`` Bad Feminist `` By Dr. Roxane Gay

In the article “Toxic Masculinity Is Killing Men: The Roots of Male Trauma,” Kali Holloway explains why the ideal of masculinity is so unrealistic and harmful to men. Holloway also gives many studies and writings to back the idea that to be a strong man you have to suppress feelings and pain. In these studies, it proclaims that both men and women start off equally feminine as babies and that these ideas are taught to boys and girls as they grow up learning how to “be a man.” Holloway goes on to say that masculinity is not just taught by parents, but also taught through television and movies that portray men as masculine and strong. There are many examples given showing the ways men release their stress differently than women. This makes it

The documentary ‘The Mask You Live In’ discusses how American males in today’s society battle between the need to stay true to themselves and the idea of masculinity portrayed to them; it highlights what it’s like to be a man in America. During the course of the documentary, we are presented with boys and men of all different ages as they discuss how the idea of ‘being a man’ affected how they present themselves. << This documentary addresses how boys are brought up with the idea that men cannot be anything close to the idea of femininity. That to be a man, you are required to be tough all the time, you are not to cry, you are to be violent.

1. In “Many Boys Today Define Masculinity Negatively”, the author Leonard Sax writes about how the meaning of masculinity has become redefined in a negative way. Sax states that the phrase “Be a man!” didn’t always mean to not be feminine, the phrase originally meant to be courteous, respectful, and competent. The original intention of this phrase to have boys emulate the wholesome family men in popular culture but in recent years the men portrayed in pop culture have become less principled. This change in role models has led masculinity to be seen as a negative aspect in society today. Sax believes that the best solution for this issue is to give young boys the guidance they need by connecting them with gentlemen from past generations who actually learned what it meant to be a man.

Introduction: Is a real man a tough guy? One who doesn't show any emotion or weakness? One who is loud, boisterous and picks fights? One who talks highly about himself and puts others down? Or is he the strong, silent type who keeps to himself all the time? The traditional role of a man since men carried clubs and lived in caves has been the breadwinner, protector and defender. However, this traditional ideal of the male has eroded in the 21st century. A popular culture which contributed to the fixed idea about the macho man, particularly in the past century, is no longer as significant. Also, a prolonged global conflict which has cemented these stereotypes

A way we explain masculinity is the “Man Box” inside of the box is a list of socially valued roles and expectations that you associate masculinity with and the words outside of the box are used to confine boys into a very narrow definition of manhood. For example some of the words inside the box are: strong, tough, rugged, in control, powerful, muscular, and never show weakness. Examples of words outside of the box used to confine boys and men are: Queer, fag, pussy, wuss, homo, and mama’s boy. In this way, boys and men are often punished (by other boys and men) in a particularly gendered manner. For example, if boys and men do NOT meet the expectations of being a man they are often called homophobic and feminizing slurs.

In today’s society, masculinity has changed throughout time. Fast forward one hundred years ago, masculinity is defined as being strong and having a good paying job. But as the world is changing so is the representation of manliness. You don’t have to show your dominance over men or women today, but you should support your family nowadays and we have all been brainwashed by the thought of masculinity from our ancestors. As men our reputation is always being valued but now it isn’t so much about our reputation but about caring for one another and especially for our families. Perspective of manhood is also a significant factor in portraying what masculinity is in the eyes of other people. Masculinity has been shown through money, appearance, and providing protection for your family members but as we shift into the modern world, masculinity is not seen as displaying the most discipline but caring for one another by taking out some of your time to help one another. Throughout the paper, I will be writing about my interviews from a broad spectrum of ages from one of my younger sisters to my dad with not friends not at Seb’s in between so I can get what it really means to be a man from all ages.

Literary and rhetorical devices can greatly strengthen texts and their significance. Kait Rokowski excels at using them in her critically acclaimed spoken word, “How to Cure a Feminist”. In this poem, Rokowski writes in an instruction book form and begins with witty remarks, but it soon escalates into a horrendous exposé on the atrocities women face. Rokowski’s use of similes, personification, and numerous rhetorical devices creates an astounding spoken word that leaves its audience haunted.

