Masculinity threats influence evaluation of hypermasculine advertisements

ABSTRACT

The precarious manhood paradigm posits that many men view their gender as a social status that must be earned and maintained, and can be lost. The present study applied the precarious manhood paradigm to a hypermasculine advertisement. A sample of 208 men was collected online. Using a false feedback paradigm, men’s masculinity was either threatened, or not threatened. The men then viewed one of two commercials. One commercial was a neutral, control advertisement, and one was a hypermasculine advertisement. We also measured participants’ endorsement of masculine norms. Results of a moderated moderation analysis indicated that men in the threat condition were more likely to view the hypermasculine advertisement as being masculinity-enhancing, if they also endorsed the masculine norms of Winning, Heterosexual Self-Presentation, and Power over Women. Results for future research applying precarious manhood to advertising, and implications for clinical work with men, are discussed.

KEYWORDS:

• Precarious manhood
• masculinity
• advertising

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Data availability statement

The data described in this article are openly available in the Open Science Framework at https://osf.io/ezqts/

Open Scholarship

This article has earned the Center for Open science badges for Open Data and Open Materials through Open Practices Disclosure. The materials are openly accessible at https://osf.io/ezqts/

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Mike C. Parent

Dr. Mike Parent graduate from the University of Florida in 2013 and is an assistant professor at the University of Texas at Austin, in Counseling Psychology and Counselor Education. His research focuses on behavioral health and men's health.

Chiara Cooper

Chiara Cooper is a third year Law PhD student at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland. Her socio-legal research explores how college women experience hook-up culture, sexual consent and pleasure.