Men and Loss

New Perspectives on Bereavement, Grief and Masculinity

Kerry Jones, Martin Robb

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2024
• Print ISBN: 9781032368238
• eBook ISBN: 9781040092002
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Health Care Delivery
• Index: Social Sciences

This important book draws together new research and theories about bereavement, on the one hand, and men and masculinities on the other, to increase our understanding of men's experience of loss and contribute towards improving support services for men following bereavement.

Bereavement and loss are unavoidable events in life and can be challenging experiences for anyone, regardless of gender. However, in contemporary western cultures, men's experience of bereavement continues to be framed by socially constructed ideas surrounding masculinity, which dictate that men must be stoic following a loss, with grief manifesting in either anger or despair. Men who do not grieve in accepted 'masculine' ways can feel judged, alienated or disenfranchised. This interdisciplinary and interprofessional collection presents theoretical analysis, reports of research findings, reviews of support and interventions, and a wealth of personal accounts. It includes chapters discussing partner loss, childhood bereavement, perinatal loss and bereavement through suicide, as well as bereavement at all stages of the life course.

Men and Loss is an essential read for advanced students and researchers with an interest in men's health and bereavement studies from a range of disciplinary backgrounds, including nursing, medicine, counselling, sociology, social work and psychology.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Series Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• List of contributors
• Acknowledgements
• Introduction
• 1 ‘The loss of my son defines me’: Masculinity, identity and bereavement
• 2 The loss of a same sex partner: Gay and masculine identity in men’s experience of bereavement
• 3 The land of our fathers: An exploration of the son’s grief
• 4 ‘Be a good boy’: Four midlife men reflect on the experience of early motherloss
• 5 Fathering a dead baby: Men and perinatal loss
• 6 Reflections on personal narratives of grief: An autoethnographic account
• 7 Exploring male grief narratives through a personal and professional lens
• 8 Uncovering ‘Prolonged Grief Disorder’: A survivor’s story
• 9 Men’s experiences of grief across dual emotional domains
• 10 The self-inflicted deaths of care-experienced men in custody, through a lens of loss
• 11 Men and grief: Reconceptualising UK bereavement support to be inclusive of men
• 12 Young men experiencing grief: Different types of emotional expression
• 13 ‘Bereavement support group? No thanks! I’m dating’
• 14 ‘They’re just not talking about it’: A male practitioner’s view
• 15 Breaking the silence: Understanding the complexities of bereavement and grief among Syrian refugee fathers
• 16 ‘We can’t play with them, but we can play for them’: Fathers uniting in grief through football
• Index