Men and Loss

Kerry Jones is a Senior Lecturer in End-of-Life Care at The Open University, where her research and teaching focus on death, dying, grief and bereavement and end-of-life care. Kerry has published and presented her research on men’s experience of loss, stillbirth neonatal death, parental bereavement, paediatric palliative care, brain injury, dementia and suicide. More recently, her focus has turned to the impact of loss during the COVID-19 pandemic, in particular men’s grief, death anxiety among children and young people, and healthcare workers’ experiences. Kerry has been an academic consultant on death and dying for programmes for national media, including A Time to Live on BBC 2, and for BBC Radio 3.Martin Robb is a Senior Lecturer in Health and Social Care at The Open University, where his research has focused on issues of gender and care and has included studies of fatherhood, men working in childcare and young masculinities. He is the author of Men, Masculinities and the Care of Children: Images, Ideas and Identities (Routledge, 2020). Martin is co-editor of the journal Children & Society and host of the Careful Thinking podcast. He was the academic advisor for the BBC3 documentary James Arthur: Out of our Minds, which explored issues in men’s mental health.

• Introduction 1 ‘The loss of my son defines me’: masculinity, identity and bereavement 2 The loss of a same sex partner: gay and masculine identity in men’s experience of bereavement 3 Land of our fathers: an exploration of the son’s grief ‘Be a good boy’: four midlife men reflect on the experience of early motherloss 5 Fathering a dead baby: men, masculinities and pregnancy loss 6 Reflections on personal narratives of grief: an autoethnographic account 7 Exploring male grief narratives through a personal and professional lens 8 Uncovering prolonged grief disorder: a survivor’s story 9 Men’s experience of grief and loss across dual emotional domains 10 Self-inflicted death of care experienced men in custody, through a lens of loss 11 Men and grief: reconceptualising UK bereavement support to be inclusive of men 12 Young men experiencing grief: different types of emotional expression 13 ‘Bereavement support group? No thanks! I’m dating’ 14 ‘They’re just not talking about it’: a male practitioner’s view 15 Breaking the silence: understanding the complexities of bereavement and grief among Syrian refugee fathers in England 16 ‘We can’t play with them, but we can play for them’: fathers uniting in grief through football

This book explores the long overlooked area of men’s grief and loss. Academics, researchers, and practitioners from a range of disciplines provide absorbing, comprehensive, and authoritative perspectives on the intersection of grief and masculine ideals. The complexity of men’s emotional experiences and the ways in which these have been successfully navigated is highlighted in a variety of compelling narratives. This thoughtful book opens the door to a new way of thinking about men, grief and loss. Professor Meredith Temple-SmithA poignant and much needed collection that explores men’s gendered experiences of bereavement and grief. Artfully interweaving personal accounts of loss with the academic and professional, this is a must-read text for anyone supporting men through any kind of loss across the life course.Professor Anna Tarrant, University of LincolnThis book provides vital new and original insights into the under-discussed issue of men and loss. It powerfully demonstrates how men’s experiences of bereavement are uniquely shaped – and often supressed – by social expectations surrounding masculinity. At the same time, it sheds light movingly on the complex and varied ways in which men mourn, through interplays between their social location, their relationships and psychodynamics.Dr Stephen Burrell, University of Melbourne, AustraliaThis book is a valuable addition to the growing body of literature on men and masculinities. Men’s experiences of bereavement and grief, and how these might differ not only from women’s, but also between men, is an area that remains relatively unexplored. However, it is key not only to men’s mental health but to a broader understanding of gendered social expectations – and how to change them.Nikki van der Gaag, writer and researcher on masculinities, feminism and gender equality.