Negatives Of Masculinity

The United States is made up of an astounding assortment of people of all different types, boasting one of the most diverse populations compared to anywhere around the world. Of these different peoples, toxic masculinity affects each group differently, with an especially profound effect to be found when studying those who identify as Latin- or Hispanic-American. While attempting to homogenize the many unique and beautiful facets of various Latin and Hispanic cultures is a disservice, they tend to share many traits which can be simplified, including their ideas on gender roles. In many Hispanic cultures, there are strong gender roles and ideas about gender that are traditionally built into every aspect of the culture, especially in the form of “machismo”, or the Hispanic ideas of masculinity. In some cultures, “…women are supposedly submissive… men are characterized by verbal and bodily aggression… and sexual dominance,” (Cantú 150). When combined with the gendered expectations and stereotypes that are increasingly prevalent in American culture, young Hispanic-American boys are growing up with an overwhelming volume of standards being impressed upon them from all sides. This same phenomenon can be seen again in African-American communities and cultures, with the already painfully present standards of white American masculinity being taken to another level by a culture which serves to pile on an even stricter set of standards on to its men. As with the Latin American ideas of

Holloway begins her essay by stating the traditional standards for both men and women, stating that “If we are honest with ourselves, we have long known that masculinity kills men” (1). She then defends her argument with a brief description of struggles the men go through with their health and mental health that are indirectly caused by masculinity. Holloway then dives into fields of scientific data to break down how the idea of masculinity is built into a child’s mind and how this process is damaging to the young boy’s mind. Holloway ends her essay by reentering her earlier idea that most of the problems that men face with their health and their mental health is caused indirectly by masculinity. However, this time she includes more detail and more scientific evidence to reinforce her idea. Holloway states “ We have set an unfair and unachievable standard, and in trying to live up to it, many men are slowly killing themselves. We have to move far beyond our outdated ideas of masculinity, and get past our

Jenifer Siebel Newsom’s documentary, The Mask You Live In, is about the struggles young men and boys face while they are figuring out their identity in a stereotyped America. The film highlights the negative psychological and sociological implications that stem from society’s expectations of “masculinity.” According to Dr. Caroline Heldman, masculinity is defined in the U.S. as a rejection of everything feminine. American culture has classified masculinity as a strong, hardened, domineering, powerful, and controlling state of being. There are typically three lies that boys learn at a young age that plant the idea that they have to be masculine. Those lies are 1) You must have superb athletic ability and be fast and buff, 2) in order to be a “true” man, you must have

As time has changed, a new wave of discrimination has taken shape in the United States. This new discrimination comes in the form of homophobia and heterosexism. Walls (2008), suggested that heterosexism, racism, sexism, and class privilege are systems of advantage that provide those with the “right” sexual orientation, race, gender, and class with opportunities and rewards that are unavailable to other individuals and groups in society. Homophobia and heterosexism come in various forms that include both overt and subtle forms of discrimination. Choi, et al. (2011) has suggested that the effects of homophobia and heterosexism are more pronounced in African American communities. Those who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender (LGBT),

The paragon of modern American masculinity is a serpent beneath black water. What seems to be a trivial and inconsequential association on the surface, has profound and toxic influence on the mind, the world, and the self beneath. Because they have learned to repress themselves in the name of masculinity, men are less

Although results from the study found that the sample slightly disagreed with traditional masculine ideology, it may be beneficial for future researchers to develop a new measure of masculinity, representative of African American society in the United States. The MRNI-SF was advanced twenty to thirty years ago to examine respondent agreement to existing cultural norms of manhood ideology and later amended in order to better operationalize traditional masculinity standards characteristic of U.S. and Western societies prior to the 1960s (Thompson & Bennett, 2015). Research suggests that the complexity of operationalizing masculinity ideology is apparent in the MRNI scale, as the wording of scale items is absolute. These fixed interpretations of the MRNI-SF assume that all statements are applicable across contexts, geographies, and generations (Thompson & Bennett, 2015). This poses limitations on the current study, which examines a unique age range and a culture potentially limited in inclusion during the development of the

However, ‘Black male hyper masculinity has been utilized as a culturally hegemonic tool’ which reinforces and sustains negative stereotypes across media mediums (Derilus, 2017).

