The New Alternative Masculinities and the Overcoming of Gender Violence

Research about masculinities gathers different topics from diverse disciplinary perspectives. One of the topics has been the analysis of the effect of the perpetuation of the traditional heterosexual model of masculinity upon gender violence. Recent scientific evidence about the reproduction of this social problem has shown the existence of three different types of masculinities ( in the sense of the weberian ideal types): Dominant Traditional Masculinities (DTM), Oppressed Traditional Masculinities (OTM), and New Alternative Masculinities (NAM). The first two types contribute to perpetuate violence against women, while the latter allows preventing it and, consequently, leads to its overcoming. This article approaches the existence of these three types of masculinities and analyses both their characteristics and the consequences they have for the prevention of violence against women. It presents evidence about the link between language of ethics and language of desire that is found in NAM and which is the key element that explains its preventive effect regarding violence against women.