Michael Kimmel's Girls In Guyland : Eyes On The Guys

In the article, “Becoming Members of Society: Learning the Social Meaning of Gender,” the author, Aaron Devor, is trying to convince his audience that gender shapes how we behave and relate to one another. He does this by using an educational approach, describing gender stereotypes, and making cultural references. These rhetorical devices serve his larger goal of getting readers to reflect on how their childhoods formed their genders. “Maleness and femaleness seem “natural,” not the product of socialization.” (Devor 527) Throughout his article, he makes us wonder whether or not gender is recognized through socializing.

“A man is at his youngest when he thinks he is a man, not yet realizing that his actions must show it.” Was said by a famous english writer named Mary Renault.In the reading “Bros before Hoes:The Guy Code” by Michael Kimmel he explains this unwritten yet critical set of rules guys follow through out their lifetime. Society has taught young men that every gender has certain roles and to properly fulfill the role of being a man they have to abide by these rules. Kimmel calls this set of rules the guy code and it explains what guys believe what it takes to be a “man”. Kimmel goes over what the guy code is, where it comes from, and who influences young boys to follow this set of rules as well as how this guy code is regulated and enforced. In these rules it specifically states young men cannot be gay. The word gay is defined as being weak and girl like to young men. So in order to continue fulfilling the duties of a man, young men must follow these set of rules.These rules prove that young men are pressured to offer constant proof that they are not gay.

Mean Girls is a comedy, yet accurate portrayal of the body image issues that high school girls face today. This movie is more than just high school clique and popularity; it is critical representation of the boundaries women in our society are not allowed to cross. Societal monstrous expectation of female bodies has led to a problematic matter of self-acceptance. Berreby extends this view in his essay “Rituals and Traditions: It Takes a Tribe” where he mentions the idea of “us” vs. “them” in which he states that society has created the idea that if one does not act in a certain way, they are automatically considered “them”. Furthermore, it is essential to acknowledge that stereotypes found in movies like Mean Girls, although a classic Hollywood movie, provokes a critical view of women and contributes to perpetuate traditional gender stereotypes as it reflects dominant social values.

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 Reyes’s Los Angeles Times article, “Men Are Stuck In Gender Roles, Data Suggest” posted on December 26, 2013, she discusses that there are gender roles in today’s society that has been set and learned at a young age, that men do men things and women do women things but there’s a small percentage where it’s flipped upside-down. The context of this article can be misogyny or sexist, and focuses more towards the male audience with a smaller portion of women. Reyes’s exigence comes from her own research as the “census data and surveys show that men remain rare in stereotypically feminine positions”(Reyes Par. 3). Due to her excellent use of appeals, Reyes’s article is highly recommended for the PopMatters Persuasiveness Prize. Reyes supports her claim with ethos with her usage of good credible sources; logos, using inductive logic and by providing good statistics; and pathos, like the bandwagon appeal with an attempt to sway people away from the norm, and by providing stories from everyday folk on how they’ve encountered these stereotypes regarding gender roles.

Simon Davis’ study of traditional sex stereotypes shows that Davis used sociological imagination during his study. Davis shows this when he states that his study had some limitations, “It could be argued that people placing personal ads are not representative of the public in general” (1990, 33). This shows that even though the study was focused on personal ads in one newspaper, Davis was aware that it may not fully represent the public in general and therefore the change in sex stereotypes may or may not still be common. This ability to look beyond the area being studied when thinking about representing the public and trying to see if it changed (in this case if the sex stereotypes were still in operation) shows sociological imagination because according to C.W Mills, “to understand the changes of many personal milieu we are required to look beyond them” (1959, 6).

