Men in No-Man'S Land: Proving Manhood Through Compensatory Consumption

What fuels men to prove their masculinity through compensatory consumption? Using interviews focused on a probable case of men's compensatory consumption, DIY home improvement projects, we interrogate competing arguments about why men engage in compensatory consumption. Findings show that men facing gender disorder use DIY home improvement projects as a means to restore their threatened provider status at home. Men confronted by emasculation threats at work gravitate towards craftsman ideal. These findings reconcile competing theoretical arguments advanced in prior literature and suggest that compensatory consumption provides men with a much needed avenue to prove their manhood.