Masculinity Vs Femininity Analysis

To read Babio without recognizing the gender politics at work in the play would disregard much of how the play itself creates meaning. So much of the play’s plot and character dynamics are related to the way gender functions in this play. One major theme of Babio is the idea of masculinity and how masculinity is defined. Through the portrayal of Babio as an effeminate character, Babio is able to define masculinity through absences in Babio’s Character. Consequently, Babio makes the additional point that lovesickness is not an intrinsic aspect of medieval masculinity, despite the fact that love sickness is often attributed to men.

What is it to be a man? Masculinity is defined and characterized differently across cultures and time there is no “global” standard. In some cultures, being a man may mean being comfortable with both your masculine and feminine sides or it could suggest being “tough” and not letting your feelings show at all. Manliness can be demonstrated in some cultures by providing for a family through work, and in others, it might mean scoring the winning goal in a championship game. Trying to define one’s own masculinity and live up to its standards is a tough and grueling task that many men struggle with. Maintaining this masculinity is something that the male characters in both Death of a Salesman and A Raisin in the Sun are familiar with.

Masculinity is a topic that has been debated in our society extensively, through research as well as in informal settings. Many wonder what it means to be masculine, and if we can really assign a definition to such a subjective term. After all, shouldn't one's own perception be the determinant of what constitutes masculinity? This self-construction would be the ideal in our society, but unfortunately, it represents a false belief. Masculinity has certain characteristics assigned to it by our culture.

Generally, there are not as many documented physical abuse cases for men as there are for women. According to the National Domestic Violence Hotline (2014), men are less likely to seek help when it comes to physical abuse. “1 in 4 women (24.3%) and 1 in 7 men (13.8%) aged 18 and older in the United States have been the victim of severe physical violence by an intimate partner in their lifetime” (National Domestic Violence Hotline, 2014). The stigma revolving around masculinity and how society views men teaches them not to express their feelings and see themselves as victims. The common stereotype is that men are seen as the abusers and women are seen as victims, therefore men who express their feelings are seen as weak and incapable of being a “man”.

Gender identity is an extremely personal part of who we are, and how we perceive and express ourselves in the world. It is a separate issue entirely from sex or sexual orientation. There are dozens of dynamic and evolving terms related to how people identify. “Although Children are taught that their genes decree whether they will grow into men or women, people are not born socially or culturally female or male. Like race and ethnicity, gender can be thought of as socially constructed” (Marsiglia & Kulis, 2015, p. 196). I identify as female because I was taught as a child that I am female because of the genital parts I was born with. I also feel like I am a female. I do have my beliefs on what being a female or male entails.

There are a number of factors that can influence a person’s femininity / masculinity some examples of these is religion, education, peers, income and social class etc. All of these things play a role in peoples life’s. The media also play a big part of people’s femininity / masculinity as they

There is an obvious difference between a man and a woman, but it goes even deeper than biology and chromosomes. Men and woman are often seen as polar opposites, but when the genetics and physiology are set aside, the difference between masculinity and femininity is less clear. Aaron H. Devor wrote in his 1989 article, Becoming Members of Society: Learning the Social Meanings of Gender, that due to the structure of American society, “masculinity thus becomes ‘innately’ valuable and femininity serves a contrapuntal function to delineate and magnify the hierarchical dominance of masculinity” (430). Devor describes the role of femininity in current society as merely a way to put the value and superiority of masculinity into perspective. Devor

She’s the Man (2006) is a film about Viola Hastings, a girl whose passion is to simply play soccer. When her women’s team gets terminated due to lack of players, the discriminatory men’s soccer coach states, “It isn 't me talking, it’s scientific fact: girls can 't beat boys. It 's as simple as that.” Infuriated, Viola decides to impersonate her twin brother at another school in order to make the team and play soccer. She does this in order to prove that “she’s the man” and to demonstrate to the men’s coach that girls can play just as good as boys. This romantic comedy is noted for its contrasting elements between masculinity and

Masculinity-femininity measurement is tended to as a society, not an individual's trademark and alludes to the conveyance of qualities between the sexual orientation. Masculinity is the inverse of femininity; together, they form one of the measurements of national societies. The Masculinity side of this dimension represents a preference in society for achievement, heroism, assertiveness and material rewards for success. Society at large is more competitive (Geert-hofstede.com, 2010). Masculine cultures have a tendency to be goal-oriented and need to exceed expectations. In masculine societies, men are relied upon to be competitive. A society is called feminine when there is not a solid separation between the sexual orientations for passionate

‘True’ masculinity follows a rulebook that explains appropriate male behaviour, especially in contemporary media. Craig (1992) states that the media does not give permission for ‘alternative interpretations of reality’. The beer industry relies on white males to interpret the reality that they wish the public to see. The stereotype of the ‘man’s man’ is utilized to attract a mainstream, predominantly male target audience. Alternative social types – sensitive men, homosexual men, and househusbands – are excluded from these premises. Beer advertisements are thus said to be a ‘manual on masculinity’ (Craig, 1992, p78). Men are often portrayed in a group drinking beer, never alone: they are part of a membership. To become a part of that community,

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).

As mentioned by Cixous, in patriarchal binary thought male and female are differentiated by certain roles called masculine and feminine. Male has masculine characteristics that put him in a superior position over the female. In this subchapter, through Lucy’s and Peter’s characteristics, the writer of this thesis discusses the comparison between overrated Peter and underrated Lucy in patriarchal binary thought found in the story and will show how Lewis presents the different position between Peter who has feminine characteristics and Lucy who has masculine characteristics.

Although I think that a strong gender identity is necessary for a healthy and fulfilling life, I also think that that identity is developed and strengthen as we grow, as our bodies developed following the hormones direction. Intersex children are born with a sexual anatomy that does not fit the typical characterization of male or female. Their bodies and the way their hormones work is not completely female or male, because they may have both sexes living together. Sometimes their genitals look like a regular boy or a regular girl, however, their internal sex organs may not coincide with the external. On some babies, the condition is clearly identified at birth and for others, the transsexualism is not discovered until puberty.

Womanhood is often associated with femininity while manhood with masculinity. Masculinity is the idea that men are tough both physically and mentally. Femininity, a term associated with being women is used to describe a women’s comportment and attitude. A gentle individual male or female, who wears dresses, skirts, high heels, makeup, and has long hair would be identified as feminine. Unfortunately, society judges and criticizes a women who do not depict feminine characteristics. Such women are regarded as either homosexual or queer. I chose two pictures of Grace Jones to compare in this essay since she happens to be a gender bender and victim of alike persecutions. Additionally, Grace Jones is a supermodel and singer from Jamaica, who’s renowned for cross-dressing and artistic fashion styles (Williams). The picture titled, “Grace Jones/Nightclubbing,”was derived from the National Portrait Gallery,while the other from, “Essense” website, Jones demonstrates that women can be feminine or soft in one picture and masculine or hard in the other picture through her appearance.

     Very few people emit all masculine or all feminine behavior. Most people of our society integrate both feminine and masculine characteristics within their beings. The integration of both masculinity and femininity is known as androgyny. Is has become more and more accepted to be androgynous, yet few people obtain a perfect balance between masculinity and femininity. The unspoken societal rule about gender is, if one is male, one must show more masculine traits than feminine traits, or else risk the