Michael Kimmel On Masculinity

Kimmel exposes many believes in which society tries to establish how boys have to behave during their childhood and youth to prove that they are masculine during their adult life’s in his “Bros Before Hos” article. He states that boys have been raised to abide by certain codes, for example, “Boys don’t cry” or “Taking it like a man” to be fully functional male adults. He also states that when men try to deter from the “code” they are automatically labeled as weak or turning their backs on their own kind. Although I agree with many of the points he makes, I will have to disagree when he implies that not much has changed in the aspect of men standing up for themselves or being themselves in fear of being out casted. I

In Michaels Kimmel's article, Bros before Hos: The guy code. Kimmel is a professor at of the state university of New York. He identifies the key components of how masculinity is formed, in American society. Kimmel analyzes how the guy code implies to the development of a young child to a grown man and how the ideal man should be shaped. He explains how this idealistic ranges to the ages of sixteen through twenty-six. Kimmel starts off in the article addressing the problem he sees and four main rules of masculinity, based on the findings of a psychologist, Robert Brannon. Kimmel enforces how the guy code can create emotion barriers for men to show emotion because of the renfecomnet of society and the difficulty of not breaking the code’s rules.

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.

In Guyland, Michael Kimmel chronicles the journey of young males and the issues they face while trying to exert their masculinity and prove themselves to their peers. Based on interactions among North American males between the ages of 16 and 26, Kimmel has found that at an age where young men had previously prepped for a life of work and committed relationships, they are now living in “Guyland” where they spend their time drinking, playing video games, and having immature relations with women. Kimmel explains that these young men are “frighteningly dependent on peer culture” and “desperate to prove their masculinity in the eyes of other boys.” (30) These young men live in constant fear that they will not measure up to the ideals of

Although both authors center their arguments arounds the male gender, they both address gender different. In Kimmel’s essay, he exposes the fear that many men have possess through mostly institutions (i.e. society/culture, family, education, and

It is proposed by Kimmel that there is a deviance from the normal growth of males into adults and it has shown a growing deviance for several decades. The attitude of youth before adulthood appears to be prolonged within certain groups of young men in present society. There is no clear standard on what it means to become a man. There is also no set belief in what is means to be masculine . The outcome of varying opinions and beliefs on the matter creates a void where males are stuck between boyhood and manhood. The males found in this social arena lack most responsibility that their counterparts are beginning to have. Due to this attitude and way of thinking, these boys are able to disregard the traditional sense of work and relationships.. There is an adoption of the “boys will be boys” belief that creates a timeline for boys to excuse certain behaviors. What Kimmel refers to as “guy land” in reality is a time and place that it’s inhabitants can use and abuse substances in a social setting and also have promiscuous sex without the care for consequences..

Chase Ross, a twenty-six-year-old transgender male, creates YouTube content focused on promoting LGBT issues along with educating LGBT youth. His content deals primarily with transgender informative videos, most being for transgender men, and he works as a major educator within the community. His stance on how he used to bind within his life demonstrates the power of the structures of masculinity in addition to how the habitus creates guidelines which those who bind must follow, while also depicting an internal rejection of his own initial habitus of being socialized female in favor of identifying as male, thus creating a new set of structures.

Aaron Devor’s essay “Becoming Members of Society: Learning the Social Meanings of Gender” describes how gender and sex are not directly related unlike popular belief and how social norms affect individual’s choice of gender. Devor ‘s main argument that gender is not determined by genitalia but by the individuals own choices. Michael Kimmel’s essay “Masculinity as Homophobia” claims that gender equality is a positive thing for males and that social norms force men to act a certain way. Kimmel main argument is that men are always having to protect their masculinity otherwise they will look weak. Even though both essays argue for gender equality they attack the issue in different ways. Kimmel’s essay is the stronger argument for gender equality

In the introduction of Angry White men by Michael Kimmel focuses on how masculinity has been constructed among white men for the majority of history. This is especially shown through the myth of the self-made man. The self-made man myth is basically saying that a man has made himself who he is through his own efforts. For example a person is born into a family who is extremely poor and as he grew up he started a business and made millions. I think that this myth is saying that people can change who they are if they work and fight hard to change the situation they are in. This myth or theory is said to leave men in a consistent state of restlessness. Kimmel says that the anxiety caused by the restlessness and the myth has turned the people

Despite the transgender population’s small size, more people identify as transgender now than in any previously recorded time period. This is largely due to social movements that aim to improve upon and normalize LGBT experiences. As it becomes more common to think outside of traditional gender roles and the Western gender binary, more individuals discover that they do not psychologically conform to the genders they are assigned at birth and instead seek to make social and physical transitions that better align with their chosen gender identity. For many, the decision to transition is partly due to gender dysphoria, a feeling of unease in one’s body because it does not match their gender identity. This discomfort can be severe enough to cause

Masculinity is a term that is often associated with strength, power, control, and dominance in men. However, many texts support the claim that masculinity can be perceived as “socially constructed” and available for systematic discrepancy, similar to femininity. For example, in Michael Kimmel’s “Men, Masculinity, and the Rape Culture,” Kimmel identifies the “traditional masculinity” in which men exclusively can experience the “right to manhood” and the “dare and aggression” that is rightfully theirs (Kimmel, 142).

Bird’s article breaks masculinity into three components that include emotional detachment, competitiveness, and sexual objectification of women. These three

Masculinity refers to the possession of character traits which are usually associated with men. Masculinity is also referred to as manhood, boyhood or manliness. Examples of character traits which are traditionally cited as masculine include characters such as courage, the fact or state of being independent, and confident and forceful behavior. Through masculinity, it has become almost self-evident that the state of either being a man or woman has become impossible to disentangle in the process of development. The human growth report suggested that if human growth is not gendered, it is therefore endangered, which a report that was sent in 1955 talks about. (Connell, pg.2). The involvement of establishing new ideas or methods of feminist

With the constant masculine practices and interactions such as dominance, and control, Forshee interviewed trans men who had a very hard time understanding what it means to be a man for them (Forshee, 2006). A lot of Forshee’s transmen interviewees did not view themselves as masculine and many of them were uncomfortable with the ideal social expectations of being masculine (Forshee, 2006). It does seem that transgender men do not want to continue or play the ideal gender role of being a man. They would rather not have all of those masculine “traits” because they are consistently in search of their authentic selves and for them it will always be a constant battle between what it means to be a man and the practice of living as a guy. Forshee (2006) argues that transgender men want “to be a guy and to keep what works and leave behind the stereotype baggage” (p. 128). Trans men need and want to have certain traits such as bravery and strength to feel and look like a man without any negative effects of masculinity like sexual aggression, risky behavior, or being violent. Masculinity is a complicated situation for trans men because of the number of expectations for them and to resist the negative masculine stereotypes.

As Anderson sees it, inclusive masculinity cannot fall into the hierarchy of hegemonic masculinity because it works outside the structures that privilege dominant forms of masculinity. This new gender identity is an antithesis to the dominant structures of masculinity because it grants aspects of subordinate masculinities without the need to justify their inclusion and dismisses the more toxic aspects of traditional masculinity.