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PubMed2006

Sociosexuality in women and preference for facial masculinization and somatotype in men.

Sociosexual orientation reflects individual differences in openness to short-term sexual relationships. We predicted that women with less restricted sociosexuality would be differentially attracted to highly masculinized male faces and bodies. In 2 studies, we investigated preference for male masculinization as a function of female sociosexuality. In Study 1, 40 female university students rated the attractiveness of pictures of male faces and somatotypes differing in masculinization level. All women preferred the faces with average levels of masculinity and the mesomorph somatotype; however, women with less restricted sociosexuality found the faces of men more attractive in general and showed relatively greater preference for masculinized bodies than did women with more restricted sociosexuality. In Study 2, 56 women met with 2 equally attractive male confederates, 1 highly masculinized and 1 less masculinized, in a "speed dating" scenario. After each date, women indicated their interest in each man for short-term and long-term relationships via questionnaire. In this more naturalistic context, sociosexuality was related to an increased interest for the more highly masculinized man in the context of short-term dating. Female sociosexuality appears to be related to preferences for higher levels of male masculinization.

Adult↗

PubMed1994

Differential effects of the serotonin1A agonist, 8-OH-DPAT, on masculine and feminine sexual behavior of the ferret.

Administration of the serotonin (5-HT)1A receptor agonist 8-hydroxy-2-(di-n-propylamino)tetralin (8-OH-DPAT) facilitates the expression of masculine sexual behavior in male and female rats as well as in male rhesus monkeys and inhibits lordosis behavior in female rats. In the present study the effects of 8-OH-DPAT on masculine coital and feminine proceptive and receptive behaviors were evaluated in the ferret, a carnivore. Doses of 8-OH-DPAT (0.1 or 0.2 mg/kg) that facilitate masculine sexual behavior in rats inhibited masculine sexual behavior in castrated, estradiol benzoate (EB)-treated male ferrets. Lower doses of 8-OH-DPAT (5 or 10 micrograms/kg) had no effect on the expression of masculine sexual behavior in either males or females. In contrast to the female rat, administration of 8-OH-DPAT significantly facilitated receptive behaviors in ovariectomized, EB-treated female ferrets. None of the doses of 8-OH-DPAT tested modified proceptive behaviors of gonadectomized, EB-treated male or female ferrets, as assessed in a T-maze in which the subjects could choose to approach either a castrated, sexually inactive male or a castrated, testosterone-primed stud male. Thus whereas the 5-HT1A receptor agonist 8-OH-DPAT facilitates masculine sexual behavior and inhibits lordosis in the rat, it inhibits masculine sexual behavior and facilitates receptivity in the ferret. The different effects of 8-OH-DPAT observed in these two species may reflect differences in the neural control of their masculine coital and feminine receptive responses, respectively.

8-Hydroxy-2-(di-n-propylamino)tetralin↗

PubMed2005

Men's accounts of depression: reconstructing or resisting hegemonic masculinity?

There is evidence that depressive symptoms in men are often undiagnosed and untreated. It has been suggested that men may find it difficult to seek help because culturally dominant (or hegemonic) forms of masculinity are characterised by emotional control and a lack of vulnerability, while depression is often associated with powerlessness and the uncontrolled expression of emotion. However, very little research exists which examines men's experiences of depression. We analysed 16 in-depth interviews with a wide range of men with depression in the UK Our analysis explored associations between depression and men's gender identities. We found that, as part of recovery from depression, it was important for men to reconstruct a valued sense of themselves and their own masculinity. The most common strategy was to incorporate values associated with hegemonic masculinity into narratives (being 'one of the boys', re-establishing control, and responsibility to others). While this strategy could aid recovery, there was also evidence that the pressures of conforming to the standards of hegemonic masculinity could contribute to suicidal behaviour. In contrast, a minority of men had found ways of being masculine which were outside hegemonic discourses. They emphasised their creativity, sensitivity and intelligence, explicitly reflected on different models of masculinity and redefined their 'difference' as a positive feature. Our research demonstrates that it is possible to locate men who can, and will, talk about depression and their feelings; thus generalisations about depressed men always being silent are misleading. While some men will have the resources to construct identities that resist culturally dominant definitions of masculinity, many others will find it more useful (and perhaps less threatening) to re-interpret potentially feminising experiences as 'masculine'. Health professionals need to be aware of the issues raised by men's narratives which emphasise control, strength and responsibility to others.

