The lecture was open to staff and students and was introduced by Adrian Ellison, Pro-Vice Chancellor of People and Digital: 

We are delighted to have Ben Hine here to share his knowledge and experience around challenges faced by males in different stages of life. Ben is a very well-respected researcher and speaker on a whole range of gender-based issues and has been very visible in the media as well.” 

Professor Hine’s lecture outlined how gender stereotypes affect men’s mental health through various stages in their lives and specific societal challenges faced by men who are struggling with their mental health or are trying to seek support. 

Professor Hine aimed to emphasise the severe consequences of neglecting men’s mental health as a society and on an institutional level, and of undermining or failing to support men who are in need of help: 

98% of all workplace deaths are men. 80% of all homeless individuals are men. 90% of the prison population is male. And when we look at mental health, suicide is the number one cause of death for men aged 15-55 in the UK.” 

These statistics underpin Professor Hine’s arguments that in our current society, men are at a high risk of experiencing hardship, mental health issues and even death due to a lack of genuine support and helpful resources aimed towards males, especially in adulthood and old age. 

Addressing men’s mental health requires a societal shift, more than anything, and we all need to be thinking about men very differently. 

That’s not saying that we need to ignore gendered issues from the other side of the coin... We’re trying to acknowledge where the roots of both issues are, and that is our traditional norms of masculinity,” 

said Professor Hine. 

The lecture prompted attendees to think about what can be done to empower men to seek help and rethink their own and wider cultural conceptions of masculinity. 

One attendee, Salah, said: 

Great lecture from Ben Hine, really bringing to the forefront the mental health issues boys and men face throughout their lives but are often reluctant to talk about and address. It really struck some chords with me, and I would highly recommend looking into his research if you haven’t already.”