Men and Masculinities in GENSAC

Individual civilian gun ownership is overwhelmingly in male hands, while militaries, police, security guards, guerrillas, gangs and other organizations that use small arms are also male-dominated, especially in roles which require handling small arms. Guns are often linked to notions of “manliness,” as well as to activities which are seen as “manly” pursuits such as hunting, warfare, or even violent crime. These notions are embedded in expectations of men to be providers, protectors of their communities, and at times violent agents of change. The close real and symbolic links between masculinities and small arms are reproduced in popular culture and are also reinforced by arms manufacturers, almost always owned and run by men. Their ads show guns in the hands of men in special police and military forces, of rugged individualists, or aristocratic-looking hunters—all masculinities for the gun purchaser to emulate.

The impacts of armed violence are also highly gendered. While men are the primary owners, users, and abusers of small arms, men and boys are also often the main direct victims of small arms violence, especially in countries with high levels of armed violence. However, small arms are also prevalent in different forms of gender-based violence (GBV), including femicide, so-called “honor” killings, and domestic and intimate partner violence (DV/IPV), which disproportionately affect women and girls. In societies with high levels of gun ownership, small arms also play a role in homophobic and transphobic violence. While the links between men, masculinities, and small arms are multiple, the arms control and disarmament fields have often struggled to engage effectively with masculinities. On the other hand, and with some exceptions as discussed further below, work on transforming masculinities has perhaps not engaged directly with armed violence or gun ownership to the fullest possible extent. This paper seeks to contribute to the ongoing debates on these issues by outlining the current state of play, highlighting gaps and challenges, and presenting steps forward.

This paper focuses on civilian small arms owners and users, rather than on men and masculinities in the military, police, or other armed organisations. It also focuses mainly on small arms ownership and use, rather than the “full life cycle” of small arms. The latter would require examining masculinities in the context of small arms production, marketing, storage, management, transfer, and disposal, all of which are under-researched areas beyond the scope of this paper—but in urgent need of further attention.

This paper is based on an extensive review of available literature on the issue of masculinities and small arms, as well as on forty-five conversations with practitioners, activists, researchers, and policy makers from civil society, think tanks, government, and international agencies. The research was conducted from September 2021 to February 2022.