Category Archives: Men

‘No longer remotely defensible’: Garrick’s decision to admit women shows times have changed

Posted on by

Issue was not existence of men-only clubs but uniqueness of Garrick’s powerful membership list casting unflattering spotlight on British establishment

Who cares that an elite organisation full of mostly elderly white men has decided to allow women to join them in a small central London private members’ club?

Such was the reaction of many of the club’s members who had responded with extreme ill-temper to the Guardian’s recent decision to publish the names of about 60 of the Garrick Club’s most influential members. There has been an orgy of mansplaining in newspaper comment pieces. The Garrick’s rules prohibit networking or even working inside the building, these members say, so it would be very wrong-headed and silly to believe that anything of any consequence ever happens within the club’s four walls. The Garrick is merely a spot for friendly relaxation.

Continue reading...

Support positive masculinity in England and Wales schools, union conference told

Posted on by

Boys and young men need guidance – not punishment – to avoid ‘manosphere’, teacher tells NEU

Teachers should promote positive masculinity in schools in England and Wales in order to support boys who might otherwise feel demonised and end up turning to “the manosphere” for hope, a union conference has been told.

Charlotte Keogh, a secondary school English teacher from Worcestershire, said boys and young men needed support and guidance as they grappled with ideas about masculinity, rather than being punished and silenced.

Continue reading...

Garrick Club asked to consider membership for seven leading women

Posted on by

A group of men at the club who hope the male-only rule will change have nominated a set of possible new members

Seven women with leading positions in the British establishment have been nominated as prospective female members of the Garrick in the event that the club agrees to change its rules so that women are able to join.

The classicist Mary Beard, the former home secretary Amber Rudd, Channel 4 News presenter Cathy Newman and the new Labour peer Ayesha Hazarika are among the first names to have been put forward to the club as possible future members.

Continue reading...

One in seven HR heads believe men are better suited to top jobs

Posted on by

‘Shocking’ poll in England and Wales shows nearly one in five reluctant to hire women they think may go on to have children

A significant minority of human resources executives believe men are better suited to senior management than women, according to the results of a “shocking” poll.

Nearly one in seven HR decision-makers rate men as better for top jobs and nearly one in five admitted they were reluctant to hire women they thought might go on to start families, the survey of personnel managers in England and Wales for the charity Young Women’s Trust (YWT) found.

Continue reading...

South Africa to introduce shared parental leave after landmark judgment

Posted on by

Country will be first in Africa to introduce measure after its high court ruled that both parents must have right to time off

South Africa is set to become the first country in Africa to introduce shared parental leave after a high court ruled that both parents must have the right to time off after the birth of a baby or adopting a child.

The landmark judgment allows parents to choose how to divide four months parental leave between them.

Continue reading...

Italian woman wins court case to evict her two sons, aged 40 and 42

Posted on by

The bamboccioni (big babies) refused to fly nest and ‘did not contribute’ – in country where most under-35s still live with parents

The proportion of Italian adults still living with their parents has long been high but one mother was forced to take drastic action after her two sons – both in their 40s – refused to abandon the comforts of the family home.

The woman, 75, from the northern city of Pavia, had grown weary of having to maintain her sons, 40 and 42, and on several occasions tried to convince them to find a more autonomous living arrangement, especially as each had a job. “But neither of them wanted to know,” she said, according to a report in the local newspaper La Provincia Pavese.

Continue reading...

Don’t talk to pupils about misogynist Andrew Tate, government urges teachers in England

Posted on by

Advice comes despite charity’s warning that social media figure is fuelling shocking growth of misogyny in schools

Teachers are being advised by the government not to discuss social media influencer Andrew Tate, the “king of toxic masculinity”, with pupils – despite schools reporting a rising tide of misogyny and sexual harassment from boys as young as nine.