Showing your humanity through raw emotions used to be seen as proof of a person’s sincerity, honesty, and integrity. Something happened in the 20th century, women became the picture of teary-eyed fragility and the tearless, aggressive male became the ideal of masculinity. Media messages, commercials, and television shows stopped portraying men as responsible, competent, and compassionate husbands, sons, and fathers, instead they consist of idiotic or misogynistic archetypes. When men are portrayed as sensitive humans, it is largely under the caveat of being gay. As stated in A New Vision of Masculinity, there is still little worse than being mistaken for a homosexual (Cooper, 2016).

On a basic level, men are taught that it is unmasculine to express emotions, and so this leads to emotional suppress and a division between emotions and actions such as sex (Sabo 591). The only emotions that aren’t rejected are aggression and anger; additionally, Sabo elaborates on male aggression to explain that “Anger is a by-product of aggression and toughness and, ultimately, part of the inner terrain of traditional masculinity.” (Sabo 597) This aggression and anger not only leads to psychological problems, but it also takes a physical toll as it leads to “fighting, gang clashes, hazing, gay-bashing, intentional infliction of injury, homicide, suicide, and organized warfare.” (Sabo 598) These facts lead into the truth that homicide is one of the leading causes of death among young males, so this evidence makes it clear that masculinity is nor only mentally and emotionally dangerous, but a physical threat. The other hazards of such a specific and exclusionary concept of masculinity is that people who don’t fit within the perimeters are forced to lie or try to change themselves if they wish to fill the necessary requirement. For example, gay and bisexual men are forced to keep their identities a secret because they are viewed as being the opposite of masculinity is, and this secret-keeping can cause “anxiety and stress” which “can tax emotional and physical health.” (Sabo 590) This exemplifies the way that the current model of hegemonic masculinity can be a struggle to ascribe

Everyone who does not fit the idea of masculinity has been placed in the other category. Kids have a hard time to self-identify themselves because of all the masculine role moles that present themselves in the media. Masculinity has created a structured binary that makes their role the ideal role for society to be. That ideal role is traced back to a long history of old traditions, that society cannot look past. This ideal of masculinity has created complications within gender and sexuality that have made people hold onto heteronormative ideals. The heteronormative ideals have created a privilege society where the white males dominate the world and place everyone who does not fit in their binary into the other people category.

Kids, teenagers and sometimes maybe even adults still have to put on a front of who they really are. Growing up boys were told that if you cant take pain you aren't a man or if your afraid to step up someone you're a “Pussy”. The words kids commonly hear now. As “men” we do not cry. As men were not aloud to express or show are feelings.

Sexual normativity does not only create social rules for society to follow but it also creates systems of inequality, where each system of inequality builds on each other. The power of sexuality normativity favors heteronormativity because heteronormative culture has interpreted itself in society as what is natural. Both heteronormativity and homonormativity favor upper and middle classes of white youth. While they are guided and accepted in society those who are of a different race or ethnicity are rejected (Garcia 2012:60). Power is unevenly distributed among these systems, and the ones with most power are tightly linked to male heteronormativity. The white masculine male is privileged and rewarded in society, where as women suffer the good-girl

Before diving into the harmful effects of masculinity, we first must dissect and define masculinity. While many associate masculinity with being strong and rigid, that preconception of what men should like is harmful and reprehensible. However some may still ask: what is wrong with being a man? The answer lies within the definition of masculinity. American culture classifies masculinity as tough, egotistic, powerful, and collected. We use the phrase, “man up” to exercise power over others while remaining toughened to oneself. “To be a man” is to play into the stereotypes projected onto young boys by society, with little room for individualism. There’s no room for compassion, empathy, or softened humanity. That would all be associated with

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).

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