Is Male Loneliness an Epidemic? A Gendered and Structural Reframing

<p dir="ltr">"In this paper, we argue that these framings of men’s loneliness flatten the causes and distort the implications of this issue. We point out that the framing of men’s social disconnection as a product of individual men’s inability to form meaningful relationships depoliticises what is a deeply structural and gendered phenomenon. We seek to illustrate the argument that discussing men’s social disconnection without a rigorous analysis of masculinity, power, race and gender risks reproducing responses (to male loneliness) that will reinforce harmful gender norms and obscure opportunities for meaningful change. This approach also risks missing how such disconnection is actively produced and maintained by systems that both constrain and reward men in unequal ways."</p>