Confrontation and loss of control: Masculinity and men's fear in public space


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Journal of Environmental Psychology 23 (2003) 311–322

Confrontation and loss of control: Masculinity and
men’s fear in public space

Kristen Day*, Cheryl Stump, Daisy Carreon

Department of Planning, Policy and Design, School of Social Ecology, University of California, Irvine, CA 92967, USA

Received 24 September 2001; received in revised form 5 December 2002; accepted 9 April 2003

Abstract

Existing research typically examines fear in public space from women’s perspectives. To date, environment–behavior researchers

have largely overlooked men’s fear in public space, and the role of masculinity in shaping men’s perceptions of fear and safety. This

paper investigates the intersections of traditional, dominant masculinity—or masculinism—and men’s fear in public space, based on

interviews with 82 undergraduate men students. Masculinism features qualities such as control, competition, aggression, and

physical strength. We argue that, for many men, public spaces and situations that challenge this masculinist identity may generate

fear. Similarly, spaces and situations that promote feelings of safety do so, in part, by bolstering this identity. We employ the lens of

masculinity to explore men’s feelings of fear of the unknown, heightened awareness and safety, fear of confrontation, and safety in

numbers. Conclusions examine implications for the development of masculinity and recommendations for future research.

r 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction

Fear in public space has prompted considerable
scholarly research in recent years. Such research often
highlights women’s experiences of fear (cf. Gordon &
Riger, 1989; Valentine, 1990, 1992; Pain, 1991; Bow-
man, 1993; Gardner, 1994, 1995; Koskela, 1997; Day,
1999a, b; Mehta & Bondi, 1999). Older women, Hispa-
nic and black women, and lower income women are
identified as especially fearful (Gordon & Riger, 1989).
Researchers’ emphasis on women’s fear makes good
sense, since women report higher levels of fear in public
space, compared with men (US Bureau of Justice
Statistics, 2000). Furthermore, fear of crime and
harassment significantly and negatively impacts women.
Though women face considerable risk of violence
(including sexual assault and domestic violence) in the
‘‘private’’ spaces of home, women’s fear often empha-
sizes public spaces, and especially the outdoors (Day,
2001). Fear restricts women’s freedom and enjoyment in
public space and limits their opportunities and conve-
nience (Deegan, 1987; Gordon & Riger, 1989; Day,
1997).

The concept of ‘‘fear’’ in public space is intimately
intertwined with our ideas of what it is to be a woman in
the contemporary USA. Fear shapes many women’s
gender identities by prompting women to adopt
restrictive social norms to preserve personal safety. At
the same time, traditional female gender identities may
reinforce women’s fear in public space by emphasizing
women’s vulnerability and dependence, and by support-
ing the idea of public spaces as dangerous for women
(Gardner, 1989; Bowman, 1993; Day, 1994).

To date, environment–behavior research on fear in
public space has largely ignored men and male gender
identities. What is identified as fear inducing—crime,
stranger assault, rape—are typically those situations and
settings that impact women specifically or those that
affect both women and men. Men’s fear—or lack of it—
is accepted as ‘‘normal’’ and remains unmarked by
gender (Goodey, 1997), while women’s fear is proble-
matized. Men in the USA do not report high levels of
fear in public space. In 2000, only 23% of American
men reported that they felt afraid to walk alone in their
neighborhood at night, compared to 52% of American
women (US Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2000). And yet,
American men are more likely than women to be victims
of crimes in public space (Baumer, 1978; DuBow,
McCabe, & Kaplan, 1979; Harris & Miller, 2000). The

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*Corresponding author. Fax: +1-949-824-2056.

E-mail address: kday@uci.edu (K. Day).

0272-4944/03/$ - see front matter r 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

doi:10.1016/S0272-4944(03)00024-0



disjuncture between women’s higher fear and men’s
higher victimization in public space is known as the
‘‘fear paradox’’ (Koskela, 1997). As Koskela rightly
notes, this situation is only paradoxical if one assumes
that fear follows directly from actual crime and not, as
we and many others argue, from more complex
relationships between factors such as crime, reactions
to crime and violence, crime reporting, myths about
violence and crime, and the construction of male and
female gender identities. Thus, the fact that many men
in the USA describe themselves as fearless in public
space surely derives (at least in part) from how
masculinity is constructed.

