Forum
Männer in Theorie und Praxis der Geschlechterverhältnisse has been
regularly working on issues related to men since the year 2000 (for further
information see: Forum Männer).
Men’s policy areas
The following are policy areas with specific
relevance to men. They have been ordered alphabetically:
-
Family and fathers/fatherhood. Their role and importance in families is
currently a controversial political issue, not least because fewer numbers of
men (want to) become fathers. (For further information
see: Vater
werden, Vater sein, Vater bleiben.) - Gender Mainstreaming. A political strategy focussing on gender relations
which concentrates more on men than the gender equality approach. - Migration. Two central reasons behind migration are the need to escape and
the search for employment. When men experience discrimination, are criminalised
or made illegal this also impacts on perceptions of their own masculinity. - Violence. Physical, psychological and structural violence has close
cultural ties to male socialisation. Men experience violence as perpetrators
and victims in families, in public, at work and in the military (for further
information see: Tagungsdokus Gewalt und Konflikt; Krieg; BMFSFJ: Gemeinsam
gegen häusliche Gewalt. Kooperation, Intervention,
Begleitforschung. Forschungsergebnisse der Wissenschaftlichen
Begleitung der Interventionsprojekte gegen häusliche Gewalt (WiBIG), Berlin
2004; BMFSFJ: Gewalt gegen Männer in Deutschland. Personale
Gewaltwiderfahrnisse von Männern in Deutschland. Pilotstudie im Auftrag des
Bundesministeriums für Familie, Senioren, Frauen und Jugend, Berlin 2004). - Work. Employment and the role model of the male bread-winner are still
culturally, legally, structurally and institutionally closely linked to each
other (for further information see: Behnke, Cornelia/Meuser, Michael: Wenn zwei das Gleiche wollen. Konkurrenz und
Kooperation bei Doppelkarrierepaaren, Stuttgart, 2006).
Further reading
The following list is incomplete, but should
provide a good introduction to the subject.
- Aulenbacher et al. (ed.): FrauenMännerGeschlechterforschung. State of the Art, Münster 2006
- BauSteineMänner (ed.): Kritische Männerforschung. Neue Ansätze in
der Geschlechtertheorie, Hamburg 2001
- Bereswill, Mechthild/Meuser, Michael/Scholz, Sylka (eds): Dimensionen
der Kategorie Geschlecht: Der Fall Männlichkeit, Münster 2007
- Böhnisch, Lothar: Männliche Sozialisation. Eine Einführung,
Weinheim/München 2004
Bourdieu, Pierre: Die männliche Herrschaft, Frankfurt am Main 2005 [1998]
- Brandes, Holger: Der männliche Habitus. Band 2: Männerforschung und
Männerpolitik, Opladen 2001 - Connell, Robert W./Wedgewood, Nikki: Männlichkeitsforschung: Männer und
Männlichkeiten im internationalen Forschungskontext, in: Becker,
Ruth/Kortendiek, Beate (eds): Handbuch Frauen- und Geschlechterforschung.
Theorie, Methoden, Empirie, Wiesbaden 2004, pp. 112--121
- Dinges, Martin (ed.): Männer – Macht – Körper. Hegemoniale Männlichkeit
vom Mittelalter bis heute, Frankfurt am Main/New York 2005
- Döge, Peter: neue Männer – neue männerpolitik. Ansätze
geschlechterdemokratischer Politik im Zeichen des ‘neuen Mannes’, in: Rosowski,
Martin/Ruffing, Andreas (eds): MännerLeben im Wandel. Würdigung und
praktische Umsetzung einer Männerstudie, Ostfildern 2000, pp. 111-131
- Döge, Peter/Meuser, Michael (eds): Männlichkeit und soziale Ordnung.
Neuere Beiträge zur Geschlechterforschung, Opladen 2001
- Engelfried, Constance: Männlichkeiten. Die Öffnung des feministischen
Blicks auf den Mann, Weinheim/München 1997
- Jungnitz, Ludger et al. (eds.): Gewalt gegen Männer. Personale
Gewaltwiderfahrnisse von Männern in Deutschland. Opladen/Framington Hills
2007
- Kimmel, Michael: Frauenforschung, Männerforschung, Geschlechterforschung:
Einige persönliche Überlegungen, in: Meuser, Michael/Neusüß, Claudia (ed): Gender
Mainstreaming. Konzepte – Handlungsfelder – Instrumente, Bonn 2004, pp.
337-355
- Meuser, Michael: Geschlecht und Männlichkeit. Soziologische Theorie und
kulturelle Deutungsmuster, Wiesbaden 2006 (2nd ed.) [1998]
- Walter, Heinz: Männer als Vater. Sozialwissenschaftliche Theorie und
Empirie, Gießen 2002
Footnotes:
[1] Louise Otto,
in: Frauen-Zeitung, (1st ed.) April 21 1849.
[2] Bourdieu,
Pierre: Die männliche Herrschaft, in: Dölling, Irene/Krais, Beate (ed.): Ein
alltägliches Spiel. Geschlechterkonstruktionen
in der sozialen Praxis, Frankfurt am
Main 1997, pp. 153—217, & p. 189