‘Expanding your mind’: the process of constructing gender-equitable masculinities in young Nicaraguan men participating in reproductive health or gender training programs

Figures & data

Table 1. Semistructured interview guide

Topic	Questions
Experience as activist	1. Can you tell me why you became involved in this training program? What do you think of it?
Construction of masculinity	2. Can you tell me what gender is? And sexuality? Homosexuality? Violence against women?
	3. Do you consider yourself a man or a boy? In what way? What does it mean to be a man?
	4. How do you become a man? Are there any other ways?
	5. Are there any differences between you and young men who have not received this training? In what way? How do you feel about that?
	6. What makes you different from other young men?
Attitudes toward gender relations and violence against women	7. Someone once told me, ‘A good wife must obey her husband even if she doesn't agree with him’. What do you think about that?
	8. Somebody said to me, ‘If a husband mistreats his wife, people from outside the family have to intervene’. What do you think about that?
	9. Somebody said to me, ‘A woman has the right to choose her friends, even if her partner disagrees’. What do you think about that?
Vignettes	10. Johana is 20 years old. She has been Ruben's girlfriend for the past 3 years. Ruben has been acting very jealously lately, yelling and insulting her every time she says hello to a friend. Last time, he hit her when they got home.
	What do you think about that? Why?
	What would you do if you were Ruben's friend? Or if you were Johana's friend?
	What could she do in that situation?
	11. You go to a party with your best friend. Afterward, you see that your friend is talking to a girl who is very, very drunk. It looks like he wants her to go with him somewhere, but it seems that she doesn't want to go.
	What do you think about this situation? What would you do?
	What would you do if she was your friend?

Fig. 1. ‘Expanding your mind’: the process of constructing masculinities in young Nicaraguan men participating in training programs and the individual and social factors facilitating or constraining this process.

Table 2. Properties and dimensions of the core category ‘Expanding your mind’^a

Subcategories/ideal types	Properties	Dimensions
The apprentice	Awareness	unawareness–consciousness
The responsible/respectful man	Respectfulness	Intolerant–tolerant
	Responsibility	Irresponsible–trustworthy
	Thoughtful actions	Impulsive–reflective
The proactive peer educator	Agency	Passive–active
‘The feminist man’	Critical stance	Incipient–developed
	Political stance	Conformist–activism

^aProperties and dimensions are listed according to the subcategory where they were first identified. However, it is important to highlight that some properties and dimensions cut across more than one subcategory.