Masculinity: Gender and Violence Essay

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

We define masculinity in a very narrow way. Masculinity becomes this hard, small cage, and we put boys inside the cage. We teach boys to be afraid of fear. We teach boys to be afraid of weakness, of vulnerability. We teach them to mask their true selves because they have to be, in Nigeria speak, ‘hard man’ (Adichie).

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

In the article entitled “The Longest War” from her 2014 book “Men Explain Things to Me”, Rebecca Solnit speaks about the issues surrounding the subject of male violence. She vehemently writes about how the plethora of male violence is being directed solely at women. She explains that a multitude of innocent women around the world are being abused by men. The amount of male violence taking place around the world is staggering; so much of it is happening everywhere. Solnit states the male gender is responsible for the deluge of violence, and that women in all parts of the world emotionally and physically suffer from it.

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

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

Being violent gives man respect and masculine credibility (Katz, 2013). The focus should be on addressing the issue of men feeling the need to be violent to be masculine. Men should not need to feel as if violence should be the answer to their problems. Much more reasonable alternate solutions can be used to mediate a situation rather than using violence. Men are raised to believe one needs to be tough to be successful and masculine. This problem will never be solved unless people become aware that masculinity is not defined by violence.

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.

Violence in masculinity is a way of life for men. It’s a way to show their manhood, how strong they are, how smart they could defend themselves, and how to protect their woman. It’s the social norm, where you see action movie glorified violence. As the article, "Dangerous Privilege: Trans Men, Masculinities, and Changing Perceptions of Safety”, said men determine their sense of safety as their social interaction with men. They author called it defensive masculinities. Men are accountable for their gender expectations by challenging the hierarchy of masculinities. This notion and practice affects men actions towards women and transgender. The articles looked at important social problems that are result in this violence masculinity. Rape culture in college campus and violence in the transgender community, are the two topic that is affected greatly by the violence of masculinity.

“Every culture in the world prescribes norms for behaviour that are assigned on the basis of sex” (Kilmartin, 1993, p. 3). Traditionally though the two main constructed genders belong to masculinity and femininity, for men “They learn to act in a ‘masculine’ way and avoid … [the] ‘un-masculine’. The social settings in which adult men find themselves tend to reinforce these standards” (Kilmartin, 1993, p. 6). Masculinity is associated with the public sphere and according to Kilmartin these traits that are reinforced by society include; dominance, competitiveness, lacks emotion, is aggressive and forceful.

Society Killer Masculinity has always been present in society; however many do not know that it is beginning to hurt the society it has so long been a part of. From substance and emotional abuse, to even death, Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe give examples of this within its society. The scary truth, which could be surprising to some is that some men tend to resort to substance abuse as a form of comfort, or escape from the society that forces masculinity on to him. An article by Kali Holloway gives evidence to support this: “Boys are more likely to have used drugs by the age of 12 than girls…”(Halloway).

from sadness to anger. This is what makes aggression something difficult to understand because it could come from anything. According to gender roles, men are known to be more aggressive then women. Men believe in showing aggressive will relate to masculinity and dominance. At times its shown that women do like being submissive towards their significant other in order to feel balanced. I found this to be sad because women have to adjust to their man in order to keep the mans ego on top. Males talk about women as if they were inanimate objects. According to O’Leary,

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

In contemporary society, hegemonic masculinity is defined by physical strength and boldness, heterosexuality, economic independence, authority over women and other men, and an interest in sexual relationships. While most men do not embody all of these qualities, society supports hegemonic masculinity within all its institutions, including the educational institute, the religious institute and other institutes which form the ideological state apparatus.

“People dominate animals, men dominate women.” Each is a relation of hierarchy, an inequality, with particularities and variations within and between them. (Cite Orange book pg. 92.) For centuries, women have been viewed and used as a man’s “property”, whether it is being used for sexual satisfaction or for the sake of bearing children and taking care of the home. Men are typically perceived as head of the household and whatever they say goes; anything to satisfy their hunger for power and control. Have women ever had a say about what they want to use their bodies for? Laws against rape may have changed over time, but men’s consistent aggressive behavior unfortunately, has not.