The Five Stages of Masculinity: A New Model for Understanding Masculinities

Abstract

The article uses the so-called “crisis of masculinity” as a jumping-off point for proposing a new model for understanding masculinities called the Five Stages of Masculinity. The five stages outlined in the article are: Stage 1, Unconscious Masculinity; Stage 2, Conscious Masculinity; Stage 3, Critical Masculinities; Stage 4, Multiple Masculinities; Stage 5, Beyond Masculinities. A content analysis of news and magazine articles is provided to give some initial indication as to the proportion of public conversations taking place at each stage. The article concludes by discussing the implications of the Five Stages of Masculinity for the study of men and masculinities, as well as some new thoughts on the nature of the crisis of masculinity via a mobilization of Giorgio Agamben’s concept of the “state of exception.”