‘Women’s Problems Are Everyone’s Problem, but Men’s Problems Are Their Own’—Anti-feminist Meaning-making in Affective Discourses on Young Men’s Mental Health

This article introduces new insights into the cultural discourse surrounding young men’s mental health in modern-day Finland. Utilizing survey data ( n = 975) and online discussions about men’s mental health, we delve into the affective–discursive alignments with ideas related to gender and gender equality in the context of young men’s mental health. We contextualize these alignments within the framework of therapeutic culture in Finland. Our examination highlights how men are seen to often disassociate from the public mental health discourses, viewing them as overly simplified, intrinsically gendered towards women and strongly influenced by the feminist movement. Consequently, the perceived mental health discourses provoke frustrated rhetoric of anti-feminism and tactical victimhood, portraying men as marginalized figures. We argue that the discrepancy between ‘traditional’ masculinity and therapeutic culture’s emphasis on mental health may manifest as cruel optimism, drawing attention from societal issues towards essentialist notions of gender and perpetuating a hierarchical gender order.