Redefining Men | CU Experts

This article argues that Codependents Anonymous—a group often criticized for overlooking gender politics—can encourage an awareness of hegemonic masculinity among men. The psychospiritual codependency discourse requires that people examine their lives for sources of dysfunction and make changes where possible. Drawing on data from ethnographic research and interviews, this article reveals that men can come to attribute dysfunction to stereotypical male behavior. Traditional masculinity has failed to provide the men in this research with its customary privileges, including successful marriages and intimate relationships. The experience of failure left them with no typical male resources on which to draw. This lack of resources, consequently, made change possible. Illustrative cases follow several men through the transition from hegemonic masculinity to egalitarian personhood.

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