Adult↗

PubMed1997

The display of masculinity, femininity, and gender diagnosticity in self-descriptive photo essays.

Thirty-seven college men and 57 college women assessed on Gender Diagnosticity (GD), Masculinity (M), and Femininity (F) created self-descriptive photo essays, which were then rated by six judges on 38 personality characteristics, including masculinity and femininity. Lay judges reliably rated men and women's masculinity and femininity from photo essay information. Men's GD strongly correlated with their judged masculinity and femininity, M with judged extraversion, and F with judged warmth and nurturance. However, women's GD correlated most strongly with their judged maladjustment and athleticism, M with dominance and extraversion, and F with adjustment and physical attractiveness. Naive judgments of men and women's masculinity-femininity were strongly linked to other judged personality characteristics, and physical attractiveness was correlated with judgments of women's but not men's masculinity and femininity. The results show that masculinity and femininity make sense to laypeople, are readily judged from multidimensional information, and that for men, GD predicts lay judgments of masculinity and femininity better than M and F do.

Female↗

PubMed2002

The role of masculinity and distinctiveness in judgments of human male facial attractiveness.

Masculinity and distinctiveness have been found to influence the attractiveness of human male faces. The relationship between masculinity and distinctiveness, however, has received little attention. In Expt 1, we examine how current averaging techniques and manipulated sexual dimorphism influence ratings of attractiveness, masculinity, and distinctiveness. In agreement with previous studies, composite faces were found to be more attractive than individual faces. Averaging resulted in increased ratings of attractiveness but decreased ratings of masculinity and distinctiveness. This supports both that attractiveness is related to averageness and findings showing a preference for feminine traits in male faces. When controlling for attractiveness, no significant relationship was found between masculinity and distinctiveness. Manipulating sexual dimorphism did not alter distinctiveness ratings, indicating that feminized and masculinized faces are equally distinctive. These results are suggestive that masculinity and distinctiveness are separable components in face perception. In Expt 2, we look to improve on previous studies utilizing composite faces by examining how averaging in texture-only or shape-only changes perceptions of attractiveness, masculinity, and distinctiveness. Averaging in both shape and texture were found to increase attractiveness independently, showing that the increased attractiveness of composites is due to the combined action of these two manipulations.

Beauty↗

PubMed1995

A direct comparison of the masculinizing effects of testosterone, androstenedione, estrogen, and progesterone on the development of the zebra finch song system.

To assess which hormones are capable of masculinizing the neural song system of zebra finch hatchlings, we implanted female hatchlings with estrogen (estradiol [E2], 75 micrograms, n = 9), testosterone (T, 75-88 micrograms, n = 13), androstenedione (AE, 75 micrograms, n = 7), progesterone (P, 117 micrograms, n = 10), or nothing (Blanks, n = 10) and compared these to unimplanted males (n = 7). Implants, consisting of a hormone and Silastic mixture encased in polyethylene tubing, were placed under the skin of the breast on the day of hatching. Birds were killed when they were sub-adult (58 to 68 days old). We measured volumes of area X, the higher vocal center (HVC), and the robust nucleus of the archistriatum (RA); measured soma sizes in the lateral magnocellular nucleus of the neostriatum (lMAN), HVC, and RA; and counted RA neurons. E2 masculinized all measures in the song system and nearly sex-reversed the size of RA neurons. T masculinized volumes of nuclei and soma sizes but not the number or spacing of RA neurons. E2 was always at least as effective as T in masculinizing measures of the song system and was usually more effective. AE and P did not significantly masculinize any measure. These data suggest that E2 is more potent than aromatizable androgens or P in masculinizing the female song system in development and that the action of E2 alone may be sufficient to masculinize the volume of song control nuclei and the size and number of neurons.

