Guy Code And Masculinity

Kimmel exposes many believes in which society tries to establish how boys have to behave during their childhood and youth to prove that they are masculine during their adult life’s in his “Bros Before Hos” article. He states that boys have been raised to abide by certain codes, for example, “Boys don’t cry” or “Taking it like a man” to be fully functional male adults. He also states that when men try to deter from the “code” they are automatically labeled as weak or turning their backs on their own kind. Although I agree with many of the points he makes, I will have to disagree when he implies that not much has changed in the aspect of men standing up for themselves or being themselves in fear of being out casted. I

This is because the society empowered men with the power to rebuke anything that they consider to have crossed the boundaries of manhood that have been put in place by the society. Optimally, when one steps outside the definition of what the society considers to be masculine then are likely to be taunted by a barricade of insults like faggot, dork, pussy etc. These insults are often trying to take away the manhood of a person to reprimand them for going out of the confines of what is socially acceptable for men. For instance, wearing pink shirts does not make one any less of a man, but since the society has created this notion that pink is for women, men have been forced to conform, and anyone who goes against these social constrictions is considered feminine or gay. Kimmel claims that anything that is perceived as gay often goes into the Negative Playbook of Guyland. To be on the safe side of the society, one has to avoid anything that might make people question their masculinity. What Kimmel is trying to argue is that masculinity is all about conformity; one has to learn to act and behave per the societal expectations of a man. This argument further proves the fact that masculinity is a social construction in which men are forced to conform to norms and values of the society for them to be considered

In the article “Dude you’re a fag; Adolescent masculinity and the fag discourse” C.J Pascoe addresses American adolescent boys learning to become masculine through the rejection of the fag identity. Masculinity and sexuality are embedded with the word faggot. This article focuses on the challenges of the relationships between homophobia and masculinity. This article points out three arguments that focus on homophobia demonstrating that the fag is not only an identity linked to homosexual boys, but an identify that can temporarily adhere to heterosexual boys as well and highlighting the radicalized nature of the fag as a disciplinary mechanism. Homophobia is usually used to describe ways that boys aggressively tease each other, girls do not harass each other this way and they often aren’t embarrassed in the same manner. Pascoe provides examples of how the fag discourse is radicalized and that failing at the masculine tasks of competence reveals weakness and femininity with sexual identity.

In the article “Bros before Hos: The Guy Code”, by Michael Kimmel he writes about many different standards and ideals that young men must live up to, to be accepted in today’s society. The article talks about genders, at different ages sixteen to twenty six and how it is directed towards anyone that wants to know more about genders and how it can relate to masculinity and men. It was also based off of a book that he had written in the late two- thousands. According to (Kimmel) young men must live and abide, by a set of rules known as the spectacular “Guy Code”. The “Guy Code” was created to help understand why young men feel and act the way they do, and how masculinity may be perceived in their cultures. The code has been instilled into many young men around the world by their peers, family, and media at the age of four, or maybe even when a child has developed somewhat of a understanding. Being taught how to be masculine at a very young age is important to teach your child, it helps them discover who they are as a person, and who they are supposed to be perceived as, and how to find their inner virility as a young male. Kimmel also uses exemplification to help explain how the “Guy Code” is a collection of attitudes, values, and many traits that are together to help compose what it really means to be a man. The code lets us know how men are not suppose to cry, and how they are not suppose to be or act like sissies. But how men must be very

“A man is at his youngest when he thinks he is a man, not yet realizing that his actions must show it.” Was said by a famous english writer named Mary Renault.In the reading “Bros before Hoes:The Guy Code” by Michael Kimmel he explains this unwritten yet critical set of rules guys follow through out their lifetime. Society has taught young men that every gender has certain roles and to properly fulfill the role of being a man they have to abide by these rules. Kimmel calls this set of rules the guy code and it explains what guys believe what it takes to be a “man”. Kimmel goes over what the guy code is, where it comes from, and who influences young boys to follow this set of rules as well as how this guy code is regulated and enforced. In these rules it specifically states young men cannot be gay. The word gay is defined as being weak and girl like to young men. So in order to continue fulfilling the duties of a man, young men must follow these set of rules.These rules prove that young men are pressured to offer constant proof that they are not gay.

