Masculinity In 'The Terminator'

These factors constitute what Kimmel defines as "the central themes of American manhood at the turn of the century that masculinity was increasingly an act, a form of public display; that men felt themselves on display at virtually all times; and that the intensity of the need for such display was increasing" (Furumota).

The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines the word Masculine as “Male: having qualities appropriate to or usually associated with a man” (Merriam-Webster). While another source, the popular comedic Urban Dictionary, presents a more satirical definition of the word Masculine, "Often defined as aggressive, strong, and unfeeling or stoic. Being masculine means in modern times, at least, no shows of emotion, no flamboyance, no hugging or even looking at other men, must be interested in sports and physical/violent activity” (Urban Dictionary). Obviously the Urban Dictionary is a comedic source and should not hold the same weight as the definition that comes from the academic source of Merriam-Webster, but the truth that is within the comedy, the absurd structure of what a man should be, is brought out into the light. A question many before us and many after us have and will attempt to answer is how is masculinity defined? The unfortunately anticlimactic answer to this is that masculinity is simply what a man chooses to do. In a world of both gender inequity and rapidly shifting gender roles, the term masculinity is becoming more and more simple in definition. In a video made by the Huffington Post to show how modern men described the word masculine, most used dominant diction such as “power,” “dominance,” “strong,” and “alpha” (Genuske). It wasn 't long ago when the word Presidential was synonym to masculine, but with the upcoming 2016 election and the first female to run for a

Through the movement of history gender roles of Men and Women have been extremely varied. From the standards, expectations, to the work or home place there was a difference. Women were looked at as less than a men , the intellectual individual. Being a male was the greatest things they could be and their masculinity was their greatest pride. In the 1930’s the era of the Great Depression took presence. The man’s role in the depression was much more refined in this era. Most views of a man in the 1930 's were of a strong, hard working man who supplied the needs of his family. While the men were at work, women mostly stayed home to take care of the children according to To Kill a Mockingbird research hub. In the novel Of Mice and Men we can see how an unlikely pair of two men make their journey during the era of the Great Depression trying to make a stake to own their own land, but unfortunate events take place. As the novel takes action we can see how men exhibiting their masculinity, how they demonstrate their masculinity, and how women are irrelevant, and only used for pleasure. Masculinity is used as a roles you have to play right. From Curley’’s history to being a boxer he still was not respected but that what drove him to try to make himself more respectable. His action didn 't quite often work and did the opposite, he was the laughing stock to the man in the ranch.

This research looks at the association of masculinity with violence, racism, power and the objectification of women, which has been around since early civilization. This study also shows how these concepts are still evident today in the media. Masculinity in the media is portrayed as muscular, violent, angry, aggressive, dominant, and warrior like. The rhetoric in media, as it relates to masculinity, has influenced the amount of violence in the world.

Masculinity has changed and evolved since the beginning of human creation. Males have had to adhere to the social norms of their time to survive without undue persecution. In the beginning of the 19th century, there was a shift in the way men could attain manhood. It was no longer easy for a man to enter into manhood with straightforward expectations and rituals. The state of manhood became difficult to obtain because of its precarious nature. During the same period, the industrial revolution was in full bloom giving birth to mass information outlets like newspapers, magazines, and advertisement: media. This set a prevailing state where boys and men alike could gain material on how to become or be men

Throughout history, men and women have been viewed in utterly different spheres. Men have been, and still are, believed to be the hard working individual who is in charge of “bringing home the bacon” and supporting the household finically. On the other hand, women are expected to have little to say, the house spotless, supper on the table, the children bathed, fed, in bed, and educated, all while maintaining a flawless hairdo and makeup. These stereotypes seem a bit offensive nowadays, but if you really consider it, it has been and most likely will be this way for our entire existence.

In the media we see today, and movies that are continually coming out all have a central idea in common. They all show and represent the idealistic perspective of male versus female in society. From cartoons to chick flicks to romances and comedies we notice identifiable differences and trends represented between the two genders. In the movie I watched, “Clueless,” there are many examples illustrating male superiority over female, ideas of what femininity should be, and female appeal towards the male figures in the film.

Masculinity Throughout time, men and women have had specific assigned roles that they play in society. Though these gender roles are very specific they have changed some over the period of time. Masculinity has changed throughout the Renaissance, Restoration and the Eighteenth Century period. The most altering time for Masculinity is from the Restoration period to the Eighteenth Century period, when the Scientific Revolution really became prosperous.

Starting in the 19th century, men had an increasing pressure to prove their masculinity. In order to support themselves and their families, American men’s desire to prove masculinity came at the cost of minorities, women, and even man’s own personal happiness. This restlessness of being a

While Ripley manages to use the technology, machinery and weaponry to defeat the aliens, she tries to be as inventive and resourceful as possible to distinguish herself from the militarised approach of the marines. And so when the marines start to be wiped out one by one by the aliens, Ripley decides to take on a leadership role because no one would listen to her at first and doesn’t want to feel responsible for any more deaths. At this point in the film, she destroys any fantasy version or perception of what men want in women. We fully now know how Ripley is a person. She is pushy, aggressive, rude, injured, suffering from PTSD, doesn't wear makeup, tired, smart, motherly, angry, empathetic, and determined to save others, even at great cost to herself which makes her character all the more heroic and masculine as a majority of these attributes hold connotations with masculinity.

Women have always taken a back seat to men in American society. There has always seemed to be one set of standards that apply to men, and another set of standards that apply to women. This is evident in the home, workplace, and all throughout society.

I like that this reading provided history of hegemonic masculinity and provided the theories of the ever changing term. Something that stood out to me was the idea that, we need to distinguish between "patriarchy and gender" (Holter, 1997,2003). I think that a lot of people to connect the two terms, we I think of patriarchy I think of power over the female gender. When it's slightly more than that. I think that men conform to masculinity and all of the socially constructed attributes just as much as women conform to femininity. I feel that once we drop the image of the ideal man or woman the issues of masculinity and femininity won't be as big of an issue. The two attributes seem to be directly linked to heterosexual attraction. Once our society stops selling this idea of attractiveness in a fixed category in media we can start shaping our own ideas. And there will be more room for people to be non

America has had a historically dominant patriarchal system with a particular type of man in charge: the white, heterosexual, male, who until the 60s-70s had yet to be challenged in his birthright claim to authority and status. These men believed they were superior to anyone who didn’t have the same characteristics as they did. Because of these societal norms, men believed that they were above their female colleagues and women often

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