MASCULINITY GOING ASTRAY? (UN)MANLY MAN IN THE EYES OF MEN

Abstract

In the article the author indicates the existence of different opinions on the meaning of gender and sex. In this context she refers to Raewyn W. Connell’s the theory of gender according to which all types of masculinity and femininity existing in society today are dominated by hegemonic masculinity. She presents the results of her own research which is aimed at discovering young men’s prejudice towards their own sex. The research examines the subject of men studying nursing and working as nurses. Even though the results of the analysis do not allow to state the crisis of masculinity, they certainly prove the necessity of redefining what is manly. In the face of the asymmetry of demographic processes and the pessimistic diagnosis of the numbers of nurses and midwives in the near future the thinking patterns existing among the examined group, which stress the feminine character of the above mentioned studies and profession are quite disturbing. The profession, oſten related by the respondents with low income, is in their opinion irreconcilable with the image of man, embedded in their mentality as the main breadwinner.