Well away from pig hunting and jugs of beer, in the halls of Waikato University, psychology lecturer Dr Darrin Hodgetts says for the last couple of decades men have been told that there’s something wrong with expressing the sort of manly traits idealised by brewery and ute adverts…

A couple of decades of feminism has negatively influenced the thinking of universities and the public sector towards the traditional Kiwi male, Hodgetts says.

He has published research on women’s health, but has also studied post-feminist theory and says the academic view of masculinity has been skewed too far to the negative.

Women’s studies academics at Auckland University have sensed anti-feminist attitudes in his research topic, and challenged him to a debate. The glint in his eye indicates he’s looking forward to it.

It shouldn’t be sacrilegious to question why there isn’t more male gender research being done, he says, particularly in the field of men’s health.