The Human Code

The Human Code is a research project to better understand community attitudes to outdated masculine stereotypes and their effect on men’s mental health and related behaviours in the Macedon Ranges.

Orygen was engaged to undertake research to understand:

• current attitudes of boys and men towards outdated stereotypes on ‘what it means to be a man’
• how these outdated perceptions of masculinity effect the health of boys, men, and the community.

Orygen engaged community members through a survey and reported their findings with recommendations through their report and workshops with stakeholders.

This activity was part of the Macedon Ranges Place-Based Suicide Prevention Trials.

The research has been used to support local partners to secure funding to pilot activities through the VicHealth Healthier Masculinities funding grant including:

• The Mentoring Boys Community Training Program which targets male mentors who coach, teach, lead, work or regularly interact with teenage boys.
• The Raising Teenage Boys program, which targets parents and carers of teenage boys and helps them gain insights into how to better understand, connect and have deeper, more honest conversations with young boys.

The work resulted in a study published in the international peer-reviewed journal Sex Roles, which prompted local media coverage.