One small charity, Diversify, based in Rotherham, which runs school workshops about inclusion, receives about 25 calls a week from primary and secondary schools across England who want help dealing with sexual harassment and “shocking misogynistic incidents”. Many cite the influence of Tate, who is under house arrest in Romania for suspected human trafficking and organised crime. Tate’s TikTok videos tell boys that a woman belongs to her boyfriend; girls who don’t stay at home are “hoes”; and rape victims must “bear responsibility” for their attacks.

Continue reading...

Plant-based diet can cut bowel cancer risk in men by 22%, says study

Posted on by

Researchers find no such link for women, suggesting connection between diet and bowel cancer is clearer for men

Eating a plant-based diet rich in vegetables, whole grains, nuts and legumes can reduce the risk of bowel cancer in men by more than a fifth, according to research.

A large study that involved 79,952 US-based men found that those who ate the largest amounts of healthy plant-based foods had a 22% lower risk of bowel cancer compared with those who ate the least.

Continue reading...

Skin cancer death rates for men in UK have tripled since 1970s

Posted on by

Men 69% more likely to die from melanoma than women, says Cancer Research UK, warning that lack of sun protection is a factor

Skin cancer death rates among men have more than tripled since the 1970s, research reveals, prompting fresh warnings from experts to stay safe in the sun.

Since 1973, death rates from melanoma – the deadliest form of skin cancer – have increased by 219% in men, compared with the rise of 76% in women, Cancer Research UK found. As many as 1,400 men are now dying from the disease each year, in contrast to 980 women. This amounts to a total of six people a day, the charity said.

Continue reading...

Hotter nights increase risk of death from heart disease for men in early 60s

Posted on by

A 1C rise in summer night temperature linked to 3.1% increase in risk of CVD mortality among men aged 60 to 64, study says

Men in their early 60s have a higher risk of dying from cardiovascular disease on warmer than usual summer nights, according to new research.

Previous studies have focused on the potential for warm spells of weather that involve extreme or sustained periods of high temperatures to coincide with surges in deaths and hospitalisations due to heart conditions. However, until now, findings related to age and gender have been inconsistent.

Continue reading...

‘Death of the suit’: V&A exhibition explores evolution of menswear

Posted on by

From Harry Styles in a dress to gender-neutral dressing and ‘dad bods’, Fashioning Masculinities embraces past and present trends

From the death of the suit during the pandemic to Harry Styles appearing on the cover of US Vogue in a dress, the conversations around masculinity and fashion appear to be contemporary, however a new exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum aims to link modern men’s fashion to its storied past.

Fashioning Masculinities: The Art of Menswear, which opens on 19 March, will feature a host of contemporary fashion designers (Versace, Calvin Klein, Martine Rose) alongside historical examples of the way men dressed (from Bowie to Beau Brummell). There are more than 100 pieces which the curators hope will illustrate how glacial the trends around men’s fashion actually are.

Continue reading...

Meet the ‘vegan bros’ here to bust the myth that real men eat meat

Posted on by

From plant-eating bodybuilders to role models like Lewis Hamilton, so-called ‘hegans’ are turning gender stereotypes on their head

It was a Sunday afternoon in the late 1980s and the house was filled with the fatty scent of roast lamb. I absentmindedly enquired about the origins of lunch and my brother pointed at the mewing sheep in the field adjacent to our house. I was a five-year-old boy, and I decided on the spot to become the first vegetarian in my family.

My parents, while broadly supportive, were understandably bemused – and concerned. It was a less enlightened time, and my lack of dietary protein was a constant worry. They assuaged this by occasionally feeding me Chicken McNuggets under the not entirely misplaced logic that they weren’t really meat. After I’d cottoned on, I would sheepishly order a cheeseburger “without the burger” whenever we went to McDonald’s.

Continue reading...

David Gandy: ‘I’ve done my share of underwear shoots’

Posted on by
The model, 41, on his dangerous youth, micro-managed middle age, dancing with J-Lo and seeing giant pictures of his crotch in Times Square

My childhood, in Essex, was run-of-the-mill. My parents were grafters, starting businesses from home, and they were both very present in my life while also deeply committed to their jobs. It was instilled into me that nothing is earned unless you work for it.

