Opening remarks: Carlota Simões (Director of UC Press) and Catarina Caldeira Martins (Coordinator of the CES Collection). Comments: Roberto Uchôa (CES) | With the presence of the organisers.

About the publication

This book (University of Coimbra Press, 2026) examines the experiences of young people in Portuguese educational centres, linking life trajectories marked by violence, poverty and family breakdown with the construction of rigid and unequal masculinities. Drawing on the X-MEN project, it combines quantitative and qualitative methods to explore gender identities, violence and dreams for the future, whilst also incorporating the perspectives of professionals working in highly hierarchical contexts. The work proposes early, participatory and transformative interventions, grounded in care, empathy and the transformation of gender norms, as a means of breaking intergenerational cycles of violence and promoting caring masculinities and fairer relationships.

This book is available as open access