The necessity to classify ourselves and others on the selected principles of our associated gender is a directing factor of interpersonal interaction throughout humankind. Particularly, the structure of gender among males has assisted in the strengthening of the destructive attributes related to hegemonic masculinity. In other words, structural ideals of gender among males solidify the position of male social dominance over women. These adverse features may directly be related to a rise in gendered violence and other aggressive acts committed by men.
The Kimberly Pierce film “Boys Don’t Cry” identifies the undesirable influences that the societal dominance of masculinity has on the structure of sexual identities. The film is an adaptation of the true story of a female to male transsexual named Brandon Teena, who was violently raped and murdered in Falls City, Nebraska in the year 1993. Set in a laboring-class American setting, the film is the depiction of Brandon looking to isolate himself from the constraints of sexual identity that is recognized by the inhabitants of Lincoln, Nebraska. After he is evicted by his cousin, due to the continual threats of bodily injury he receives from neighboring men, Brandon seeks comfort from an alcoholic beverage at the local bar. It is here where Brandon meets a girl named Candace, and her two friends John and Tom.
Brandon is befriended by the group after initiating a bar brawl on Candace’s behalf. The group then invites Brandon
The hate crime of Brandon brought national attention to the ideal and possibility that someone would want to change their gender. For many people, this was their first time even hearing about trans people and the violence against trans people. After his death, his identity was challenged and argued even though there are quotes from him saying he felt like a man trapped inside a woman's body. As Karina Eileraas puts it “Transgender violence targets both men and women, but Brandon Teena's case highlights its particularly brutal effects on FTM transgender individuals. Boys Don't Cry provides a clear political incentive to integrate feminist, gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender concerns in the analysis of violence against women...Serious risks accompany any attempt to invest the body with particular 'truths' about gender and sexuality”. Brandon was not fully accepted in life or given the support he needed but he is remembered in death and his story continues to inspire many people whether trans or not.
In Harper Lee’s novel, “To Kill a Mockingbird,” Mayella Ewell is an abused girl who causes a controversial trouble when she accuses an African American man named Tom Robinson of rape this is one of many ways that show how Mayella is powerful. What gives her power is her Gender, race and class is her downfall since all of Maycomb sees her and her family as trash, so how does a person like that gain power?
The film, Boys Don't Cry, Kimberly Pierce's brilliant work of 1999, is the true story of, Brandon Teena, born Teena Brandon, played by Hillary Swank, who created a male identity for herself. Brandon was born in 1972 and died at the hopelessly young age of 21. The actual story takes place within the last two weeks of Brandon's life, in 1993. The movie, a dramatized documentary, was released in 1999. Brandon is a transgendered individual; he was born a female, but feels that he would be happier living as a man. She leaves her brother and hometown of Lincoln, Nebraska, where everybody knows her as Teena, to start a new life as Brandon. Brandon ends up in Falls City and his short life, as a man, begins. It is in essence, the epitome of
The movie Boys Don’t Cry is about a trans man named Brandon Teena (Born Teena Brandon). When Brandon is found to be Transgender by his ex-girlfriend’s brother, he is forced to move to Nebraska where he makes new friends and falls in love with a girl named Lana. Lana is unaware that Brandon is biologically a woman but when she finds out she pays no mind and continues to love him. His other friends, however, react in disgust and they drag him into a car and drive to and isolated location where they brutally beat him up and rape him. Later, they take him to a house where he escapes through a window and hides in a shed near his house. His “friends” get drunk and decide to search and kill him. The movie ends tragically with Brandon being shot in
The film, Boys don’t cry, is a commercial film based on a true story, which portrays the hellish life of a young female-to-male transgender named Brandon, originally named Teena Brandon. The film reveals the hardship and discrimination a transgender can, and most likely will, experiences in the American society. With the film, Andy Bienen, co-author, and Kimberly Peirce, co-author and director thought provokingly portray the deeply rooted homophobia and stigmatization of gays, lesbians, and transgenders found in America. Both Bienen and Peirce bring to the audience’s attention that “Heteronormativity results in stigmatization of gays and lesbians,” that “Sexual Preference implies a choice while sexual orientation is biological or
West and Zimmerman’s theory of “Doing Gender” defines sex and gender as two separate entities within this binary society. Sex refers to the biological characteristics that are typically attributed to males and females. Gender is the status of the individual performing the activities that are commonly associated with masculinity and femininity. These traits are rigid in dictating the individual’s consistent performance of them. A gendered individual must execute the appropriate acts that are linked to masculinity or femininity respectively. It is a learned behavior that is taught at an early age through observation of society. Therefore, it is society that decides whether an action is attributed to masculinity or femininity. Gender is a socially constructed idea of thought that people unconsciously follow. The acts that constitute a particular gender can change based on the views of society within a generation. Certain activities and forms of appearance have shifted between males and females. As society evolves throughout history, the interactions between individuals and their gendered actions have changed. West and Zimmerman state, “When we view gender as an accomplishment, an achieved property of situated conduct, our attention shifts from matters internal to the individual and focuses on interactional and, ultimately, institutional arenas” (West and Zimmerman, 1987, page 126). Thus the performance of gender has developed passed the individual and is engrained within the
The movie Boys Don’t Cry is a touching film about a tragic true story. It is a story about the struggles a transgender man named “Teena Brandon” or “Brandon” for short faced during his life. Brandon was born in Lincoln, Nebraska in 1972 and lived there for the majority of his life. As he was growing up he felt different than the people around him. In 1992 Brandon was said to be suffering from a “sexual identity crisis” (also known as a gender identity crisis). In 1993 Brandon was facing legal trouble, so he packed up his things and moved to Falls City, Nebraska. Falls City was the first place he had been where he could identify as male and nobody knew him otherwise.
