Masculinity In Society

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).

Patriarchy is a social system where men dominate and govern most of the world’s economical, educational, familial, health, political, and religious systems. This political social system that insists that males are inherently dominating, superior females, has been taking it toll on different demographics. To maintain dominance, men exude their sensitive, inferior “masculinity” through various forms of psychological control, manipulation, violence, and terrorism. The subservient role-playing woman has to orchestrate to patriarchal chime by being nurturing, obedient, passive, and weak

These are the standards that men and women are held to in many Indian cultures. However, from the view of western audiences there is a lack of parity

The behavior of men towards women in a patriarchal society is described by Manju when she describes society in India by stating, “In Indian society stress is given to create female persona for different stages, docile daughters, chase and obedient wives and sacrificing mothers. The only domain ascribed to female is to fit in this good daughter, good wife and good mother criteria. Husband and wife are considered soul mates. But man assumes himself superior to woman, and he never tries to create emotional bonding with his wife, to understand her wishes or act according to her consent” (234). The rest of this paper will analyze the effects that male dominance had on the women.

Women’s need to conform to cultural discrimination under the pressure of society and family to choose boys over girls contributes to the beginning of the gendercide cycle. The violence against females never stops; it is a constant battle against females throughout their lives. There are many causes of this violence that create a never ending cycle. One of the major causes is cultural discrimination. In Indian culture, the boy is valued more than a girl mainly “because parents look to their sons to support them in old age” rather than their daughters (FAQ). According to tradition, once daughters are married, “they do not care for their own parents, but rather their husbands’ parents” (ibid). Therefore, society sees more value in a male over a female. A male can support his family more than

that they have responded to an erosion of public and domestic patriarchy with a renewal of masculine entitlement. Kimmel (2005: 418) claims:

When it comes to gender studies, the term of hegemonic masculinity is generally used to describe a theory of male dominance in society and culture. By exploring gender roles and its interplay with race and class, hegemonic masculinity seeks to explain how men have historically maintained a position of dominance in society, and why such dominance has been successfully maintained. Hegemonic masculinity has been historically maintained around the world, in different cultures, in a wide variety of ways. Historically, for example, denying women legal rights, or more brutal methods such as domestic violence or female circumcision and rape, were all tools that were part of maintaining this particular hegemony. It is important to note that hegemonic

The culture in India has changed dramatically throughout the history of India. Women who were once put on pedestals, worshipped for their ‘Motherly” ways. Now they have a status that hardly holds them above the fine line, a line that decides if you hold your basic human rights or not. Women are a trade in this country. Young women, who are taking the foremost brunt of this brutality, are forced into marriages to uphold status in a community, raped, and stripped of their rights, this including education. With no respect for women in this country, it is easy to see how men would think that a women is a commodity, not a person.

Toxic masculinity is a gender construct that asks men to find agency or power in violence and strength, rather than softness, for example (Samantha Melamed, 2017). It is one of the most damaging effects of the patriarchal system our society has. It pushes men to be “the man” the society expects them to be.

In India, the women are controlled almost completely by the men in their families. They also have to pay a lot of respect to the men in their culture in general. The women must follow the

In the past Britain used to be a patriarchal society, however, now it is hypothetically equal. The gender-role identity is the extent of masculine or feminine self-appreciation of an individual (McNeill & Petersen, 1985, cited in Fromme & Eccles, 1996). Masculinity and femininity described by Deaux (1984) as personal characteristics, activities, behaviours, dispositions, appearances which are acceptable for males or females and established by sociocultural factors, while sex refers only to the physiological dissimilarities. Per biological supposition, gender is fully defined by biology, particularly, by the physiology (work of the nervous system) and inheritance (genetic factor) (McLeod, 2014). On contrast, psychodynamic paradigm primarily focused on conscious and unconscious stimuli within the individual and psychosexual development with an emphasis on early childhood experiences, like the main factor of gender formation (Brannon, 2016). In this essay, biological psychological approach to the formation of an individual’s gender role identity compared with the psychodynamic approach.

Men and Masculinity (2001) is a collection of works that demonstrates how men’s actions and traits are constructed and influenced by cultural perceptions of masculinity and structures of gender. The selections are able to enumerate on the various roles and that men are given and the relationships that they partake in.

“Violent, aggressive, forceful, assertive, hateful, arrogant, and stubborn” (Carranza 1-2) are all descriptions often identified as masculine. Traditional masculinity often has a negative connotation when discussed in today 's social environment and is said to have no place within the current era of sensitivity and acceptance. Although it may be accurate that some men can and are perceived as hateful and abusive people this isn 't the case for all men. Some of the traits that seem to be the most negative in today’s culture, can be very beneficial traits for people to aspire to have and cultivate, not to eradicate.

Our society refuses to give men a chance to be themselves and to be connected with their families. Society’s roles have been described by Mahler as “in our culture, the values associated with masculinity require that male children renounce their ties to the mother and reject dependence and neediness” (23). Society’s expectation about a man is to be independent and self-sufficient. Men has to hide to all their emotions and suffer, because the society wants the men to be strong, mentally and physically. Often time, men never understands the pain that their family go through because of their disconnection with their family. As a society, we have to accept the fact that men don’t have to live certain lifestyle to prove their manliness. To make changes in the life of men, our society needs to redefine the male role.

The definition of masculinity is socially and culturally dynamic, that is to say that through society and culture, ones interpretation of masculinity may not be the same as another. With media and popular culture at the forefront, they are constantly (re)creating and (re)defining what masculinity is and what it should be. As the East and West are very culturally diverse, it is evident and also expected that the differences in their societies and cultures will also influence the perceptions of masculinity in those countries. It is arguable that in modern society, Asian males compared to Western males have been perceived as being weaker and feminine due to the different values enforced and emphasised along with the influence of certain entities