Masculinities are closely entangled with global crises, such as the ecological crisis, the crisis of social reproduction or the crisis of liberal democracies in authoritarian times. Through practices, discourses or by being efficacious within institutions, they co-condition the lives of women, LGBTIQ+-persons, and other men across the globe. This double entanglement of men and masculinities, causing but also being affected by global crises, is the focus of this special issue. While some contributions explore representations of masculinities and nature or the centrality of masculine politics to authoritarian projects, others highlight the possibilities for change that crises offer. The ecological crisis and the crisis of social reproduction are two of such opportunities that offer the potential to enact prefigurative masculinities that could contribute to the emancipatory transformation of unequal gender relations – crucially ending all forms of violence against women and LGBTIQ+-persons.