Androstenedione↗

PubMed2004

Gonadal hormones masculinize and defeminize reproductive behaviors during puberty in the male Syrian hamster.

Three experiments were conducted to test whether testicular hormones secreted during puberty masculinize and defeminize the expression of adult reproductive behavior. Experiment 1 tested the hypothesis that gonadal hormones during puberty masculinize behavioral responses to testosterone (T) in adulthood. Male hamsters were castrated either before puberty (noTduringP) or after puberty (TduringP). All males were implanted with a 2.5-mg T pellet 6 weeks following castration and tested once for masculine reproductive behavior 7 days after the onset of T replacement. TduringP males displayed significantly more mounts, intromissions, and ejaculations than noTduringP males. Experiment 2 tested the hypothesis that gonadal hormones during puberty defeminize behavioral responses to estrogen (EB) and progesterone (P). Eight weeks following castration, noTduringP and TduringP males were primed with EB and P and tested for lordosis behavior with a stud male. Behavioral responses of males were compared to that of ovariectomized (OVX) and hormone primed females. NoTduringP males and OVX females displayed significantly shorter lordosis latencies than TduringP males. Experiment 3 investigated whether prolonged T treatment or sexual experience could reverse the deficits in masculine behavior caused by the absence of T during puberty. Extending the T treatment from 7 to 17 days did not ameliorate the deficits in masculine behavior caused by absence of T during puberty. Similarly, when the level of sexual experience was increased from one to three tests, the deficits in masculine behavior persisted. These studies demonstrate that gonadal hormones during puberty further masculinize and defeminize neural circuits and behavioral responsiveness to steroid hormones in adulthood.

Animals↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Gender and masculinity-femininity ratings of tracheoesophageal speech.

UNLABELLED: Tracheoesophageal (TE) speech is frequently characterized as low pitched and hoarse. In laryngeal speakers, these features are most often associated with males. Because lower pitch and hoarseness are anticipated for male and female TE speakers, one might predict that females are at risk for being perceived as male. The purposes of this pilot study were to assess the reliability and accuracy of listeners' perceptions of TE speaker gender and to evaluate the relationship between gender ratings and masculinity-femininity ratings. Twenty-five naïve listeners rated the gender and the masculinity-femininity of 12 TE speakers from audio recordings of a reading passage. Listeners were able to reliably rate gender and masculinity-femininity. They accurately identified speaker gender at a high rate that was comparable for males and females. However, female speakers, despite being accurately identified as female, were at an elevated risk of being rated as masculine or neutral on the masculinity-femininity scale. LEARNING OUTCOMES: As a result of this activity, the participant will be able to: (1) describe the reliability and accuracy of listener perceptions of the gender and the degree of masculinity-femininity of TE speakers; and (2) discuss the relationship between TE speaker gender identification and masculinity-femininity ratings for males and females, respectively.

Aged↗

PubMed1986

The arachidonic acid cascade is involved in the masculinizing action of testosterone on embryonic external genitalia in mice.

