Dangerous Privilege: Trans Men, Masculinities, And

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

In Toxic Masculinity is Killing Men, Kali Holloway discusses the issue of men slowly deteriorating due to their own masculinity. I found Holloway’s article to be both informative and compelling due to her ability to explain, in detail, her views about masculinity along with facts and statistics to back up her argument. I agree with Holloway’s argument that men are so focused on proving their masculinity to not only themselves, but also to everyone else in the world and that it’s taking a toll on their lives. In Toxic Masculinity, Kali Holloway begins her argument by simply stating that masculinity is killing men.

In the video “Tough Guise” Jackson Katz argues that, “widespread violence in American society, including the tragic school shootings in Littleton, Colorado, Jonesboro, Arkansas, and elsewhere, needs to be understood as part of an ongoing crisis in masculinity.” He considers that while the social construction of femininity has been extensively examined, the role of masculinity has remained invisible until recent years. From the beginning of the episode male students are asked, “What is a real man?” Katz got replies like, strong, independent, intimidating, physical, powerful, and tough multiple times. Then after asking what is a real man, Katz asked, “what happens if you don’t live up to these standards?”

Despite having hundreds of sexual assault cases each year, most colleges take little action to resolve these cases. In fact, only 20% of female sexual assault survivors report cases, the rest believing that it was too personal to share, or that if they did, the police wouldn’t listen to them. If they did report, often times it was to the local police rather than the campus police in fear that they would be shamed or turned away by the universities.

Over the past few years, the phrase “toxic masculinity” has been heard more and more when describing issues related to men. However, when taking a closer look at the definition, it becomes difficult to understand the meaning. In the article “Toxic Masculinity Is a Harmful Myth,” Richard Reeves describes the broadness of the idea of toxic masculinity. He’s effective in doing so, explaining how general the term is. The idea is described as anti-social behavior by men, which doesn’t explain what toxic masculinity is in detail.

Holloway begins her essay by stating the traditional standards for both men and women, stating that “If we are honest with ourselves, we have long known that masculinity kills men” (1). She then defends her argument with a brief description of struggles the men go through with their health and mental health that are indirectly caused by masculinity. Holloway then dives into fields of scientific data to break down how the idea of masculinity is built into a child’s mind and how this process is damaging to the young boy’s mind. Holloway ends her essay by reentering her earlier idea that most of the problems that men face with their health and their mental health is caused indirectly by masculinity. However, this time she includes more detail and more scientific evidence to reinforce her idea. Holloway states “ We have set an unfair and unachievable standard, and in trying to live up to it, many men are slowly killing themselves. We have to move far beyond our outdated ideas of masculinity, and get past our

No matter what, we are almost always talking about violence masculinity in America. Whether we are talking about the horrifying, high-profile mass shooting we have seen over recent decades, the far greater rates of murder and gun violence we see on a day – to – day basis that barely register in the national news, or the epidemic of sexual violence and domestic violence, the vast majority of this violence is committed by men, young men, and boys (Jackson Katz, 2013). Throughout this essay the topics covered will be how culture defines masculinity, according to the film, violent masculinity as a cultural norm, agents of socialization that teach boys how to be men, the cool

Parents are looking for safe places where their children will be able to acquire a vigorous education; therefore, safety is one of the main concerns when it comes to selecting colleges. This places institutions in a situation where they will do anything to keep a good reputation. There is a consumer protection law called The Clery Act passed in 1990, which requires institutions to report crimes that happen on campus (Bulletin), but statistics like “ninety-one percent of college campuses disclosed zero reported incidences of rape in 2014” (Becker) clearly show how colleges are trying to hide the truth regardless of the policy. This is a moral hazard that creates an incentive for colleges to not accurately report cases. It’s been established that most of cases are not reported, which it is something “good” for institutions because they are less affected. But what if all cases were to be reported to the police instead? Institutions will definitely make sure to prevent any sexual assault in the first place. Consequently, there is a loss of trust in the institutions because victims believe that nothing will be done just like in the Turner case. Are institutions willing to sacrifice their reputation by making public every sexual assault case? We know that the answer for this is no. They value more the money that enters the institution more than the safety of the students who bring the

To understand either work’s take on hegemonic masculinity, it is important to identify masculinity as a gendered hegemony. In her definition of gender, Judith Halberstam notes that gender is socially systematized, performed, and reproduced in cultures, institutions, and individual identities (Burgett, Bruce, and Hendler, 116). In a like manner, in her article on gendered violence, Mimi Schippers notes R.W. Connell’s research on masculinity to expand this definition, implying that masculinity is central to gender relations. In short, Connell defined masculinity as “simultaneously a place in gender relations, the practices through which men and women engage… in gender, and the effects of these practices on bodily experience, personality, and culture” (Schippers, 86). Here, masculinity is classified as a social position, the set and practice

Masculinity is a term that is often associated with strength, power, control, and dominance in men. However, many texts support the claim that masculinity can be perceived as “socially constructed” and available for systematic discrepancy, similar to femininity. For example, in Michael Kimmel’s “Men, Masculinity, and the Rape Culture,” Kimmel identifies the “traditional masculinity” in which men exclusively can experience the “right to manhood” and the “dare and aggression” that is rightfully theirs (Kimmel, 142).

White, male, New York Times writer, Michael Ian Black in his article, “The Boys Are Not All Right” (Feb. 21 2018), claims that toxic masculinity and the lack of meninism to change old stereotypes of masculinity causes men to commit mass shootings. He supports his claim by first states that women are “redefining” what it means to be a woman while men have not, then by saying that there has not been a movement to help men “toward a full expression of their gender”, next by stating that men are “trapped “in “outdated… masculinity”, and finally by stating that men only have two options to “preserve” his masculinity: “withdrawal or rage”. Black’s purpose is to illuminate another causation of mass shooting that is being ignored in order to show a

The Mask You Live In is a 2015 American documentary film that covers the topic of hyper masculinity in American society and its effects on the development of boys in this country. The primary argument that this film makes is that it is highly unrealistic for men to live up to the standard of hyper masculinity that our society as created and forced upon them. In fact, the film makes the argument that men who try to live up to these standards are setting themselves up for failure because many of them fall in to deep depression as they fail to measure up to society’s skewed idea of masculinity. This film uses various interviews from many different individuals including a single father, victims of abuse, and teachers in order to support the overall claim that it is trying to make along with going into some of the effects that hypermasculinity has on boys as they grow up. Overall, I feel that this film does a fantastic job of communicating both the dangers of trying to live up to a frankly outdated model of masculinity as well as showing how unrealistic this standard of masculinity is in modern society.

Being a male in today’s society is not about living and enjoyment, it has become more of a task. Social pressures and media have made it difficult for males to live a life in which they are not being pressured to act or perform a certain way. In order to reassure themselves of their masculinity, violence has become the main method in assuring themselves and those around them that they are powerful. Not only is this violence being perpetrated against others, but self-inflicted violence also exists. The violence being used is not only physical but it is emotional abuse as well. Masculinity has forced many males to perform in ways that are detrimental to their own health as well as their loved ones. Furthermore, it has also put males in the

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

A major perpetuating factor in misinformation regarding sexual assault and rape culture is the media. Confusion about what constitutes rape leads many students to question whether or not they were a "real victim". Rape isn't always a violent crime committed by a stranger down some dark alley. It can