Hypermasculinity Essay

1. In the essay “Gender Treachery: Homophobia, Masculinity, and Threatened Identities” Hopkins suggests a few ways in which homophobia can be challenged. Be specific and discuss some of the approaches that Hopkin’s puts forth for dismantling the prevalence of homophobia. What must we get rid of in order to also get rid of homophobia?

We often hear the phrase nowadays of “toxic masculinity”. Many use it but often without explanation. What exactly is toxic masculinity? Why is masculinity and the history of hypermasculinity in American culture so toxic? In American culture, there is a history of a “survival of the fittest” mentality. The strongest men are domineering and powerful, and take no nonsense from women, or progressives, or gay people. These traits are hypermasculine, an extremeness of generic masculinity, both of which should be handled with care, as masculinity itself is a fragile construct. American masculinity can be extremely toxic and dangerous to both the men themselves and the people around them. Masculinity can often be a cage to men, whom society

The definition of masculinity; Is the fact of being a man or having qualities considered typical of a man.

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?”

Tough Guise 2 is a documentary that focuses on the ways in which American culture uses videos games, movies, advertisements, and other sources of media, to force ideas about masculinity and manhood. Not only in America, but cultures across the world how high rates of “violent masculinity,” which means that men are resorting to violence in order to maintain respect and demand power. If they do not conform with societies expectations of what it is to be a man, they put themselves at risk of being shamed and no longer fitting this societal idea of “manhood”. Using gender stereotypes and schemas, as well as the gender role strain theory, I will focus on how these ideas connect with the ideas in the film, and how culture is one of the leading cause

“Tough Guise 2: Violence, Manhood & American Culture” is a bold documentary highlighting the role of masculinity as it implicates American culture. In the opening scene you are befuddled by historical and Hollywood images of violence, high tempo music, and male-driven aggression. As the narrator, Jackson Katz, details in his openings statement: whether you are recoiling from violence or celebrating it, you are doing it from the viewpoint of male-driven masculinity.

Jackson Katz is an antiviolence educator who wants to see a more honest portrayal of men and boys in our society. In the video Tough Guise, he talks about the crisis in masculinity, and how the media has created a link between violence and man hood. Katz describes men and boys as being “boxed in.” They are expected to be strong, tough, and independent, but they cannot be weak or vulnerable in any way. They are stuck in a box where they are very limited in the ways they can express themselves. He also talks about minorities and why they put on the “tough guise.” His explanation is that even men who do not have money have the ability to be “manly,” and look tough. The “tough guise” is a way for men and boys to gain respect in our society no matter their race, religion, economical background, etc. Katz believes the solution to the crisis in masculinity is for it to be socially accepted that compassion, health, and vulnerability are all apart of being a man. It will take more than physical courage to reject the strong link that

In the world people idolize the idea of the aggressive and powerful man, but this is a dangerous icon to present to children. Taken to an extreme it can cause the cycle of toxic masculinity to begin. Toxic masculinity is a dangerous set of ideals and beliefs, it provides a dangerous mindset of violent behavior to young boys, leads to anger issues, depression, and a severe urge to compensate for perceived inadequacies by the use of violence in the teenage years, can lead to an adulthood filled with violence towards family, and others, and allows the cycle to repeat.

The leading point central on the difference between opinions of Tough Guise are that forcefulness in America is overpoweringly a gendered occurrence and that any effort to comprehend violence consequently involves that we realize its link to traditional codes and beliefs of courage and manhood (Kataz, 5). Over the year’s media images has played a major role in many individuals’ behavior changed established on his or her beliefs, also on how someone thinks and acts found off on what individuals see (Kataz, 5). One the foremost point of this documentary is that regardless of widespread change of violence in American culture, it’s very encouraging that violence can be stopped. Violent masculinity is no more “natural” than media imagery. Together depend on organized routines. The assumption of this documentary amount to this: By identifying, and categorizing, masculinity which is a process, a painful repetitive built on elimination and watching, we may be able to begin to learn how to break free with the narrowing problems of masculinity.

Jenifer Siebel Newsom’s documentary, The Mask You Live In, is about the struggles young men and boys face while they are figuring out their identity in a stereotyped America. The film highlights the negative psychological and sociological implications that stem from society’s expectations of “masculinity.” According to Dr. Caroline Heldman, masculinity is defined in the U.S. as a rejection of everything feminine. American culture has classified masculinity as a strong, hardened, domineering, powerful, and controlling state of being. There are typically three lies that boys learn at a young age that plant the idea that they have to be masculine. Those lies are 1) You must have superb athletic ability and be fast and buff, 2) in order to be a “true” man, you must have

In the documentary, Tough Guise, Jackson Katz thoroughly examines and explains the relationship between pop culture and the social construction of male identities. Katz interviews several young men and asks the question, “What does it mean to be a man?” and examines how does media influences the answers the young males provided. Masculinity is defined as the possession of qualities traditionally associated with men such as aggressiveness, courage and independence. To be a ‘real’ man they must fit in a narrow box and if they do not they will be referred to as pussies, homos and bitches. In addition, he discusses how masculinity is connected to violence and how it is carried over to their children.

The "tough guise" refers to the many ways that America has created and enforced a certain set of values, behaviors, and traits as true masculinity or what makes someone "a real man". The title serves to refer to the American standard that guys should be tough as well as highlighting the depth of these standards in every level of our society, hence being a guise (aka a manner of presentation) that is strong and a challenge to break or change. This guise is created and maintained over the decades on a large scale by our culture. To begin to break down how our culture creates this guide it's easiest to view it from it's two most predominant sources, individuals and the various media that they produce. People in this country interact with one another and by doing so they influence each others thoughts and

Defining Masculinity is what this essay is about. In society, masculinity means being brave, strong, dominant, have a higher power, which is what what most men are expected to have. Most men are raised a certain way, completely different than how girls are raised. Men are brought up to be brave, to be strong, to be hard workers, to “be a man.” and take whatever is getting thrown at them.

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

According to Anthony Clare the heart of the masculinity crisis lies within the understanding of “the private and public sphere, the intimate and the impersonal, the emotional and the irrational” (Clare, 2000:212). Both men and women are both confined to their spaces and the line between the two has somewhat been blurred, thus resulting in a crisis. The way in which this line is blurred is by masculinity becoming more feminized. There have been two major shifts in masculinity over