Institute for Sustainability and Technology Policy

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CARING FOR SOCIETY AND ENVIRONMENT: TOWARDS ECOLOGICAL MASCULINISM (pdf)

Abstract

Burgeoning global problems are raising the need to bring about an ethical shift towards a deep and long-range view of sustainability. The aim of this alternative to business-as-usual is to preserve the fecundity of the planet for all life. But while sustainability has become common parlance throughout the West, the policies and practices suggested tend to offer tepid approaches to economic, social and environmental problems that stop short of needed transformations. It is argued in this paper that these less than adequate approaches to sustainability persevere because modern Western societies are dominated by renditions of traditional maleness that have long resisted caring about human and other-than- human Others as an integral aspect of caring for the self. This has positioned modern Western men and masculine identities as the traditional perpetrators of many of the world’s oppressions as opposed to being liberators of society and environment. The paper suggests that an ecologized masculinities theory and praxis is needed to shift modern Western men and masculine identities from a culture of daring to a culture of caring. Ecological masculinism begins from the premise that all men are innately good and have an infinite capacity to care for self, society and environment, but that behavioural addictions derived from institutionalized oppressions afflicting men and masculinities result in an internalized sense of superiority that obscures this goodness. A ten-point platform for ecological masculinism is provided to help awaken this caring and includes a personal praxis of ecological masculinism called ecomasculinity-? The reader is encouraged to determine their own unique ecomasculinist praxis that reflects their particular experiences. Ecological masculinism instigates a new conversation in ecophilosophy that provides a conceptual and practical alternative for men and masculine identities to construct a post-gendered approach to our interactions with each other and our surrounding environment, in effect preparing the way for a deep and long-range sustainable future.

Contact Details:

Paul M. Pulé
Research Associate
Room: 3.007
Institute for Sustainability and Technology Policy
School of Sustainability
Murdoch University, MURDOCH 6150
email: p.pule@murdoch.edu.au
Office: +61 8 9360-2600
Home: +61 8 9335-5932
Mobile: +61 (0)409 054 069
Skype: paulpule
Professional Website: http://www.paulpule.com.au/
Murdoch University Website: http://www.istp.murdoch.edu.au/ISTP/students/phdcurrent/pule_paul.html