How I avoided serious injury in my teens remains a mystery, given how stupid my friends and I were. We’d climb the steepest hills and descend on roller-skates passing busy junctions; as we got older, we drove cars too fast into hedges and fields. I had an appetite for risk until 27, when mortality became very real.

Continue reading...

‘It stopped me having sex for a year’: why Generation Z is turning its back on sex-positive feminism

Posted on by

The movement championed the right to enjoy sex and was supposed to free women from guilt or being shamed. But now many are questioning whether it has left them more vulnerable

Lala likes to think of herself as pretty unshockable. On her popular Instagram account @lalalaletmeexplain, she dishes out anonymous sex and dating advice on everything from orgasms to the etiquette of sending nude pictures. Nor is the 40-year-old sex educator and former social worker (Lala is a pseudonym) shy of sharing her own dating experiences as a single woman.

But even she was perturbed by a recent question, from a woman with a seven-year-old daughter who had caught her new partner watching “stepdaughter” porn involving teenage girls. Was that a red flag?

Continue reading...

‘I have moments of shame I can’t control’: the lives ruined by explicit ‘collector culture’

Posted on by

The swapping, collating and posting of nude images of women without their consent is on the rise. But unlike revenge porn, it is not a crime. Now survivors are demanding a change in the law

Ruby will never forget the first time she clicked on the database AnonIB. It is a so-called “revenge porn” site and in January 2020, a friend had texted her for help. Ruby is a secondary school teacher, used to supporting teenagers, and her friend turned to her for advice when she discovered her images were on the site.

“She didn’t send the thread that she was on,” says Ruby, 29. “She was embarrassed, so she sent a general link to the site itself.” When Ruby opened it, “I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. I couldn’t believe that such an infrastructure existed: something so well organised, so systematic, fed by the people who lived around us.”

Continue reading...

How we met: ‘He had to marry me or I’d sue him!’

Posted on by

Mary, 62, and Roy, 70, met in Michigan after she accidentally crashed her bike into his – and broke her jaw. They’re now married and live in St Louis

When Mary moved from Bedfordshire in the UK to Michigan in the US on a Fulbright scholarship in 1985, she wasn’t expecting to find love. Her mind was focused on the nutrition course she had enrolled on and her plans for a future career. In the spring of 1986, she was cycling home from a meeting with her tutor when she approached a fence covered in ivy. Roy, who had been pushing his bike, emerged from behind the fence before she had the chance to stop. “I hit his wheel and, because my hands were cold and I was wearing a backpack, I went sailing over the handlebars,” she remembers. “I landed on my chin and broke my jaw on the concrete.”

In typical British fashion, she told him she was “absolutely fine”, but Roy says it was clear she was badly hurt. “My apartment was pretty close by so I got my roommate to drive her to the university health centre,” he says. The next day, Mary had to have her jaw wired shut, meaning she couldn’t eat solid food for three months. “Roy came to my apartment with some juice to suck through a straw. He said that when my jaw was unwired he would make me dinner,” she recalls. Although it was an accident, Roy felt “terrible” about what happened. “I was really concerned about her,” he says.

Want to share your story? Tell us a little about yourself, your partner and how you got together by filling in the form here.

Continue reading...

Tom Ford: ‘I paid $90,000 for my own dress. The clothes we make are not meant to be thrown away’

Posted on by

From fashion with va-va-voom to veganism – ahead of the release of his new book, America’s starriest designer takes a moment to reflect

Tom Ford answers my phone call in precisely the way I’d hoped he would: with a voice as smooth as butter and the grace of Cary Grant.

We are in touch to discuss his latest project, a coffee-table book charting the past 15 years of his career – or “post-Gucci”, as those familiar with luxury fashion prefer to describe the era that has followed Ford’s departure from the Italian super brand.

Continue reading...