Exploring animal traits to decode masculinities: A critical conscientisation journey towards self-awareness and identity development

Opinions on masculinities are varied. Some highlight the toxicity associated with certain expressions of masculinity,while others argue cultural considerations. It is crucial to understand how men, often at the centre of these debates,perceive and enact masculinity in both their personal identities and social interactions. This paper explores masculinitythrough a face-to-face group discussion with ten male students from a South African higher education institution.Guided by a critical conscientisation framework and using animal traits analogies, the students engaged in a selfawareness and identity enhancement exercise. Their goal was to decode the concept of masculinity as it pertained totheir experiences and to consider how these constructed understandings might predispose them to socially unacceptable behaviours. A critical discourse analysis of the data revealed that the students resonated strongly with diverse animal traits, were keenly aware of the associated discursive practices, and recognised how these traits influenced their interactions with others. Within the masculinity studies, this critical conscientisation angle has a potential to provide a clearer conceptualisation of masculinity viewed from lived experience, and a realisation of how uninterrogated masculine behaviours could predispose men to GBV.