The gender describes how our understandings and perception of differences between masculinity (what society deems appropriate behaviour a “man” and femininity (what society deems appropriate behaviour for a “woman”) are influenced.
This research looks at the association of masculinity with violence, racism, power and the objectification of women, which has been around since early civilization. This study also shows how these concepts are still evident today in the media. Masculinity in the media is portrayed as muscular, violent, angry, aggressive, dominant, and warrior like. The rhetoric in media, as it relates to masculinity, has influenced the amount of violence in the world.
Misunderstandings of Hegemonic Masculinity’s relation to Violence have led to Hegemonic Masculinity being examined as a problem not only for women, but also for men. Interventions in relation to Hegemonic Masculinity, can be used for building gender equity and to reduce gender-based violence against women.
There is a direct observation in which there is a subtle yet heavily policed border between femininity and masculinity. Status and privilege that come with masculinity do so with a price tag. For instance, men may pay with poor health, shallow relationships and shorter lives. This may begin to unpack how masculinity is so fragile, met with much heavy policing. To paraphrase Pierre Bourdieu, men are
Rigid societal gender roles have always played a part in human existence. These predetermined ideals for what either man or woman should be like have constantly created both small and large scale conflict in literature as well as real life. When these roles are at their most extreme, men are supposed to hold all of the power, while women are docile and in charge of taking care of the home only. The masculine ideal, though it may change through times and cultures, has such a grip on society that it has created a set of unspoken rules that must be followed in order for one to be considered a “real man”, and this pressure to be a “real man” has created a constant need for self-assertion of dominance. This self-assertion of dominance often displays
Cultural diversity is defined as “the different combinations of cultural and subcultural minorities (e.g. ethnic, racial, national, religious, generational, marital status, socioeconomic, occupational, health status and preference in life partner orientations) coexisting in a given location” (Estes, 2014). The Mexican and Chinese cultures are two cultures from separate geographic continents that I will be analyzing in this paper. The Chinese culture has numerous different cultures. Hans Chinese will be the focus here.
Thus, by explaining the concept and relationships of violence, masculinity and femicide; it would be beneficial for us to fully understand the term ‘gender’ and what it may imply in terms of nature and nurture. First of all, if ‘gender’ is viewed from the perspective of nature, then ‘gender’ refers to the sex of our body or the masculinity/femininity of our personalities (Clarke & Braun, 2009). According to Clarke and Braun (2009) this view also provides an explanation for our behaviours, our beliefs, needs and desires; in which they are motivated through biological factors such has hormones and genes. Thus, the nature view of ‘gender’ is deemed an essentialist’s view; where the term ‘gender’ would mean the same as ‘sex’ and it then becomes a fixed trait and does not change with your views or beliefs. It is what you were identified
In today’s society men are constantly reminded of what it is to be a man. What divides men and women are the characteristics they might possess of masculinity and femininity. To be distinguished as a man with feminine qualities would be considered an insult. In order to avoid such an insult men oftentimes go to far lengths to achieve societies idealized form of masculinity. Masculinity and its characteristics have changed throughout our continuously developing society. One dominant feature that continues to serve a purpose in defining masculinity is violence. To further examine the connection between violence and masculinity this essay will first examine Leo Braudy’s introduction to his book and will clarify his perception of the word masculinity.