People's conceptions of masculinity and femininity, ideas concerning the fairness of differential treatment or expectations of women and men, internalized schema that evoke different judgments of women's and men's actions, rules about proper male and female behavior applied to children – all these and more concern the influence of ideology on gender identities, differential treatment of women and men, and the organization and persistence of gender
He then proceeds to examine how society characterizes masculinity and femininity. The author also analyzes the relationship between femininity and masculinity and how that relationship is reflected in social hierarchy. Finally, Devor concludes that gender is a phenomenon that one is not born with but it is rather acquired from early childhood and is manifested in adulthood. This essay is a credible academic paper that shows that gender is a social construct rather than an inborn trait. Devor clearly proves that gender is a social construct by showing how young children interpret gender and how it changes as they grow up.
In The Tragedy of Macbeth, Shakespeare attempts to define manhood and explore the different perceptions held towards what it means to be a man. As William Liston notes in his essay, “Man appears more than 40 times, almost always with a conscious sense of defining the term—or rather, of defining a person by the term” (232). Lady Macbeth is used as a tool to not only convey this theme, but she instigates the plot as well. Without her consistent scorn and ridicule of Macbeth and his “femininity”, he would most likely have never killed King Duncan or performed any of the other murders that occur throughout the play. Specifically speaking, the word choice of Lady Macbeth as well as her actions are what propel her husband into acting himself. Eventually, Macbeth’s overall attitude changes as a result of his wife’s ridicule. While Lady Macbeth undoubtedly spurs her husband into action, it is important to note that by the end of the play, she has lost what influence she had over him as well as her ability to control her own emotions.
“Tough Guise” examines the relationship between the social construction of masculinity and the images we see in mass media and popular culture. The central theme in Katz’s arguments in Tough Guise revolves around the notion: violence in America is a gendered associated phenomenon, and in order for us to understand violence, we must focus on its relationship to our
Catullus 16, "A Reply to My Critics" is a poem written by the Roman poet Gaius Valerius Catullus "that was deemed so obscene it was not published in its entirety in English until the latter part of the 20th century" (Winter). To give the poem some context, this aggressive rebuttal was addressed to two men, Furius and Aurelius, who are also referenced to as Catullus ' "critics" he is replying to. These two men tend to appear in other poetry by Catullus, where he, again, employs the use of abusive language at them. These rather intrusive retorts are based on the Roman contructs of masculinity, as Catullus exhibits the need to portray a dominating demeanor upon his critics in order to deny the claims of Aurelius and Furius, that the nature of his poetry is mollis, meaning ‘soft’ and 'tender ', which esstenially makes Catullus mollis. Because of these accusations, he himself is made effeminate by these criticsims and therefore feels the need to combat these views by aggressive attacks that fortify a perceived masculine persona. Therefore, this poem serves is an attack on these demeaning criticisms and a demonstration of social norms on skewed portrayals of masculinity within the Roman society.
Firstly, one of the aspects of gender role is the distinction of roles based on masculinity and femininity or sex and gender. Before Blanche’s arrival, for Stanley being the masculine and the head of the house who is in absolute control and Stela being the woman of the house who takes care of the house: their relationship was happily as both know their part and were comfortable with it. As a motif, Stanley brings the food symbolizing that he is the man of the house and Stella cooks the food that Stanley provides and in this simplicity, their role is clear and defined. As Stanley and Stella conversing;
One of the major themes in Pat barker’s ‘Regeneration’ is gender and masculinity, this is my chosen theme. The novel overall reflects the struggles of World War one soldiers and their attempts to overcome the trauma of war experience. In this essay, I will be exploring ways which Barker represents my chosen themes. By discussing in depth and focusing on homosexuality, parenthood, emasculation, and mutism as a symbol.
I have not had much experience with masculinity or gender-based violence. However, I have noticed that whenever someone says the work gender some may think that they are talking about women’s issues and that is the problem with today’s society. People assume things and they end up getting the wrong impression of people because of the assumptions they have already made. We are all guilty of this and that includes me.
Your list between the stereotyped traits of femininity and masculinity. was very interesting The idea of women being loyal is significant because I think that is what fuels the idea of monogamy, and the ostracism women get for choosing non-monogamous relationships. This also fuels slut shaming and the fact that women are mostly condemned for having a lot of sex, while men are praised for this same act. It is interesting that you listed “independent,” “self-sufficient” and “individualistic” as a feminine trait. This is because when I think of stereotypes of women, I think of them as seemingly more dependent, especially on the collective unit of the family, as they are often characterized as the homemakers, and instead I would pair these traits
“Be man! Real men don’t cry! What are you, a baby?” These are all the phrases that boys hear as they grow older and continue to be harassed by them well into adulthood. As we began to focus our attention to encouraging girls to strive to be the independent, intelligent, beautiful women they are, we lost the connection with grooming boys to be young gentlemen. Instead of teaching boys that how to cope with their anger, sadness, or confusion, we spent more time on prepping girls for the “big, bad world.” Now, I’m not saying that what we did for females was a bad thing, but it is unfortunate that we neglected the emotional and mental needs of young boys and men. In today’s society, violent and aggressive outbursts are more prevalent for males
The social construction of gender has caused adverse effects in today’s society through stereotypes established for men and women presented at birth. The creation of these stereotypes have forced men and women to chase gender based behaviors in order to be supported by society. Both articles reinforce how the pessimistic lenses of male and female cause gender specific stereotypes.
What was the most surprising thing you've learned from the readings about masculinities in the past? Do you see traces of these older models of masculinity still around today?
The quotation that I had selected resonated with me in several ways. The quote basically sums up the whole gender identity crisis people usually have when they do not who they are or are just discovering who they are. While masculinity and femininity are on two different levels, it is easily argued on belongs on one side of the spectrum of gender and the other on the opposite side. Systematically, gender is a social construct solely created to pleasure the man with power and women to be inferior to them by a large scale. Anybody can be a man, which is a pleasure and a privilege to be when one pretends, but it is by fault a disgrace to be even a little feminine. I was like this when I was a younger, and this kind of corruption that leads to
My name is Bhavleen Dhillon and I am an18 years old. I am a proud Sikh, Punjabi woman who proudly supports feminism, civil rights and equality movements and many other justice seeking categories. I was born and raised in Canada with both the western and traditional cultural belief embedded within my self. The varieties of songs I have chosen demonstrate both masculinity and femininity in different approaches. In both the videos for Lollipop and Blurred Lines, women are seen as week and easily controllable by the male dominant figures in the video.
The representation of gender in a masculine context in New Zealand is constructed through hegemonic constructions formed through colonisation. Due to being constructed by this dominant ideology, which in terms of a New Zealand context is Pakeha and male (Hegemony), the construction of masculinity appears natural. This hegemonic masculinity is so naturalised it becomes invisible and we don’t see or think about it. Law, R (1997) states that “The concept of hegemonic masculinity allows for us to theorise the simultaneous existence of different constructions of masculinity, the social dominance of some constructions and their legitimation as ‘natural’ and the fluid and contested character of all constructions of gender” Pakeha men are the hegemonic masculinity in a New Zealand context, they have social dominance over women and the Maori, even though they are same gender as Maori men due to colonization they are repressed in terms of dominance.
Different cultures and religions have different beliefs and opinions on sexes. Masculinity it is having strength, dominance, assertiveness, boldness mostly and traditionally refers to men, whereas on the other hand femininity refers to womanliness. In South Africa during the apartheid era women were marginalised in most sectors of the economy, especially the corporate world. This however, led to unethical behaviour towards women in the corporate world; as a result discrimination in the workplace arose.