Can Dancing Be Manly? by Ella Sewell
Suicide in England and Wales is three times more common among men than among women, the most common ages being between forty and forty-nine years old. Women are twice as likely to experience depression than men, however, 15% of women receive treatment for depression, compared to only 9% of men. The Priority Group found that 77% of men polled have suffered from common mental health symptoms like anxiety, stress or depression, yet 40% of men have never spoken to anyone about their mental health. So, what can be done to help combat these statistics?
Image from: Yogendra Singh. Pexels
Guy Cry Club highlights the importance of creative dialogues in relation to masculinity and mental health - a concern at the national level. In their own words, ‘Guy Cry Club is an invitation to be part of the ongoing dialogue about masculinity and mental health. An invitation to be true to who you are whether you make art yourself or simply digest it. This is a home for your feelings and experiences.’ They also state that ‘masculinity is far too complicated to be confined to damaging sentiments and behaviours which fail to acknowledge the natural diversity of human beings and which fail to see that masculinity is not restricted to a single gender.’
So, what does ‘manly’ even mean?
By its textbook definition, manly is ‘anything that has or denotes qualities and characteristics traditionally associated with or expected of men’, but who decides what these traits are? The word manly has connotations such as: strong, brave, resolute, and honourable. There’s nothing wrong with encapsulating these admired traits, but it’s important to establish that many are based on outdated ideologies and stereotypes about a man and woman’s expected role within society.
Why is dance important?
Mind found that Men’s preferred alternatives to being prescribed medication are face-to-face therapy and physical activity.
Dance is so important because it can be an expression of your deepest, most suppressed feelings in an artistic and beautiful way. It allows us to emotionally connect not only to music but to one another. When we dance our brain releases endorphins, hormones which can trigger neurotransmitters that create a feeling of comfort, relaxation, fun and power. Music and dance do not only activate the sensory and motor circuits of our brain but also the pleasure centres.
Therefore, in theory, dancing should be beneficial to men that may be struggling with mental health issues by providing them with a place to comfortably, safely, and non-judgmentally interact with a creative outlet and sport that they otherwise may have avoided.
Are men less likely to get into the creative arts such as dance due to worries about how they’ll be perceived by others - other men in particular?
42.8% of adults in the United Kingdom say dancing makes them feel “happy” or “good”, yet men are twice as likely to feel ‘stupid’ while dancing than women. In 2019, Mind found that the percentage of men who are worried about their appearance has risen from 18 per cent in 2009 to 23 per cent. This raises the question - are men so focused on what others are thinking about them that they’re not allowing themselves to explore options that are out of the gender binary?
Men are much more likely to participate in dance styles such as street dance that are perceived as more ‘masculine’ than other genres of dance, such as ballet or contemporary. There’s extensive debate over whether or not this is because they are worried that their sexuality will be speculated upon more if they take up a style of dance that society categorised as more typically feminine.
Ballroom dancing, for example, at its origin was danced between two men. Over recent years, shows like Strictly Come Dancing has promoted same-sex dance couples in their televised competition, showing everyone that dancing at its core is just about performing and having fun. For a prime-time programme to showcase this, hopefully, it should encourage more and more people to take up dancing regardless of gender, age, skill level, experience etc.
To conclude, I strongly believe that encouraging men to participate in dance styles that are stereotypically not danced by their gender, would be extremely beneficial to men everywhere.
Written by Ella Sewell
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This article was written in association with Mindless Mag. By partnering with the social change platform Guy Cry Club CIC could connect with their network of global storytellers who then produced a series of articles exploring masculinity, mental health and creativity. Find out more about Mindless Mag and the brilliant work they do below.