This paper attempts to expand our understanding of
fear in public space by considering how masculinism
shapes men’s feelings of fear and safety in public space,
based on findings from interviews with 82 men college
students in Irvine, California. By ‘‘public space,’’ we
refer to a loose category of everyday, publicly accessible
places (after Franck & Paxson, 1989; Koskela, 1997).
These spaces are both publicly and privately owned. Our
intention is to begin to unpack the ways in which men’s
construction of gender shapes their perceptions and
experiences of public space. We argue that, for many
men, public spaces and situations that challenge a
masculinist identity may generate fear. Similarly, spaces
and situations that promote feelings of safety may do so,
in part, by bolstering masculinist identity.

2. Background on masculinity

Masculinity, like femininity, is socially constructed
(Messner, 1998). The meanings of masculine identities
are prescribed by time, place, race/ethnicity and
sexuality (Carrigan, Connell, & Lee, 1985; Morgan,
1992; Espiritu, 1998; Marable, 1998; Thompson, 1998;
Zinn, 1998). Traditional, dominant masculinity—or
‘‘masculinism’’—is one of a range of male gender
identities. Masculinism refers to a particular masculine
identity that supports patriarchy: in sum, an ‘‘ideology
that privileges males and certain masculine values,
meanings and culture over females and feminine values,
meanings and culture’’ (Sanders, 1996, p. 11). Masculin-
ism is also theorized as ‘‘hegemonic’’ masculinity
(Connell, 1995; Goodey, 1997; Kimmel & Messner,
1998; Laberge & Albert, 1999). Key attributes asso-
ciated with masculinism include control, competition,
aggression, and physical strength, among others. Later
sections of this paper examine masculinism in relation to
men’s fears in public space.

Masculinist identity is most readily available to the
most privileged group of men—straight, white, middle-
class, able-bodied and young. Men who share only some
or none of these characteristics—gay or transgendered
men, men of color and those who are biracial or

multicultural—reap less privilege from masculinist
identities. Varied masculinities shape men’s experience
of fear in public space in different ways. For example,
several authors address the intersection of black
masculinity and fear of hate crimes and of police
brutality (cf. Kelley, 1988; Feagin, 1991; hooks, 1995).
Likewise, authors discuss the intersections of queer
identities with men’s perceptions of danger and fear in
public space, such as through fear of ‘‘gay bashing’’ and
fear among transgender and transsexual individuals of
not ‘‘passing’’ (cf. Adler & Brenner, 1992; Namaste,
1996).

1

Privilege adheres to those groups in society who
experience the least resistance in managing surrounding
social, political, and economic contexts (Hill, 2001),
because these contexts are constructed around the
group’s values, norms, and behaviors. The specificity
of these contexts—that they are not ‘‘neutral’’—
becomes obscured, allowing the adeptness of a privi-
leged group to be inaccurately attributed to the group’s
perceived physical, mental, or emotional competence.
Masculinism is the most privileged of masculine
identities, though not all men who are young, straight,
white and so on experience privilege similarly or in all
circumstances. Men may not consistently ‘‘practice’’
masculinity from the vantage point of masculinism, yet
men frequently reap benefits from the hierarchical
system of masculinities, relative to the overall subordi-
nation of women (Goodey, 1997). At the same time,
masculinism oppresses men by ensuring that men adopt
its trappings or endure challenges to their ‘‘manliness.’’

Though it shapes men’s behaviors and perceptions,
masculinity—and especially masculinism—is often char-
acterized by invisibility. Masculine perspectives and
behavior frequently remain unmarked (see also Franken-
berg (1993) on the invisibility of whiteness). The most
privileged men (straight, white, and so on) are often
unconscious of themselves as explicitly gendered. They
may view individuals in terms of biological sex, and yet
be unaware of how the social meanings attached to sex
shape their own experiences (Kimmel & Messner, 1998).

Critical theorists have usefully conceptualized mascu-
line and feminine gender identities as ‘‘performance,’’
which involves

reiterating or repeating the norms by which one is
constituted: it is not a radical fabrication of a

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1
Given the nature of the interviews in the present study (i.e. brief

and conducted by a stranger), it was not possible to explore fear and

sexual identity directly, except in the few interviews where respondents

raised the topic of sexual identity themselves. One interview question

asked men how they felt their sexual and/or racial identities might

impact their feelings of fear or safety in public space. Most men elected

not to discuss sexual identity in responding to this question. In

addition, the limited number of black men students at UCI and in this

sample limited the direct exploration of black racial identity in this

study.

K. Day et al. / Journal of Environmental Psychology 23 (2003) 311–322312



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