A real man or really a man? What contribution is needed today for the primary prevention of gender-based violence and to support the mental health of children, adolescents and men

Emotional distress and the difficulty of seeking help and psychotherapeutic support are more characteristic of the male gender. Males grow up adhering to the model of the ‘real man’, a model often impregnated with gender stereotypes that force them to adhere to a gender role in which the emotional experience is often denied or invalidated and the request for help is experienced as an individual vulnerability and not as a resource to face a developmental or life challenge. This often leaves males, both developmental and adult, in a condition of emotional illiteracy that can be prodromal and preparatory to problems of clinical and social relevance, up to and including gender-based violence. This article addresses the issue of men’s emotional distress, reading it as a phenomenon rooted in the gender role favoured by the socio-cultural context and highlighting the role that could be played by primary and secondary prevention and by educational intervention in the school and community context as facilitators of change, evolution and promotion of the psycho-emotional well-being of future generations.