We have evaluated whether the arachidonic acid cascade may be involved in the folding and fusion of the penis and scrotum in masculine differentiation, a possibility raised by recent observations of the involvement of the arachidonic acid cascade in the analogous embryonic processes of elevation and fusion of the palatal shelves and of folding and fusion of the neural tube. To test this hypothesis, during embryonic masculine differentiation in mice of the B10.A strain, we administered certain agents that produce blockade of masculinization. We report that arachidonic acid can reverse the inhibition of masculine development in male embryos produced by estradiol-17 beta or by cyproterone acetate, an androgen receptor-site blocker, and that such reversal can be prevented by an inhibitor of cyclooxygenase, such as indomethacin. We have also found that agents that block the arachidonic acid cascade at the level of phospholipase A2 (cortisone, phenytoin) or at the level of cyclooxygenase (indomethacin, aspirin) also block masculine differentiation and that such antimasculinization is reversed by arachidonic acid. The masculinization of male embryos is inhibited by indomethacin and aspirin, and the masculinization of female embryos produced by exogenous testosterone is prevented by indomethacin. These findings provide evidence that the mechanism by which testosterone organizes the genitalia involves a role of the arachidonic acid cascade leading to prostaglandins at a critical period of development and that interference with testosterone synthesis or action leads to a teratogenic deficiency of arachidonic acid during this time in the genital anlagen.

Animals↗

PubMed2006

Masculine role adherence and outcomes among men with traumatic brain injury.

PRIMARY OBJECTIVE: Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a significant health problem disproportionately affecting men and is often associated with changes in masculine role functioning in life domains such as vocational functioning, sexual and inter-personal functioning and personal independence. These changes could have serious implications for men's adjustment following injury. The aim of this study was to examine the relations among traditional masculine role adherence, psychosocial adjustment and rehabilitation outcomes in men with TBI. RESEARCH DESIGN: A correlational design was chosen to examine the relations among variables. Spearman correlations and Wilcoxon Rank Sum tests were used to examine relationships between masculine role variables and outcome variables. METHODS AND PROCEDURES: The study included 33 men with TBI who had been discharged from inpatient rehabilitation within 5 years. Participants completed surveys on traditional masculine gender role adherence and gender role conflict and additional data, including measures of functional outcome, life satisfaction, psychosocial outcomes and earnings, were obtained through the TBI Model System longitudinal data collection system. MAIN OUTCOMES AND RESULTS: The results revealed significant associations between masculine role adherence and satisfaction with life, follow-up earnings and FIM change from admission to discharge. CONCLUSIONS: In the current study, particular masculine role variables corresponded to different functional and psychological outcomes. Understanding these differences provides new directions for treatment and offers important information about aspects of traditional masculine roles that may enhance or hinder adjustment to injury.

Adaptation, Psychological↗

PubMed2005

Men, culture and hegemonic masculinity: understanding the experience of prostate cancer.

Following a diagnosis of, and treatment for prostate cancer, there is an expectation that men will cope with, adjust to and accept the psychosocial impact on their lives and relationships. Yet, there is a limited qualitative world literature investigating the psychosocial experience of prostate cancer, and almost no literature exploring how masculinity mediates in such an experience. This paper will suggest that the experience of prostate cancer, the process by which it is investigated, and the way in which it is understood has been shaped by an essentialist interpretation of gender, exemplified by hegemonic masculinity as the archetypal mechanism of male adaptation. In response to this static and limiting view of masculinity, this paper will offer a reframe of hegemonic masculinity. This reframe, being more aligned with common experience, will portray masculinity as a dynamic and contextual construct, better understood as one of a number of cultural reference points around which each man organises and adopts behaviour. It will be suggested that the extant literature, in being organised around hegemonic masculinity, obfuscates the experience of prostate cancer and acts to render covert any collateral masculinities, public or private, that may also be operating.

Adaptation, Psychological↗

PubMed2005

Reproducing normative and marginalized masculinities: adolescent male popularity and the outcast.

Every day, in professional work and in our personal lives, we reproduce by words and behaviors particular understandings of life and how it works. This includes understandings about what is 'normal' and 'not normal' masculinity and who are 'normal' and 'not normal' boys and men. Being marginalized or outcast from the norm is rarely a free choice. The language that constructs normal and abnormal is not innocent and does not simply arrive in our minds transparently reflected in our behavior or in our client advice or student education. Examining words and behaviors from adolescent boys and from media sources, this research explores the role of cultural discourses in producing normative and marginalized masculinities. It builds upon recent scholarship that questions cultural prescriptions for masculinity and traditional male norms. Feminist, poststructural, psychoanalytic discourse analysis and multiple methods were used to explore links between cultural discourses of masculinity and performativity of masculinity. Practices of heterosexuality, homophobia, athleticism, economic privilege, toughness, and violence provided pathways toward achieving and/or maintaining status as the hegemonic masculine norm in adolescence. 'Popularity' signified the norm and 'outcasts' from the norm signified marginalized masculinities.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2004

Psychoanalysis as a resource for understanding emotional ruptures in the text: the case of defensive masculinities.

