Masculinity And Masculinity, By Michael Kimmel Essay

This is called gender socialization, which exaggerates sexual differences physically, experimentally, academically, and psychologically. Most parents are unaware that they play such a large role in creating a male or female child. But they are the first and one of the largest influences on their child. When parents have a female child she is viewed as sweet and gentle. The parents will even hold their daughter closer than they would a son. As they grow older boys are encouraged to explore while girls are kept closer to their parents. They are taught different approaches to many different problems in life. They may not realize it but through their interactions with their children they are encouraging their children to grow into a certain type of person based on their gender. The toys they are introduced to are even gender-based. Toys for males encourage them to develop such abilities of spatial perception, creativity, competition, aggression, and constructiveness. Toys for girls encouraged creativity, nurturance, and attractiveness. Children’s rooms and clothing are specific color: girls are pink and boys are blue. Girls often wear dresses and skirts that limit their physical activity. These types of influences at such an early age lay a foundation for the child’s personality. By the time they reach school age they already have a sense of being male or female. In school peers and teachers enforce these differences even further. (Lips, 1979,

Over time there has been a change in gender success throughout education “coming into the late 1980’s girls were less likely than boys to obtain one or more A-levels and were less likely to go on to higher education however 1990 's there was a sudden reversal girl were doing better than boys and In 2006 10% more females were obtaining 2 or more A-levels than males (Trueman,2016)”. In today’s society feminist’s doubt that the topic in school want girls to achieve less like the model also considers that gender stereotyping may still be in society as boys are believed to fit better in the workforce than girls. The distinction between girls and boys are often sketched on sex and ideas of biology Dr Zuleyka mention that “Sex are the biological traits that societies use to assign people into the category of either male or female, whether it be through a focus on chromosomes, genitalia or some other physical ascription." (Zevallos), Gender does not depend on biological personality it is an idea that describes how societies determine and manage sex categories also determined by what an individual feels and does. Girls are more conscientious and mature while boys are seen as a liability student. A parent who spends less time reading to their son impact their son to achieve a lower grade. Many jobs tend to be dominated by one gender for example nursing which is seen as a female job. Girls do consistently better than boys at all levels and likely to get higher grades

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

Using a combination of interviews, stories, and sociological historical insight, Michael Kimmel’s Guyland offers a descriptive theory of the ever changing social construction and performance of typical masculinity in mainstream North American youth culture. A large number of young men, Kimmel argues, currently live within the combined developmental stage and social space of “Guyland”: a world colored by its party of camaraderie, sex outside marriage, conformity, consumption, and irresponsibility. Kimmel researches these values through the various aspects of young men’s social environments and discusses the impact that Guyland has on their lives and the lives of those around them. Specifically, Kimmel argues that Guyland’s conformist, misogynist,

Aaron Devor’s essay “Becoming Members of Society: Learning the Social Meanings of Gender” describes how gender and sex are not directly related unlike popular belief and how social norms affect individual’s choice of gender. Devor ‘s main argument that gender is not determined by genitalia but by the individuals own choices. Michael Kimmel’s essay “Masculinity as Homophobia” claims that gender equality is a positive thing for males and that social norms force men to act a certain way. Kimmel main argument is that men are always having to protect their masculinity otherwise they will look weak. Even though both essays argue for gender equality they attack the issue in different ways. Kimmel’s essay is the stronger argument for gender equality

In Saul Kaplan’s The Plight of Young Males, he brings to light the fact that as women have progressively become more equal in the eyes of society, men have begun to dwindle. Kaplan offers a range of statistics proving how men are now in turn sliding down the equality scale. He first says that even though males comprise 51% of 18-24 year olds, only about 40% of today’s college students are male. He also says that women are achieving higher academic honors than men than ever before by dominating high school honor rolls and nearly ¾ of the time being class valedictorian (Kaplan 733). These statistics further prove that genders are unbalanced, only this time offering evidence that it’s unbalanced in favor of women.

“When I 'm talking to groups that are all men”, said Gloria Steinem, writer and political activist, “we talk about how the masculine role limits them. They often want to talk about how they missed having real fathers, real loving, present fathers, because of the way that they tried to fit the picture of masculinity” (Steinem). This particular idea of masculinity is a much more modern interpretation that has changed drastically over the centuries. Masculinity used to be defined as a male who was a man’s man that exemplified President Theodore Roosevelt’s idea of pulling one’s self up by the bootstraps. Over the years, especially in literature, the evolution of masculinity can be directly traced through careful and considerate evaluation and analysis. As we explore the evolution of masculinity, the key elements to fully understand include what exactly it means to be a man, how this concept has changed over time, and what it means to be a man in today’s society.

