A new Swiss study suggests that attitudes towards masculinity are becoming more polarised. Männlichkeit im Wandel, a report by the University of Zurich’s Jacobs Center, is based on a representative survey of 6,138 people aged 18 to 64 living in Switzerland.
Its findings are striking. Young men are much more likely than older men, and far more likely than young women, to endorse restrictive ideas of masculinity, gender hierarchy and violence. They are also less likely to support gender equality.
The study combines several measures into what it calls “Factor M”: a cluster of attitudes that links masculinity with dominance, emotional hardness, hostility to equality, misogyny, homophobia, queerphobia and the belief that male status is under threat. Men score higher than women in every age group. But the sharpest result concerns men aged 18 to 24. Almost half say that “sometimes violence is necessary”, compared with about a quarter of men over 25. Nearly one in two young men also say masculinity is being pushed to the margins of society.
The gender gap is widest among the young. Young women are, if anything, more open than older women to gender equality and sexual diversity. Young men, by contrast, are the group most likely to endorse restrictive masculinity and hostile views of women and sexual minorities. The authors caution that the data cannot prove whether this is a passing age effect or a deeper generational shift.
The pattern is not evenly distributed. Among men, high Factor M scores are more common among those with lower education, lower occupational status and lower income. Almost one in three men aged 18 to 24 falls into the high-risk group; among young men with vocational training the share rises to 47%. The study also finds differences by region, family origin, religion and urbanity. These, the authors stress, should not be reduced crudely to culture or religion. Education, social exclusion, precariousness, diaspora experiences and online influences may all play a part.
The consequences are not merely attitudinal. High Factor M scores are associated with greater acceptance of violence in child-rearing and a higher likelihood of both experiencing and perpetrating violence in intimate relationships. The report also links restrictive masculinity among some young men to sexual frustration, pornography use and the purchase of sexual services.
Behind these findings lies a broader social shift. Many young men report feeling that traditional routes to status and recognition have weakened. Masculinity was once tied to being the breadwinner, holding occupational status, displaying physical strength and exercising authority within the family. As education expands and gender norms become more egalitarian, these markers matter less. Some young men seem unsure what is expected of them instead.
The authors note that high Factor M scores are associated with the belief that men are increasingly disadvantaged, that masculinity is under attack and that society no longer values men sufficiently. Whether these beliefs are true is less important than the fact that many respondents hold them.
Social-media influencers exploit and amplify these perceptions rather than creating from nothing. The report’s analysis is therefore not that influencer videos produce misogyny. It is that structural change feeds status anxiety; status anxiety creates identity uncertainty; identity uncertainty makes grievance narratives more attractive; and online influencers then give those grievances a language and a target.
The authors argue that prevention should focus not on blaming boys, but on widening the range of acceptable ways to be male. Their central message is simple: masculinity is not fixed. It can be shaped. Switzerland’s challenge is to offer young men better role models than the online manosphere does.
More on this:
University of Zurich study (in German)
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