The Age of Toxicity: The Influence of Gender Roles and Toxic Masculinity in Harmful Heterosexual Relationship Behaviours

Abstract

Although heterosexual relationships have been evolving since the dawn of humanity, there continues to be a considerable amount of inequality, toxicity, and dissatisfaction within heterosexual couplings. This paper explores the ways in which socially prescribed gender roles and toxic masculinity contribute to behaviours which lead to toxicity and unhappiness in heterosexual relationships. The behaviours that this paper will discuss include coercive control as well as physical and sexual violence, all of which are behaviours that according to current literature, are shockingly common in heterosexual relationships. Moreover, the present paper will investigate previous literature in order to explore these concepts in depth through theoretical concepts as well as previous qualitative and quantitative studies done on heterosexual relationship satisfaction. This particular research paper aims to identify and define the concepts of socially prescribed gender roles and toxic masculinity, before applying these concepts to the previously mentioned relationship behaviours in order to determine just how these social concepts contribute to or cause these behaviours in heterosexual couplings.

Rape culture: sexual intimidation and partner rape among youth in sexually diverse relationships

“…Within this study, I conceptualize rape culture as the socially produced harmful gendered and sexual beliefs, norms, attitudes, stereotypes, and behaviors that intersect in complex ways to perpetuate rape and sexual assault within intimate relationships and other contexts. Existing feminist literature (e.g., Gray, 2021; Johnson and Johnson, 2021; Kaufman et al, 2019; Mphaphuli and Smuts, 2021) on rape culture illuminates several underlying components of rape culture, which include toxic heterosexual masculinity, sexism, adversarial sexual beliefs, and the normalization of violence. Toxic heterosexual masculinity manifests itself in different ways, such as through violent expressions of gender power relations by men in which women are subjected to sexual violence and other harmful behaviors (Gray, 2021).…”

Adultification, neglect and sexual abuse at home: Selected narratives of orphaned girls in KwaMashu, South Africa

“…Despite having several legislations, intervention programs and policies in place for promoting gender equality, South Africa remains a heteropatriarchal society in which many women and girls face subjugation and vulnerability to forms of violence and victimization including sexual harassment and rape (Mayeza, 2022a; Mayeza et al, 2022; Ngidi et al, 2021). Generally, heteropatriarchal societies are characterized by male‐centred power relations, rigid gender norms, regimes and values that work together in systematic ways to support the privileging of men, boys, and masculinities (Gray, 2021; Hall, 2019). This privileging gives men and boys access to power and control in families and other contexts.…”

“…Thus, the concept of toxic hetero‐patriarchal masculinity is useful in this study as it can help us to make sense of how certain gender norms and values (re)produce a toxic culture that protects the abusers while blaming the female victims of male‐perpetrated sexual violence (Kaufman et al, 2019). As Gray (2021, p. 47) has argued, ideologies of toxic hetero‐patriarchal masculinity operate both on macro (politics, economy, public institutions) and micro (domestic relations, interpersonal relations among relatives) levels of society to “influence individuals to engage in behaviours which support patriarchy to preserve the subjugation of women, girls and femininities”. Using toxic heteropatriarchal masculinity as a theoretical tool with which to examine the orphan girls' accounts of CSA, we view these accounts as products of the workings of toxic heteropatriarchal masculinity in the micro‐level context of relatives, and those individuals who have access to the family home.…”

“…Using toxic heteropatriarchal masculinity as a theoretical tool with which to examine the orphan girls' accounts of CSA, we view these accounts as products of the workings of toxic heteropatriarchal masculinity in the micro‐level context of relatives, and those individuals who have access to the family home. Micro‐level toxic hetero‐patriarchal masculinity manifests itself in various ways, such as through violent expressions of gender power relations by men/boys in which women/girls are subjected to sexual abuse and other oppressive behaviours at home (Gray, 2021). In the current study context, we examine practices of toxic hetero‐patriarchal masculinity as witnessed and experienced by teenage orphaned girls in unique family settings.…”

Young People’s Voices and Science for Overcoming Toxic Relationships Represented in Sex Education

“…Domination and discrimination are two components that indicate the poor quality of a relationship, which is called a toxic relationship [ 30 ] and produced in heterosexual and/or homosexual relationships [ 31 , 32 , 33 ]. These elements of power and dominance appear in Dominant Traditional Masculinity (DTM) [ 34 , 35 ], masculinity that can be socialised to suppress emotions in order to maintain dominance of women [ 36 ].…”