“Be a man”, is a commonly used phrase that hold multiple assumptions about the idealized masculinity. The connotations for this phrase oozes ruggedness, toughness, and apathy. Similar themes were discussed in the article, “Masculinity as Homophobia” by Michael Kimmel. The author discusses the characterization of masculinity and its social implications.

Boys and Girls learn to become masculine and feminine through constructing their perceptions of what it means to be male or female from the social context they live in and incorporate this into their individual identity (Paechter, 2007).

The notion of hegemonic masculinity has altered the field of gender studies and many academic arenas. An idea popularized by R.W. Connell, hegemonic masculinity has played an integral role in the emotional development of American men, articulating the impact that this societal construction has had on the concept of American masculinity. It is a contested topic, yet the impacts that it has in terms of sexuality, struggles for power and political leadership, and gender identities are valid (Connell 830). Although difficult to fully achieve, it acts as a guiding force for the stereotypically masculine. Hegemonic masculinity assumes the subordination of all other forms of masculinity, placing it at the top of the social hierarchy. At the same time, the idea of hegemonic masculinity has served as a bridge between the growing field of men’s’ studies and female studies (Connell 829). Several authors share the premise that men in American society conform to the standards of the social construct of hegemonic masculinity.

Contemporary Society's Crisis of Masculinity Works Cited Not Included Masculinity is the word used to describe the broad stereotyped traits traditionally ascribed to all males in British society and the notion of how men should appear and behave. It is more accurate to refer to 'masculinities', to reflect the complexity and diversity of masculinity today. There are important differences made between 'hegemonic' and 'subordinate' masculinities; hegemonic masculinity is the dominant western image - white, heterosexual and middle class, subordinate the diverse masculinities - homosexual men, black men and the working class. David Beckham is a modern icon who has expressed and challenged some of the

We learn feminine and masculine behavior as a kid. Diana Reay studies when and where we learn about feminine behavior. In one her studies, 14 girls’ narratives are used to understand the development of gender identity in elementary school. The study is mainly based on interviews and observation. According to the girls were subdivided into groups by boys and girls themselves: nice girls, girlies, spice girls, tomboys. Each category shows different degree of femininity. I think tomboys were well respected than any other group, so it can be said they had the highest status in class.

The concept of masculinity and attempts at its definition in the previous decades has been continuously re-evaluated and critique by many (Connell, 1995; Kimmel, 1987; Morgan, 1992). However, the challenges to masculinity have come from a number of different social and economic forces including rationalisation o f the work force, the women’s movement and women’s entry to the work sphere and also unemployment. Arising from these challenges came a certain crisis of masculinity where traditional and previously unproblematic notions o f masculinity were now being seen as problematic(Page,

Scholars of Masculinity Studies analyse the emotional lives of men using various theories to show how masculinities are socially constructed and how men are expected even compelled, to behave in specific situations. Social conditioning, which encourages women to adopt certain codes of conduct, also compels men to behave in certain ways, such as, being the breadwinners of the family or accepting the taboo against emotional expressions of sorrow, love or tenderness. Male experiences of these taboos are not uniform but diverse and can produce different outcomes. The male characters as extensions of the broader social, political and cultural concerns of their particular context become sites for complex constructions of masculine identity especially

Although in Western culture expectations of gender have changed, there are still gender expectations that exist within Western cultures. Women are still expected to be the caregivers, soft, and weak while Men are expected to be strong and powerful. Instead of families letting their children pick what they want to play with, “they give girls baby dolls to play with to enhance maternal and caring feelings and give boys sporting equipment which emphasizes feelings of power, aggressiveness, and leadership” (Moet 1). Children associating themselves with these activities foreshadows what their future holds for them. These early gender preparations influence the children's understanding to strongly develop that role. These traits become robotic to children and influence the ‘normal’ gender identity for a particular sex and how to behave as a male or a female. Educationally, Western culture engages in believing that boys are better at math. Western society places a heading on women that their educational values are being a wife and mother which deemphasize their intellectual abilities. Unfortunately, young women engaging in getting an education feel turned down because they fall into the trap of believing boys are better at math than girls which causes them to achieve lower math scores. The discouragement does not come from “boys are better than girls at math but because boys think they are better at math” (Davis 3). Young women are beginning to question whether they have the