Towards an Integrated Perspective on Gender, Masculinity, and Manhood

John Ashfield (jashfield@aimhs.com.au)
Australian Institute of Male Health and Studies

Abstract

For decades our understanding of gender, masculinity, and manhood has arguably been bedevilled by uninformative pseudo-academic gender ideology. Detached from biological reality, and crediting culture with almost autonomous causation, this ideology of gender feminist social constructionism has exhibited a dogged self-preserving reflex of disconfirmation, whenever faced with knowledge challenging its dogmatic assertions. Its unashamed devaluation of thought, through resort to propagandist mantras of global male aspersion and political correctness, underscores not only its fundamentalist nature disqualifying it from any serious consideration as a basis for understanding gender and social relations, but also the urgent need for a perspective, unfettered by ideology, that reflects current interdisciplinary knowledge, and is actually useful.

Author Biography

Dr John Ashfield is widely recognised for his work and writing in the fields of male psychology and mental health, and is the author of six books and numerous
articles and essays.
He was a pioneer of post-graduate education in psycho-oncology and palliative care at the University of Adelaide, and was the founder of a community aid and development organisation in Chennai, India.
Dr Ashfield is a founding Director of the Australian Institute of Male Health and Studies, and is involved in education, research, and the ongoing development of a national clinical service delivery program and best practice clinical education unit, utilising video conferencing online technology.

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