With Gillette’s recent advertising campaign controversially taking a position against ‘toxic masculinity’, several Australian artists have taken a deeper look at what it is to be male.

Gold Coast artist and writer Samuel Leighton-Dore’s solo exhibition at the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras this week, explores the idea that men’s pursuit of physical strength is what makes them vulnerable.

The American Psychological Association’s new guidelines on working with men and boys caused a media storm in the past month, because they endorsed the view that “traditional masculinity is psychologically harmful”.

As with the now infamous Gillette ad, the guidelines have deeply divided opinion along binary gender political lines, with one side saying the APA is “harming men and boys” and the other side saying the guidelines will “literally save lives” and dismissing critics as "armchair psychologists".

The American Psychological Association has developed 10 guidelines to help practitioners working with boys and men.

The guidelines cover a range of issues and encourage psychologists to deepen their awareness, knowledge and skills in key areas, including the nature of masculinity, traditional gender roles and cultural diversity.

Gillette, the razor company, has sparked global controversy, with a new advertising campaign in the US that places a focus on negative aspects of masculinity as part of its drive to become a brand that “encourages men to be their best”.

The two minute advert adopts a “toxic masculinity” narrative citing male-to-male violence; the #MeToo movement against sexual harassment and sexual assault of women by men as evidence of a “problem we can’t hide from”.