EXPERT: Dr David Duriesmith
Lecturer in Gender and Politics at the Department of Politics and International Relations, University of Sheffield. He specialises in research on the relationship between patriarchy, masculinities, and violence, with a focus on topics such as masculinities in peacebuilding, gender in foreign fighter networks, and the role of masculinity in shaping contemporary armed conflicts.
Dr David Duriesmith describes how ideas around masculinity – such as stereotypes about how ‘real men’ should behave – can create potential openings for violent extremist beliefs. He discusses the so-called ‘crisis of masculinity’,and talks about the ways male-supremacist and misogynist movements capitalise upon male insecurity across beliefs as varied as the so-called manosphere, the far-right and misogyny based in religion. From his international research with men, including exploring how military cultures shape manhood, he tracks how masculinity is expressed in different contexts, how it can lead to violence – and how it can relate to negative attitudes towards women. He identifies that generally, men who lack social power tend to use violence to obtain status and dominance.