ICS Seminar Series

UPCOMING

Conceptualising men, use of violence, structure and agency

Presenters: Ben Hanckel and Lucy Nicholas

Chair: Olayide Ogunsiji

Date & Time: 7 May 2026 | 11:30am - 1:00pm

Room: PS- EA.G.18 Parramatta South Campus

Abstract

This seminar considers data from a range of projects with or about men who use or condone violence. It will consider several theoretical insights that together form a holistic picture of how individual men internalise, perpetuate, and / or resist gender and violence, and how the macro and micro levels interact. Data from practitioners who work with men who use violence and from survey data from men in NSW on misinformation and conspiracy theories will be conceptualised using the theory of ‘masculinism, ’ understood as the abstract ideology of patriarchy. This work sheds light on how wider gendered social discourses and structures are taken up by men at individual levels and seep into other, seemingly non-gendered aspects of domination. It also shows the ways that masculinism and violence are co-constituted. Thinking through the sites of (re)production of gender and violence, and the potential for interruption and change, we use data from interviews with men who use domestic and family violence and are enrolled in behaviour change programs to explore orientations and investment in change, using Bourdieu’s concepts of doxa and illusio. We reflect on what this means for thinking about and interrogating intersections of violence and masculinity.

Biography

Associate Professor Lucy Nicholas is Director HDR in School of Social Sciences, director of Sexualities and Genders Research, and co-leads the Queer Cultures research theme at ICS. Their research has two streams: gender and sexuality diversity, in particular nonbinary; and men and masculinities, in particular men’s use of violence, the manosphere, and antifeminist backlash. A/Prof Benjamin Hanckel is a member of the Institute for Culture and Society and the Young and Resilient Research Centre at Western Sydney University. His work examines health and wellbeing, social inequalities in health, and sexuality and gender. He is an ARC DECRA fellow, an editor-in-chief of the Journal of Applied Youth Studies, and Associate Editor of Health Sociology Review.

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Semester 1 Program

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