Masculinity in transition

The Hindu

8 hours ago

The nature of gender is changing in contemporary Indian society. Traditional traits of masculinity — authority, physical dominance, and emotional stoicism — are increasingly being challenged in both professional and familial spaces. Meanwhile, traits that were once associated with femininity — empathy, adaptability, and emotional literacy — are becoming more widely accepted as essential for success in the 21st century. This shift represents not only a cultural transformation but also a social reconfiguration of gender roles, expressions, and performances in response to structural changes in the economy, technology, and interpersonal relationships.
In modern workplaces, communication, collaboration, and emotional intelligence are prioritised over physical strength or hierarchical control. Consequently, the roles associated with femininity have become a valuable form of social capital. Behaviours that were once undervalued in the public sphere are now recognised as essential skills in various sectors, including corporate management, healthcare, education, and teaching. Increasingly, those who can 'read the room', regulate emotions, and engage with relational complexities are increasingly seen as effective and well-suited for future expectations.
In contrast, traditional masculinity appears to be struggling to regain its relevance in contemporary expectations. Its conventional traits no longer align with the dominant structures of modern work or family life. As automation makes many manual and physical jobs obsolete, and as corporate and bureaucratic cultures impose greater surveillance, accountability, and transparency on leadership, the space for traditional masculine assertiveness and unilateral control typical of traditional masculinity is shrinking. This shift results in a form of functional redundancy rather than erasure; older forms of masculinity are no longer a prerequisite for productivity or power.
This has led to the emergence of alternative spaces for expressing masculinity, which has become apparent in urban India. There is a noticeable retreat into hyper-visible, stylised, and often performative spaces such as gyms, street corners, roadside gatherings, and the digital spectacle of social media reels. These spaces serve as arenas for asserting presence, control, and virility in a society that no longer structurally necessitates these attributes. Bodies are sculpted, not for physical labour, but as a spectacle, and aggression is performed, not for protection or dominance in real-life situations, but for the camera. While these expressions are legitimate in their own right, they highlight a disconnect between cultural understandings of masculinity and their practical relevance.
This disruption of masculine identity is especially complicated in a society like India, where views on gender are still closely linked to biological differences. Even among educated people, they can make a little distinction between sex and gender. In this context, gender is often seen as something fixed and binary, rather than fluid and shared. Consequently, when individuals, especially young men, face the expectation to show behaviours associated with femininity, like caregiving, vulnerability, or emotional openness, they often feel a conflict within their identity. This confusion is not just personal; it arises socially, from the clash between traditional norms and modern expectations.
In this context, there is a strong tendency to cling to visible, ritualised performances of masculinity. The phenomenon of 'reel masculinity' that proliferates across platforms like Instagram, YouTube, and short-video platforms is not a coincidence; rather, it is an attempt to stabilise an identity that feels increasingly precarious. However, this creates a feedback loop where traditional understandings of gender roles are not only preserved but also glamorised, feeding into cycles of alienation, aggression, and social discontent. The challenge, then, is not to feminise society but to demystify gender itself. A sociological approach requires recognising that masculinity and femininity are not biologically determined traits but learnt behaviours. These behaviours are influenced by history, culture, and social institutions. As those structures change, our understanding of gender roles must change as well. The belief that emotional intelligence is 'feminine' and that decisiveness is 'masculine' is both limiting and unsupported by evidence. In reality, all individuals, regardless of biological sex, can draw from a wide range of emotional and behavioural skills.
This has important implications for education, family life, and public policy. Schools and universities must teach gender literacy actively. This should happen not just through abstract theory but as part of daily life, including literature, history, psychology, and personal interactions. Especially, youth should learn that gender is not destiny; it is a framework for negotiating identity. Parents and caregivers should model and encourage behaviours that challenge rigid categories. This includes allowing boys to cry and care and encouraging girls to lead and assert themselves. Media and cultural institutions need to go beyond token representation. They should provide complex, intersectional narratives of masculinity and femininity in transition. The goal is not to make masculinity outdated. Instead, we want to expand it, making it responsive and ethical. Masculinity should evolve to include emotional awareness without shame, to practice care without being condescending, and to give up control without feeling less of a man. Only then can it stay relevant in a world that no longer links power to physical strength or authority to emotional distance.
India needs not a negation of either masculinity or femininity but an acceptance of it. In workplaces, this means rethinking leadership to be more empathetic and inclusive. At home, it means sharing emotional responsibilities more fairly. In public discourse, it requires challenging the mistaken link between masculinity and dominance. Most important, femininity is a role and has no link with sexual identity, and both men and women should adopt these roles as per their needs and spaces. Ultimately, the evolution of gender is not a threat to identity; it is a social necessity. As our institutions, technologies, and relationships change, our ideas of what it means to be a man, a woman, or something in between must change too. A future based on mutual respect, flexibility, and shared humanity requires nothing less.
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