Emotional and personal costs for men of the Black Saturday bushfires in Victoria, Australia

This chapter presents the research design and a description of the sample. Following this, the men's narratives capture the loss of control they felt on the day of the Black Saturday bushfires and in its long aftermath. This research followed prior women-focused research, which found an increase in domestic violence following Black Saturday. Drinking alcohol is often part of enacting masculinity in Australian society, and becoming emotional is more accepted in men when they are drunk. In Australia, one of the legacies of the horrific Black Saturday fires is a path breaking new Gender and Disaster (GAD) Taskforce, created by Emergency Management Victoria in collaboration with Women's Health Goulburn North East and Monash University Disaster Resilience Initiative. The gender hierarchy depends on the public image of strong men in control and in charge and never more so than in an emergency. This has consequences for all, as noted by Victorian Assistant Police Commissioner, Tim Cartwright.