Chapter 1: Contradictory Narratives of Masculinity, Emotions and Personal Relationships Among Boys in Finland¹

Based on interviews conducted in three schools in Helsinki, Finland, I examine in this chapter 12- to 15-year-old boys' narratives about their possibilities and practices of sharing emotions in their relationships with friends and parents. I focus on how these possibilities and practices are shaped by their understanding of masculinities and ask whether these narratives continue to be shaped by hierarchising hegemonic masculine norms or if there is room for discourses and practices that depart from these norms. I argue that contradiction is a central feature in the boys' narratives of masculinities: On the one hand, the boys are critical of hegemonic masculine norms that define confiding and sharing emotions as feminine. On the other hand, they reproduce the very same norms in many discourses and everyday practices, which makes confiding and sharing emotions difficult for them.