Real Men Do the Work!”

How Life Coaches Perform Masculinity in Online and Offline Settings

Bibliographic Data

ID12469874
AuthorsBert Verhulst (0000-0003-2369-2452, Ghent University, corresponding author), Ralf De Wolf (0000-0002-2586-4150, Ghent University), Mariek M P Vanden Abeele (0000-0003-1806-6991, Ghent University)
Year2026
Publication date2026-03-24
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueMen and Masculinities (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1097-184X • E-ISSN: 1552-6828
PublisherSAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/1097184x261438459
OpenAlexW7140180012
LanguageEN
References cited42

Life coaches claim to offer men pathways to “authentic” masculinity through self-development. Despite their growing popularity, scholars have paid little attention to how these coaches negotiate and perform masculinity. In addressing this gap, we examine how male-oriented life coaches understand, construct, and perform masculinity—both online and offline. Drawing on a hybrid ethnographic approach—analyzing Instagram content from 15 life coaches and field observations from three men’s circles—we unveil how life coaches promote a dominant vision of masculinity that appears to challenge restrictive norms—for instance by encouraging emotional expression—yet consistently reframes such practices within defensive narratives that reinforce hegemonic ideals of masculinity. The findings show how life coaching functions as a site of negotiation, where gendered anxieties are addressed through commercially mediated forms of masculine belonging, reproducing normative gender hierarchies under the guise of self-improvement

Coaching · Ethnography · Hegemonic masculinity · Masculinity · Narrative · Negotiation · Normative · Gender Roles and Identity Studies · Gender, Feminism, and Media · Sports, Gender, and Society

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