Artist and White Ribbon Ambassador Robert Williams explores masculinity in child care

Robert Williams explores masculinities by looking at the role men play in child care in two new projects: Man Up… and Man Down…

By Robert Williams

I am now an artist but worked in healthcare for over 20 years and later as an academic, with child health being the main focus of my professional life. This has made me acutely aware of the role men play in child health and care within families and communities: some men were compassionate, caring and loving, others were dangerous to women and children. My two latest art projects attempt to explore modern of men, fatherhood and masculinities. 

Historically and today, globally, it is absolutely clear that most care for children continues to be done by women. Motherhood, often in romanticised or patronising ways, has been a focus for artists for hundreds of years. Fathers, in contrast, have often been represented, in fine art, as property owners, as powerful men or as patriarchs within families. In the UK today, many fathers now see themselves as being increasingly involved in the day-to-day care of children, so called ‘hands- on’ Dads.  

For many modern fathers, being a man, being masculine, is about closeness and love for children, not merely playing an expected traditional ‘macho’ or patriarchal role.  Within the ‘Man Up: Fatherhood, Love and Compassion’ project I used mosaics, collages and prints to explore some of the key experiences of being a Dad: love, joy, compassion, affection, play, responsiveness, belonging, warmth and connectedness. These positive traits and experiences are all explored in representations that are intended to be both organic, rhythmic and sensual.

‘It’s not us!’. Coercive control, abuse and violence by men towards women and girls is identified by some men as the responsibility of other men.

The representations of men as fathers in ‘Man Up…’ aim to challenge the stereotype of traditional, patriarchal men, with depictions of care for children by men. However, it’s important to examine the unhealthy iterations of masculinity to be able to appreciate all the good that that positive masculinity brings to the world. ‘Man Down: harmful toxic and dominant masculinities’ is an art project I have resisted developing for some years as I felt unable to tackle it appropriately. On reflection, what I have done in resisting this project is something many men do. That is, we do not want to reflect upon the horrors for women and girls created by some men.

As an artist, I also did not want to risk inadvertently celebrating abusive or violent men. Coercive control, abuse and violence by men towards women and girls is identified by some men as the responsibility of other men: ‘It’s not us!’. Ultimately, I decided to go through with this because I hope to help men become more reflective about an important public health issue, and the role they play in ending it.

Modernism informs my work as I believe it offers the creativity, dynamism and optimism necessary to understand and represent our contemporary experiences in a fast-changing world where structural gender inequalities in particular obstinately remain. I produced instrumental, angular, mechanical drawings, collages and prints. However, I became reluctant to spend too much time on what is disturbing work. One way of coping with these stressors was to work on the ‘Man Up…’ project at the same time. After creating nearly 50 pieces of new work for ‘Man Down…’, I chose to end the project and develop some new work focused on positive, dynamic and joyful representations of children’s play in an on going project called ‘Not Just Playing’.

Fathers play an absolutely vital role in challenging all forms of violence and abuse within families and communities.

Anthropological, historical and sociological evidence indicates that the hegemony or dominance of men is universal, even if the forms of hegemony change over time and across cultures. These hegemonic forms of masculinity confirm and underpin patriarchy within our cultures and societies. Most men, I would argue, do not hold dominant positions in societies and cultures but we do, complicitly, benefit from structural gendered social and economic inequalities.

Abusive and violent men are also a serious risk for other men and boys, not only because of the risk of experiencing physical violence, but of the potential prejudice and stigma that follow men. Some of the men who have seen ‘Man Down…’ felt moved to emphasise that harmful and toxic forms of masculinity are damaging to boys and men. Others emphasised that representations of abusive or violent men should not be used to stigmatise men in general.

Masculinities, for me, are not fixed or homogeneous. They change over time and throughout the life course, within places and cultures, varying from compassionate, loving and nurturing to dominant, toxic, coercive, controlling, abusive or violent. No matter the place or time, negative expressions of masculinity are most harmful to girls and women.

Men who are fathers or carers within families play an absolutely vital role in challenging all forms of violence and abuse within families and communities. In particular, Dads and Grandads must be available to help boys embrace positive expressions of masculinity and raise them to want to help end violence against women and girls. Men in these roles need to prioritise thinking about, talking about and taking more responsibility for helping to prevent men’s violence towards women and girls.

Because we are important in the lives of boys and girls — and because gender-based violence is a harmful, destructive public health issue. We as men have a real opportunity to influence and empower boys to #ChangeTheStory.

‘Man Up…’ and ‘Man Down…’ can be seen in two separate galleries on Robert’s website:  www.robertwilliamsart.co.uk.  You are invited to have a look at the work, if you feel you are able to do so.  Robert welcomes feedback and can be contacted through his website.