Masculinity Essay

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,

Kimmel’s Bros Before Hos: The Guy Code investigates the complicated social environment in which young males are anticipated to prepare for manhood based upon considerable sociological inquiries conducted from Kimmel himself. His main argument institutes what was formerly a comparatively definite and direct transition for males to experience boyhood to manhood has become much more perplexing and sophisticated. In his revealing chapter, Bros Before Hos: The Guy Code, Michael S. Kimmel examines and determines the adversities young men endure through daily, from the standards society place upon them in deeming what a man is. These principles dictate how masculinity is sown into a man from the anxiety of being ostracized as well as being perceived a feeble individual instead of naturally behaving in this manner. In addition, through Kimmel’s analysis on both the causes and the effects of this extended state of adolescence, they can be particularly influential to male connotations for connections between family members, fellow adults and peers, and personal achievements.

It is generally accepted that when children reach adolescent, they become sometimes aggressive. This aggression can cause arguments at home with parents or bullying at school. The formation of aggressive behaviors is probably due to the fighting for more independence as the person transitions from being a child to an adult. In the article, “Dude You’re a Fag: Adolescent Discourse Masculinity and Fag Discourse” by CJ Pascoe, Pascoe explains that adolescent boys police their masculinity by increasing homophobia among themselves. Pascoe argues that development of adolescent masculinity and sexuality are directly connected and intertwined with homophobia. To prove his point Pascoe conducted a study in a high school, where he interviewed 49 (36

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

This further supports that idea that masculinity is defined as a barbaric and mindless standard that young boys must meet otherwise they are seen as different and are out of place just as Theroux has stated. Moreover, Walker expresses her concerns as she is aware of the standards that have been set and are a burden to young boys: “It occurred to me that my son was being primed for war, was being prepared to pick up a gun. The first steps were clear: Tell him that who he is authentically is not enough; tell him that he will not be loved unless he abandons his own desires and picks up a tool of competition; tell him that to really be of value he must stand ready to compete, dominate, and, if necessary, kill, if not actually then vir­tually, financially, athletically.” (Walker). She sees that boys are being primed to follow a path that is seen as masculine and is a normality for males.

As I reflect on Pollack’s (2002) three myths about boys, I note the stereotypes associated with these myths and my awareness of male stereotypes. One myth states that a boy’s behavior is controlled by the nature of testosterone (2002), and “where there is testosterone there is aggression, and where there is aggression there is violence, or at least its potential” (2002, p. 89). Thus, by accepting this myth as truth, society stereotypes a boy’s violent behavior as the norm (Wong, 1992). For example, one of my students was displeased with his grade on an exam. He rebuffed my explanation for his grade and was verbally abusive to me during class. I reported the incident to the student services administrator. Unfortunately, the administrator did not dismiss him from my class and expressed the sentiment that boys will be boys (Pollack, 2002). Hence, this stereotypical, aggressive behavior was acceptable to and went unpunished by the administrator. Although his return to class was uneasy for me, I later learned that some of my male students became my allies and discussed the assailing student’s behavior with him (Katz, 2013), which illustrates the male stereotype of insensitivity (Pollack, 2002) does not hold true.

The article that I will be examines is “Booty call sex, violence, and images of black masculinity” by Patricia Hill Collins. The author has examined the black experience and how the media misrepresents black men; these effects are still felt in the present. Collins was using different forms of media such as sport, film, and historic events. To help the readers to learn where hyper sexuality, violet, and criminal stereotypes of black male come from.

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

Why are men so sensitive when it comes to their masculinity? This question came to me when I began reading the introduction of this section on sex. I believe that men are pushed into a social stereotype just like women are. They are told how to act, when to cry, and when to be tough from a very young age. These traits are not only bestowed upon them by their parents, but by movies, music and government of the past and present.

Capraro wanted researchers and readers of his work to see where the competition of masculinity began. In society, most men start their masculinity training very young. The family is usually where their first lesson is taught. This lesson is usually taught by a male or father figure within the home. In conclusion masculinity is heavily influenced by society and achieved during college years of life for

I found an African-American female sitting in the student center on the phone right by the glass window by the pool area. She has on blue jeans and a black shirt, black and white van shoes on. She keeps smiling while she twirls her hair, it looks like she is talking to her boyfriend. She got up and walked out the door by the game area. I walked to the gym that’s right for the student center desk, I notice a Caucasian male and female playing volleyball each other, I sat down on the bleachers with my basketball and watched how they talked to each other to see if they were dating, friends maybe even brother or sisters. The male spiked the ball and the girl giggled and blushed real hard; right then I had the assumption that the two were neither dating or brothers or sister they were just in the talking stage.

Sanchaiyata Majumdar Interrogating ‘masculinity’ in female characters of Garcia Marquez’s One Hundred Years of Solitude Masculinity is a common theme in Latin American literature. The same is true about the works of Garcia Marquez. Machismo and patriarchy are subthemes of several of his creations, including his masterpiece, One Hundred Years of Solitude. However, theorists such as J. Hearn and A. Petersen have argued that the concept of masculinity is blurred.

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

Researchers have been documenting the disturbing rates of sexual assault in post-secondary environments for nearly 30 years. It has become a growing concern within university and college settings. According to the Ontario Women’s Directoire, sexual violence is “any violence, physical or psychological, carried out through sexual means or targeting sexuality”, and includes harassment, abuse, assault and rape (2013, p.3). In spite of the fact that all genders experience sexual violence, findings conclude that women are most likely to be victims, while men are most often the perpetrators (Ontario Women’s Directoire, 2013). Rape culture is embedded in our society, and unfortunately this influences university culture. Rape culture has lead to sexual

From race, religion, cultural, sexual and gender; we are currently viewing one of the biggest society changes in our time (Chalfant and Roper, 1980). Exploring gender, our perceptions of gender and sex currently we have the opportunity to observe of the people within a public social settings such as a restaurant. Drinking has always been more prevalent among males than among females. Some suggest that the meaning of public drinking is to express a form of masculinity. Drinking was found to symbolize the embodiment of hegemonic masculinity. The ability of the body to tolerate alcohol and the relevance of drinking too little or not drinking at all is viewed as weakness, homosexuality or femininity (Holloway, S. L., Valentine, G., & Jayne, M. (2009).