A Global Portrait of Masculinity - 18 Images of Men From Cultures Around the World

Living in the Western World, it might seem obvious that the face of gender is changing. In the wake of the LGBTQ and feminist movements, traditional gender norms are beginning to be deconstructed as people are invited to define for themselves what gender means to them. As the interpretation of gender as a social construct gains ground it is interesting to acknowledge that, in truth, there has never just been one version of masculinity, or of femininity. Both are ideals that are shaped in many ways by the cultures which they are part of, and both are rarely embodied completely by any individual. Each culture creates a model of masculinity against which each man measures himself, and characteristics that might appear to epitomise manhood in one culture may be deemed feminine in another.

Here we have collected a series of portraits, captured by our photographers, which provide a more global and accurate picture of what masculinity really looks like.