What does it mean to be a man? – Gary Barker

In the past few years, traditional male stereotypes have come under increasing scrutiny.

These stereotypes often come under the term ‘Toxic masculinity’, which has been widely used to explain certain male actions and characteristics that conform to established gender roles, which do harm to both themselves or the society that they live in.

Gary Barker has a PhD in developmental psychology and studies how we raise and socialise boys and men. In the late 1990s he founded Promundo, which carries out global research into men, boys and masculinities, and recently discovered that that in the UK, this these negative stereotypes could be costing the economy an additional £3.8bn a year.

He speaks to BBC Science Focus editorial assistant Helen Glenny about why these stereotypes are harmful, and what a new, progressive form of masculinity could look like.

Listen to more episodes of the Science Focus Podcast:

• Is racism creeping into science? – Angela Saini
• Is body positivity the answer to body image issues? – Phillippa Diedrichs
• What does it mean to be happy? – Helen Russell
• Is religion compatible with science? – John Lennox
• Why aren’t there more women in science?
• What makes me ‘me’ – Aoife McLysaght

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