Pascoe discusses how masculinity can function as a regulatory mechanism of gender in American adolescent boys. It has been found that the word ‘fag’ is not necessarily directed at a homosexual boy, but has taken on a new meaning in school age boys. It is being used as a disciplinary mechanism to police certain behaviors “out of fear of having the fag identity permanently” (Pascoe p.330). This kind of teasing and harassment can temporarily be place on any boy who shows signs of weakness or femininity. The high schoolers in the study told Pascoe that calling someone a fag was like telling them they were nothing or stupid (Pascoe p. 335). Boys could be called a fag for anything that he did that was opposite of masculine, even when it had nothing to do with his sexual preference. The fag discourse seemed to be just another way for the contest of masculinity to take

The myth that boys in today’s society are encouraged to follow this “Guy Code” in order to be accepted amongst their peers, friends and family members can cause great emotional side effects. In “Bros Before Hos”: The Guy Code” by Michael Kimmel, he did a survey amongst college campuses and the question was simple “what is a man?” and the responses were pretty predictable. A few phrases stood out amongst this “Real Guys Top Ten List”: “ Boys Don’t Cry”, “Size Matters” and “Take It Like A Man” (Kimmel 462). All these phrases feed into this myth that men are to be aggressive and strong at all times. This “Guy Code” that is spoken of is a gathering of values, attitudes and traits that describe what a man is to be (Kimmel 462). Boys in todays day

This is the principle argument, Masculinity as Homophobia. That is, to be a genuine man is to abstain from being female in any capacity. On the off chance that it's female to cry, show apprehension, or think about the way you look, then any man who does that is seen as unmanly and prone to have their man card pulled.

In Michael Kimmel’s non-fiction academic book chapter: “Bros Before Hos: The Guycode” is an excerpt from his critically acclaimed book Guyland released in 2008, that addresses the ideals and fundamentals of where masculinity stems from and society’s direct effect on young men and the creation of the modern day masculine male. Michael Kimmel’s combination of credible resources, informative personal research, and real-life personal narratives that help to establish and support his strong and feasible argument, of societies effect on male masculinity, that readers alike can relate to and understand.

In Kimmel’s article, the purpose is to inform young men that the “Guy Code” is not the way to prove masculinity, and can be dangerous in doing so (Kimmel 483). Kimmel presents to his readers that society’s understanding of man-hood is foolish through various interviews with different guys (Kimmel 479). One interview Kimmel did was with Mike, a 20 year old at Wake Forest (Kimmel 479). Mike says, “My older brothers were always on my case, calling me a pussy if I didn’t want to play football or wrestle (par 10).” Through listening and understanding Mike's interview one could find it offensive the way his brothers were calling him a “pussy” just because he did not want to play football or wrestle, which

In the article “Bros Before Hos” Michael Kimmel addresses the guy “rules” that society pressures men to follow. Explaining the four main rules of masculinity “No sissy stuff, Be a big wheel, Be a sturdy oak, Give em hell”(Page 610). Kimmel argues that society has set guy code requirements for boys to become men. In addition, Kimmel mentions the completion of masculinity between males. Kimmel says that “the lowest degrading thing you can say to a man when you’re battling him is to call him a faggot and try to take away his manhood”( Page 612). He states that society tells us that males aren't men unless they have their masculinity, so men degrade other men’s sexaulity inorder to feel masculine. Kimmel concludes that guy code rules are disconnecting boy’s from their emotions and cause boy’s to be prone to “depression, suicidal behavior, and various other forms out of control or out of touch

To read Babio without recognizing the gender politics at work in the play would disregard much of how the play itself creates meaning. So much of the play’s plot and character dynamics are related to the way gender functions in this play. One major theme of Babio is the idea of masculinity and how masculinity is defined. Through the portrayal of Babio as an effeminate character, Babio is able to define masculinity through absences in Babio’s Character. Consequently, Babio makes the additional point that lovesickness is not an intrinsic aspect of medieval masculinity, despite the fact that love sickness is often attributed to men.

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).

     The well-known concepts of masculinity and femininity run rampant in our society. We live in a world where men are told to be masculine, women are told to be feminine and those who do not do as they are told, will suffer the societal consequences.

Masculinity and femininity are unescapeable. We are taught how to be masculine or feminine from birth but for men, the highest form of masculinity achievable is hegemonic masculinity. In this essay, I will define hegemonic masculinity, discuss how it perpetuates homophobia by restricting the way men interact with one another and by the use of the word fag, and how it perpetuates gender inequality through the expectations of violence, no emotions, and being breadwinners.