The definition of masculinity has changed dramatically over the years. In fact in the American society, it used to be defined more as strength,superior than all and any during the 1940’s but that definition has slightly changed. Actually, this idea of a “real man” or manhood is glorified a lot in society with the use of adverts advertisements.

While at a club you notice someone attractive walk by, so what can you do? You can talk to them, but then you’d look creepy. You could just stare but that’s even creepier. What about buy them a drink? No, because then you’d look desperate. Why is it so challenging to just start a conversation? Maybe because if you are a female you must act a certain way to be a proper feminist and if you are a male somehow you would be offending her right to be a woman. A possible solution is to change the feminist beliefs and their judgmental ways while also believing in gender quality instead of feminism.

Masculinity, a seemingly simple concept. Yet, when examined more closely, it is clear that masculinity is constantly changing in its definition as well as in its most basic essence. Throughout the years, one can see this evolution firsthand by looking back at the men who have been portrayed in popular media in the United States of America. From the suave Don Draper types of the 1950s to the more casual, educated, and easygoing men- with perfectly chiseled abs, of course- that are portrayed in media today, the difference is clear. This drastic, yet unsurprising, shift in ideals, as well as the exponential increase of media consumed every day, has led to a change in how “masculinity” is perceived, as well as how it is enforced by society in the modern day. Alarmingly, this trend has led to the birth of so-called “toxic masculinity”, a bastardization of the original ideas behind masculinity which has created an enormous, detrimental effect on society as a whole. As defined in the article The Difference Between Toxic Masculinity and Being a Man, toxic masculinity is “manhood as defined by violence, sex, status, and aggression. It’s the cultural ideal of manliness, where strength is everything… where sex and brutality are yardsticks by which men are measured,” (O’Malley) This is a clearly displayed truth, and it’s astounding to see how even from a young age boys are taught not to show emotions other than anger, conditioned to believe that being “like a girl” is the worst possible

When you view the world in black and white, you exclude an entire spectrum of colors between that; similarly when you say male or female you exclude an entire spectrum of people. Susan Mann’s (2012) transgender theory states that a gender binary is the idea that humans exist only as two separate opposite genders, in a biologically determined form of male or female (p. 249). Anne Fausto-Sterling (2011/2000) argues against the gender binary the and proposes that the two sex system rooted in our society is not sufficient to embody the full spectrum of human sexuality.

It is easy to break the world into binaries. As a culture, Western society has made a point to embrace binaries and nowhere is this clearer than the binary that is observed with gender. In the most simplistic way, Western society widely accepts that there are only two genders, male and female. This dichotomy creates a system of imbalance, giving one gender, male, power over the other. This binary starts an eternal struggle between the two, with the patriarchy defining what any person is allowed to be.

We see masculinity and violence on the individual level when we see men embodying the manhood acts [internalization; Risman, 2004], and what one does to compensate for insufficient masculinity, as members of the subordinate masculinity. For example, the subordinated masculinity finds compensation from being aggressive, doing criminal activities, or battering of women (Schrock and Schwalbe, 2009). In the interactional level, we see the link between masculinity and violence through denying same privileges to the subordinate masculinity (especially that of homosexual masculinity) through physical forces, or vulgar language [othering; Risman, 2004]. Examples can be found when the adolescent male peers police each other for gender deviance exemplified

Raewyn Connell’s concepts and theory have found wide use in areas such as education studies, criminology, the study of media representations of men and in organization studies (Connell and Messerschmidt 2005). With such a broad applicability, it also attracted a great deal of criticism. In their review of the concepts and of the critique, Connell and Messerschmidt sort the existing objections in five categories of critique, which I will present in the following section (ibid., 836-845). The first main argument is that the underlying concept of masculinity is flawed, that it creates a static typology and essentializes the character of men. The authors reject this critique and assert that ‘masculinity is not a fixed entity embedded in the body or personality traits of individuals’ (Connell and Messerschmidt 2005, 836).

In any part of society, when a man’s masculinity is taken, he feels he has no power or ability to gain respect back (Schuman, 2014).