午夜剧场

About 30 years ago, when I first became a newspaper reporter, I admired my senior male colleagues who were calm, composed, and stood up resolutely against politicians and other powers. In my 30s, I was assigned to a weekly magazine with a large male readership. There, I witnessed men—whom I had assumed were socially dominant and strong—actually struggling with various problems at work and at home, suffering because they could not confide in anyone. This shook me deeply and marked the beginning of my journey to explore the essence of the difficulties men face in life.

More than 20 years have passed since then. During this time, my experience of restarting my research at 午夜剧场 and refining my survey and analysis methods has been invaluable. I was awarded a doctoral degree and became a university faculty member several years ago. To date, I have conducted continuous interviews with individuals for up to 22 years, and the number of subjects in my ongoing study exceeds 500 men alone.

In this book, I address the problems men face at various milestones in life—from romance and marriage to raising children, the competition for promotion, caring for elderly parents or wives, and life after retirement—and analyze the social factors involved.

One man from the "employment ice age" generation used his frustration at being rejected by women due to his low income as motivation to improve his professional skills. He finally secured a regular position at age 43, but soon became increasingly anxious that he would be unable to get promoted due to the handicap of his long years of non-regular employment. Another man, who lost out in the competition for promotion, tried to find his self-worth by being involved in childcare and seeking his wife's approval. However, the excessive stress of being a reluctant "masked stay-at-home dad" led him to commit child abuse.

At the root of their struggles are fixed gender norms of "masculinity," such as the belief that one must succeed and gain social recognition, or that one must be the economic and emotional pillar for their wife and children.

Due to changes in economic and social structures, an increasing number of men are suffering because they cannot embody traditional norms of masculinity and are branded as "failures." These men are also people on the oppressed side.

Gender equality is necessary for men as well. While women have been oppressed for many years, men have also been forced to work long hours, sacrifice their private lives, and face harsh public scrutiny for deviating from gender norms. In this book, I propose gender equality policies for men.

If the difficulties men face are alleviated, it will also make life easier for women. I hope this book will serve as a helpful resource for thinking from multiple perspectives toward the realization of true gender equality.

Shoko Okuda

PHP Institute

248 pages, 1,100 yen (tax included)

*Affiliations and titles are as of the time this magazine was published.