Recent theory and research on men and masculinities within feminist and critical social psychologies has largely drawn upon social constructionism and discourse analysis. This work has been useful in extending our understanding of contemporary discourses drawn upon by men to construct masculine identities and/or to construct 'subordinated others' such as women and gay men. But it has been pointed out that discourse analytic work does not adequately account for emotional or experiential dimensions to (masculine) identities. To address this problem, several writers have turned to versions of psychoanalytic theory as this perspective is directly concerned with emotional life. Psychoanalysis has been reworked so that concepts traditionally read as intra-psychic essences (e. g. anxiety, desire, defence) are re-interpreted as interpersonal and contextual. Informed by this work, I argue that a psychoanalytic, particularly Kleinian, reading of focus group discussions with heterosexual men can help illuminate aspects of the contemporary reproduction of masculinities. I use data collected from a 'men and masculinities' project and focus primarily on emotive talk which 'others' gay men and women. Concepts such as 'projection' are used to connect the men's constructions of others with shared anxieties about masculinities. The implications and advantages of pursuing psychoanalytic accounts of (masculine) subjectivities within social psychology are then discussed.

Affect↗

PubMed1983

A regional analysis of estrogen binding to hypothalamic cell nuclei in relation to masculinization and defeminization.

Gonadal steroids masculinize and defeminize neuroendocrine development, including behavior. Defeminization makes males less sensitive than females to estrogen for showing female sexual behavior and cyclic gonadotropin secretion. Masculinization makes males more sensitive than females to estrogen for showing male sexual behavior. Thus masculinization and defeminization produce opposite effects on estrogen sensitivity. To study the relationship between estrogen sensitivity and estrogen binding, we studied sex differences in estrogen binding to hypothalamic cell nuclei on a regional and temporal basis. We measured the amount of estradiol (E2) bound to cell nuclei in the preoptic area (POA), mediobasal hypothalamus (MBH), corticomedial amygdala, and cortex of gonadectomized male and female rats 30 and 60 min after [3H]E2 was injected intravenously. In the MBH, males consistently bound less E2 than females did. In the POA, males bound less E2 than females after 60 min, but they bound more E2 than females after 30 min. Decreased estrogen binding in the MBH may underlie defeminized sexual behavior. Similarly, decreased estrogen binding in the POA at 60 min may be a correlate of defeminized gonadotropin secretion, whereas increased estrogen binding in the POA at 30 min may be a correlate of masculinized sexual behavior. To test the hypothesis that decreased estrogen binding in the MBH and POA are correlates of defeminization, we measured E2 binding at 60 min in female rats in which masculinization and defeminization were manipulated independently. Defeminization decreased E2 binding to cell nuclei in both the POA and MBH to the level seen in males at this time point. Masculinization had no effect at this time point. The data suggest that sex differences in E2 binding to hypothalamic cell nuclei correlate reliably with sex differences in estrogen sensitivity even though masculinization and defeminization produce opposing effects on these parameters.

Amygdala↗

PubMed2005

Using the conformity to masculine norms inventory to work with men in a clinical setting.

Given that gender roles are increasingly viewed as salient in clinical work with men, this article describes a process of exploring masculine gender roles with male clients in therapy by using the Conformity to Masculine Norms Inventory (CMNI). Specifically, this article (a) discusses how men's degree of conformity to masculine norms may be connected to a variety of benefits and costs, (b) describes the CMNI as a tool that can be used to explore men's degree of conformity to masculine norms, (c) describes a process by which to use the CMNI to explore the relevance of men's masculine selves to their presenting concerns, and (d) illustrates the process with a case example. As such, the paper is intended to provide a systematic procedure for clinicians working with men who want to explore the benefits and costs that both conformity, and nonconformity, to specific masculinity norms brings for male clients.

