{"id":2685,"date":"2025-01-27T14:06:01","date_gmt":"2025-01-27T19:06:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.golive.clarku.edu\/?p=2685"},"modified":"2025-04-18T13:54:16","modified_gmt":"2025-04-18T17:54:16","slug":"what-men-lose-when-performing-gender","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/research-highlights\/what-men-lose-when-performing-gender\/","title":{"rendered":"What men lose when performing gender"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\n
\n

Many people consider masculinity an inner essence or set of specific personality traits that define manhood. Psychology Professor Michael Addis has a different understanding. His research indicates masculinity is a performance a person gives to reinforce their gender in alignment with societal and cultural norms.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\n
\"Professor<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\n
\n

\u201cAll of these things are helped by letting go of the pressure to be a certain way because of your gender.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The author of the book Invisible Men: Men\u2019s Inner Lives and the Consequences of Silence <\/em>notes that the understanding of, and expectations for, men are evolving alongside shifting cultural and societal norms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere\u2019s no doubt that many of the things that that boys and men have been taught to do to perform their masculinity can be harmful to themselves and to people of other genders as well,\u201d Addis<\/a> says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Men who avoid being vulnerable in their relationships to appear masculine can live for decades with no emotional support, says Addis. Increased isolation could contribute to rising suicide rates among U.S. men ages 40 to 55, he notes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a whole range of positive experiences related to emotional awareness, intimacy, and connections with other people,\u201d Addis says. \u201cAll of these things are helped by letting go of the pressure to be a certain way because of your gender.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n


<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

\n
\n
Department of Psychology<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Psychology Professor Michael Addis\u2019 research indicates masculinity is a performance a person gives to reinforce their gender in alignment with societal and cultural norms. That can be damaging to the person involved \u2014 and to others.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":2815,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"research-initiaive","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[100],"tags":[65],"class_list":["post-2685","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-research-highlights","tag-department-of-psychology"],"yoast_head":"\nWhat men lose when performing gender | Clark University | Clark University<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/research-highlights\/what-men-lose-when-performing-gender\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"What men lose when performing gender\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Psychology Professor Michael Addis\u2019 research indicates masculinity is a performance a person gives to reinforce their gender in alignment with societal and cultural norms. That can be damaging to the person involved \u2014 and to others.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/research-highlights\/what-men-lose-when-performing-gender\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Clark University\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ClarkUniversityWorcester\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-01-27T19:06:01+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-04-18T17:54:16+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Michael-Addis-detail.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1125\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@clarkuniversity\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@clarkuniversity\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Meredith King\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clarku.edu\\\/research-highlights\\\/what-men-lose-when-performing-gender\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clarku.edu\\\/research-highlights\\\/what-men-lose-when-performing-gender\\\/\"},\"headline\":\"What men lose when performing gender\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-01-27T19:06:01+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-04-18T17:54:16+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clarku.edu\\\/research-highlights\\\/what-men-lose-when-performing-gender\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":230,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clarku.edu\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clarku.edu\\\/research-highlights\\\/what-men-lose-when-performing-gender\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clarku.edu\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/01\\\/Michael-Addis-detail.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Department of Psychology\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Research Highlights\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clarku.edu\\\/research-highlights\\\/what-men-lose-when-performing-gender\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clarku.edu\\\/research-highlights\\\/what-men-lose-when-performing-gender\\\/\",\"name\":\"What men lose when performing gender | Clark University | Clark University\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clarku.edu\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clarku.edu\\\/research-highlights\\\/what-men-lose-when-performing-gender\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clarku.edu\\\/research-highlights\\\/what-men-lose-when-performing-gender\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clarku.edu\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/01\\\/Michael-Addis-detail.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-01-27T19:06:01+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-04-18T17:54:16+00:00\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clarku.edu\\\/research-highlights\\\/what-men-lose-when-performing-gender\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clarku.edu\\\/research-highlights\\\/what-men-lose-when-performing-gender\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clarku.edu\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/01\\\/Michael-Addis-detail.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clarku.edu\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/01\\\/Michael-Addis-detail.jpg\",\"width\":2000,\"height\":1125,\"caption\":\"Professor Michael Addis (detail) speaks about the toll that the performance of masculinity takes on men\"},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clarku.edu\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clarku.edu\\\/\",\"name\":\"Clark University\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clarku.edu\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clarku.edu\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clarku.edu\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Clark University\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clarku.edu\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clarku.edu\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clarku.edu\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/10\\\/clarku_logo.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clarku.edu\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/10\\\/clarku_logo.png\",\"width\":91,\"height\":90,\"caption\":\"Clark University\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clarku.edu\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/ClarkUniversityWorcester\",\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/clarkuniversity\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.instagram.com\\\/clarkuniversity\\\/\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"What men lose when performing gender | Clark University | Clark University","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/research-highlights\/what-men-lose-when-performing-gender\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"What men lose when performing gender","og_description":"Psychology Professor Michael Addis\u2019 research indicates masculinity is a performance a person gives to reinforce their gender in alignment with societal and cultural norms. That can be damaging to the person involved \u2014 and to others.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/research-highlights\/what-men-lose-when-performing-gender\/","og_site_name":"Clark University","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ClarkUniversityWorcester","article_published_time":"2025-01-27T19:06:01+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-04-18T17:54:16+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2000,"height":1125,"url":"http:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Michael-Addis-detail.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@clarkuniversity","twitter_site":"@clarkuniversity","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Meredith King","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/research-highlights\/what-men-lose-when-performing-gender\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/research-highlights\/what-men-lose-when-performing-gender\/"},"headline":"What men lose when performing gender","datePublished":"2025-01-27T19:06:01+00:00","dateModified":"2025-04-18T17:54:16+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/research-highlights\/what-men-lose-when-performing-gender\/"},"wordCount":230,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/research-highlights\/what-men-lose-when-performing-gender\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Michael-Addis-detail.jpg","keywords":["Department of Psychology"],"articleSection":["Research Highlights"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/research-highlights\/what-men-lose-when-performing-gender\/","url":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/research-highlights\/what-men-lose-when-performing-gender\/","name":"What men lose when performing gender | Clark University | Clark University","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/research-highlights\/what-men-lose-when-performing-gender\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/research-highlights\/what-men-lose-when-performing-gender\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Michael-Addis-detail.jpg","datePublished":"2025-01-27T19:06:01+00:00","dateModified":"2025-04-18T17:54:16+00:00","inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/research-highlights\/what-men-lose-when-performing-gender\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/research-highlights\/what-men-lose-when-performing-gender\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Michael-Addis-detail.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Michael-Addis-detail.jpg","width":2000,"height":1125,"caption":"Professor Michael Addis (detail) speaks about the toll that the performance of masculinity takes on men"},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/","name":"Clark University","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/#organization","name":"Clark University","url":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/clarku_logo.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/clarku_logo.png","width":91,"height":90,"caption":"Clark University"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ClarkUniversityWorcester","https:\/\/x.com\/clarkuniversity","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/clarkuniversity\/"]}]}},"fimg_url":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Michael-Addis-detail-1024x576.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2685","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/23"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2685"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2685\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4259,"href":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2685\/revisions\/4259"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2815"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2685"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2685"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2685"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}