Young women are the most likely to say so – but the majority see it as neither good nor bad
The success of hit Netflix show Adolescence shines the latest spotlight on key issues facing young people and their parents, in particular toxic masculinity.
With so much focus in recent years on negative forms of masculinity, do Britons take the view that masculinity is inherently a bad thing?
The answer is no – in fact, a new YouGov survey of more than 35,000 Britons finds a mere 6% say they believe masculinity is an intrinsic negative.
By contrast, more than four times as many people see masculinity as inherently a good thing (26%), and the majority see it as neither a good nor a bad thing (55%).
Unsurprisingly, men are more likely to see masculinity as inherently good than women (31% vs 20%), although there is little difference between the two genders on whether it is a bad thing (5-6%) or neutral (53-57%).
A deeper examination of the results does show evidence of a generational shift, specifically among young women. Female under-30s are the most likely group to say that masculinity is inherently a bad thing, with 14% saying so. This is almost the same as the number who see masculinity as a good thing (16%) – by contrast, among the oldest women (those aged 60 and above) the view that masculinity is inherently good outweighs the bad by 23% to 2%.
By contrast, among the youngest men, the number viewing masculinity as inherently bad is not much larger than among the oldest men, at 7% and 3% respectively. Nor is there much of a shift in the number of men considering masculinity a good thing, which ranges between 29% and 34% across the male age groups.
What do think about taxing and spending, the British economy in general, and everything else? Have your say, join the YouGov panel, and get paid to share your thoughts. Sign up here.
Photo: Getty
