In the last few years awareness has grown of the toxicity of gender-normative behavior and ingrained misogyny across society; this toxicity is often attributed to the expectations created by and put upon men. This debate asks if the societal image of masculinity is harmful and whether or not in its current form it is just as damaging for men as for everyone else.

Proposition

Dan Bell Dan is an award-winning journalist and editor who has written for national news outlets in the UK and America. He is features editor of online men’s issues magazine insideMAN.

Aditya Basrur

Aditya Basrur is studying for an MPhil in Economic and Social History at Magdalene College. Until 2015, he practised corporate law in New York and Dubai. He holds degrees in law and history from the University of Auckland in New Zealand and an LLM from Columbia Law School in New York.

Amanullah De Sondy

Amanullah De Sondy, Senior Lecturer in Contemporary Islam at University College Cork, Republic of Ireland is a Scottish Pakistani Muslim. Amanullah's first book, The Crisis of Islamic Masculinities, was published with Bloomsbury Academic in 2014 and he is regular contributor to BBC Radio Scotland's 'Thought for the Day'.

Opposition

Mimi Turner Mimi is a former journalist at the Hollywood Reporter, who previously worked as the communications director for Northern and Shell, and is now the marketing director for the Lad Bible.

Martin Seager Martin is a clinical psychologist and adult psychotherapist. He campaigns on mental health, in particular to raise awareness of men's psychological issues.

Ruth Sutherland Ruth is CEO of Samaritans, the leading suicide prevention charity in the UK and Ireland with 21,000 volunteers taking 5 million calls for help annually.