Adult↗

PubMed2002

Antiandrogen blocks estrogen-induced masculinization of the song system in female zebra finches.

Song behavior and the neural song system that serves it are sexually dimorphic in zebra finches. In this species, males sing and females normally do not. The sex differences in the song system include sex differences in the proportion of neurons that express androgen receptors, which is higher in specific brain regions of males. Estradiol (E2) administered in early development profoundly masculinizes the song system of females, including the proportion of neurons expressing androgen receptors. We examined whether or not the expression of these androgen receptors was causally related to the E2-induced masculinization of this system by co-administering Flutamide, which blocks androgen action at the receptor, along with E2 at hatching. E2 alone had its usual masculinizing effect on the female song system, measured in adulthood: increasing the size of song nuclei, the size of neurons in HVC, RA, and 1MAN, and the number of neurons in HVC. E2's masculinizing action, however, was significantly diminished on all measures by co-administering Flutamide. Indeed, females receiving both E2 and Flutamide were never significantly more masculine than controls on any measure. Flutamide alone had no effect. Our results strongly suggest that the activation of androgen receptors is necessary for the E2-induced masculinization of the song system in females.

Androgen Antagonists↗

PubMed1991

Lesions of HVc block the developmental masculinizing effects of estradiol in the female zebra finch song system.

The neural song control system of female zebra finches is permanently masculinized if the females are given estradiol within 1 month after hatching. One hypothesis is that estradiol acts on neurons in the caudal nucleus of the ventral hyperstriatum (HVc) to cause developmental changes that lead to masculinizing influences in other song control regions. To test whether lesions of HVc block the masculinizing effects of estradiol elsewhere in the song system, we gave 20-day-old females either a Silastic pellet containing estradiol or no implant, and they received either a unilateral lesion of HVc or no lesion. At 60 days of age, they were sacrificed. The volumes of brain regions and sizes of neurons were measured in four song nuclei: HVc, robust nucleus of the archistriatum (RA), lateral magnocellular nucleus of the neostriatum (IMAN), and Area X. Lesions of HVc blocked the masculinizing effects of estradiol on RA and Area X on the side of the lesion. Thus, HVc must be intact in order for estradiol to masculinize these two nuclei. This observation is compatible with the hypothesis that estradiol acts on or near HVc to masculinize several song nuclei, although other interpretations are also possible.

Animals↗

PubMed1995

Lack of a synergistic effect between estradiol and dihydrotestosterone in the masculinization of the zebra finch song system.

Previous studies have suggested that both major active metabolites of testosterone, estradiol (E2) and dihydrotestosterone (DHT), are needed for complete masculinization of the brain regions that control song in passerine birds. However, DHT treatment of hatchling female zebra finches has only small masculinizing effects on the song system. To assess whether E2 and DHT have a synergistic effect on the masculinization of the zebra finch song system, female zebra finches were given Silastic implants of E2 on the day of hatching (day 1) either without any additional hormone treatment or in combination with DHT on days 1, 14, or 70. At 105 to 110 days of age, we measured the volumes of Area X, higher vocal center (HVC), robust nucleus of the archistriatum (RA), soma sizes in HVC, RA, and the lateral magnocellular nucleus of the neostriatum (IMAN), and neuron density and number in RA. E2 masculinized all of the measures in the song system with the exception of the number of neurons in RA. DHT did not synergize with E2 to produce any additional masculinization of the attributes measured. These data demonstrate that the combination of E2 and DHT did not result in the complete masculinization of the song control nuclei and argue against the importance of androgen in sexual differentiation of the song system.

Analysis of Variance↗