As one of the most highly regarded endeavors a male can set a course for, manhood is probably one of the most sought after aspirations on the male agenda. Though it may not be much on the radar of an adolescent, as the younger child grows and matures he will come to an epiphany of gender identity and make the connections between father, son, mother and daughter. There may be much controversy over the topic; however, one fact remains clear: manhood is achieved. Despite how it might be defined, upon birth males are boys. As Michael Kimmel says in his essay, “Masculinity as Homophobia:

Social stereotypes are beliefs or views that are represented by individuals, groups or activities. Male and Female stereotypes are perhaps the most dominant within society. Furthermore, Individuals within society may also conform or can be categorized by specific gender and social stereotypes. These social stereotypes are the main subject of Ariel Levy’s and Jayme Poisson’s Text. In Levy’s “Female Chauvinist Pigs: Women and the Rise of Raunch Culture” she takes note in the efforts of female chauvinist pigs excelling in society by acquiring male characteristics. In Poisson’s “Parents Keep Child’s Gender Secret” she writes about a set of parents that have kept their child’s gender a secret

The purpose of this research was to discover the current amount of stereotypical sexualized behavior among men and women. It also looked at the differences between these stereotypes and how often students of both genders participated in these behaviors. Another purpose of this research was also to see how often the perceived norms of stereotypical sexualized behaviors were actually reported through behavior; as in they wanted to see how often these stereotypes were actually happening in the lives of late adolescent students.

The dominant group—men, white people, upper and middle class people, and heterosexuals—are considered the “norm” and all assumptions are created off of this “norm.” The media today creates the “norm” by showing boys and men as being tough and manly, and girls and women as passive, yet also sexy and sophisticated. Also, in school we are taught that girls should not take woodworking class, and instead should take cooking or health classes. By learning these rules and roles of our gender at school and in society, we are reinforced by what we have learned at home. The article about the cycle of socialization justifies that the media, our cultural practices, and the assumptions on which our society is built “all contribute to the reinforcement of the biased messages and stereotypes we receive.” The messages from the media, culture, and our own homes have embedded in our minds what is accepted in society and how to act. In the cycle of socialization, the institutional and cultural level of socialization is enforced constantly; therefore, the people who go against societies “norms” are immediately oppressed. The results of the cycle of socialization are disturbing, for the majority of society plays their roles and simply does nothing to change the “norm.”

In the readings about gender there were a lot of examples of memes. In the Introduction by Bem, she speaks about the history of the western culture and how there are three beliefs about women and men which have triumphed: that they have essentially different psychological and sexual nature, that men are inherently the dominant sex, and that both happen naturally. In regard to Bem’s Lenses of Gender there are two lenses which would fit into the idea of memes. These lenses are: Lens of Androcentrism or male-centeredness, this is when men are treated as human and women are viewed as “other” and the Lens of Gender Polarization during which the male-female difference is overlaid on so many aspects of a society that a cultural linking is created between sex and almost every part of life.

This process involves acting out what we believe to be society’s perception of what it means to be masculine or feminine (West and Zimmerman, 1987). The initiation before a man and woman begin dancing together is perhaps the clearest example of individuals ‘doing gender’. In this space, men are almost exclusively responsible for initiating conversation or some sort of physical interaction. The idea that men must be aggressive and women must be passive only reaffirms our gender stereotypes. This relationship is even more evident in fraternities, as there seems to bee an even wider range in terms of what is deemed to be appropriate behavior (Boswell and Spade, 1996).

Sociologists rightly point the finger towards the media accusing it of affecting people’s view of masculinity and femininity. In fact, even though the media can not force a person into believing something, it perhaps brain wash people by bombarding them with what the ideal for masculinity and femininity should be in our society. Around the world, many countries have different ideals regarding what is acceptable for men and women. However, the media influence’s every culture’s ideal of what is masculine and what is feminine, with the conviction that there should be standard ideals in every society, when in fact, gender is an ideology not set by biological factors, but socially constructed. So, whoever does not follow such set norms is considered

Gender stereotypes are everywhere. ‘Both masculinities and femininities come into existence at specific times and places and are always subject to change.’ (Connell, 1995: 185 cited in Wharton, 2012: 6). The term gender is a ‘doing’ word. It is a constant, active process. A role, is the expected behaviour which is associated with a status. Roles are performed according to social norms, shared rules that guide people’s behaviour in specific situations.’ (The sociology of gender). The media play a huge role, it is argued, in acculturating men and women into separate gender roles based on their sex. Implying the idea that gender is learned and not ‘human nature’ (Jaggar, 1983) (Ross, Karen 2011).