After the Fires: Thoughts on Masculinities, the Sociocene, and Environmental Struggle

The massive bushfires in Australia 2019–2020 provide a starting-point for thinking about the politics of climate change. Gender patterns, specifically masculinities, are part of this story, but we cannot blame “masculinity” as such, nor identify a single “toxic masculinity.” What drives socially induced climate change is the action of institutions such as corporations, states, and markets. We need to understand the gender regimes of these institutions and the patterns of masculinity they embed. Masculinities among four major groups of power-holders on a world scale are outlined—super-wealthy oligarchs, transnational corporate managers, dictators, and state elites—followed by reflections on masculinity politics in processes of change.