The Cultural Constructs That Germaine Greer

The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines the word Masculine as “Male: having qualities appropriate to or usually associated with a man” (Merriam-Webster). While another source, the popular comedic Urban Dictionary, presents a more satirical definition of the word Masculine, "Often defined as aggressive, strong, and unfeeling or stoic. Being masculine means in modern times, at least, no shows of emotion, no flamboyance, no hugging or even looking at other men, must be interested in sports and physical/violent activity” (Urban Dictionary). Obviously the Urban Dictionary is a comedic source and should not hold the same weight as the definition that comes from the academic source of Merriam-Webster, but the truth that is within the comedy, the absurd structure of what a man should be, is brought out into the light. A question many before us and many after us have and will attempt to answer is how is masculinity defined? The unfortunately anticlimactic answer to this is that masculinity is simply what a man chooses to do. In a world of both gender inequity and rapidly shifting gender roles, the term masculinity is becoming more and more simple in definition. In a video made by the Huffington Post to show how modern men described the word masculine, most used dominant diction such as “power,” “dominance,” “strong,” and “alpha” (Genuske). It wasn 't long ago when the word Presidential was synonym to masculine, but with the upcoming 2016 election and the first female to run for a

In today’s society, boys and men are groomed to be non-emotional, tough, and aggressive in order to be portrayed as being masculine. Boys and men often form their own idea of what it means to be masculine through the eyes of the U.S. culture. The U.S. cultures presents masculinity into our daily entertainment such as; sport games, music, and more. The U.S mainstream media presents masculine traits it in a way where males feel the pressure to meet this expectation to be considered as a masculine man.

Since the emergence of advertising in American culture one thing that has remained constant is the visible truth that men and women are portrayed differently. In consideration to the evolution of man kind gender roles have evolved immensely throughout time, although advertisements have not kept up with this process of evolution. Companies to this day use their tactics and skills to reach out to specific genders such as pretty fonts with a stylish message, while advertisements towards men portray the character as strong and intimidating. The typical viewer can easily spot the difference in the portrayal of genders. Men are portrayed this way because the viewers look up to these characters, they want to be

“The Codes of Gender” is a documentary by Sut Jhally. He looks at how today’s culture creates and support gender roles for our society through mass media. The documentary analyze how men and women are taught to conform to look and behave a certain way to meet society expectations of what is ideal to being a male or female. Sut Jhally uses references points from Erving Goffman’s book titled Gender Advertisements, about how advertisements broadcast women in the most bizarre positions; These advertisements display women in awkward and unnatural poses, making them appear submissive, unbalanced, childish, delicate and vulnerable. These attributes are shown through their positions; tilting their head, bent knees, touching themselves, and looking out in the distance. Whereas positions for men are opposite; they appear alert, dominant, confidence and powerful. This can be

Moving forward, Dyer begins to unpack the active/passive concept of images of models. Often male models are caught in the act doing hegemonically masculine things such as: baseball, mowing the lawn, grilling, painting, etc. When not caught in the act, the male model contorts his body in a way that shows off his muscles and emphasizes the potential for action. In contrast, women never do an action. They’re always sitting on a stool waiting for people to look at her. To look is to be active and to be looked at is to be passive. Men must remove any sense of passivity in their pose and look to continue to uphold their masculine identities.

Masculinity is not a single-definition trait; it relies on an ever-changing spectrum which can never be truly measured because of all the different factors having to be considered. The “manly” man of the 1800’s, who’s emotions were hidden to display strength, would no longer be considered the “ideal” male in society. As shown in the ads of Suistudio; feminist ideals have permeated into the “thick coating” of the masculine archetype. No longer is “femininity” in need of the male protectorate as a sturdy platform to build a steady life on in an ever-changing world, for they are becoming one in the same. Suistudio’s recent ad campaign shows that preferred-masculinity is changing from its traditional firmness to a strength shown by a man’s emotional comfort within an evolving world while protruding the outward appearance of physical health.

Masculinity has changed very little over time. By definition, to be masculine is to be tough, having little or no emotion, and having great physical strength and endurance. Men are thought to be natural leaders and should accept the role of dominating the household (both his wife and children. “Inequality between women and men is a worldwide social phenomenon”. (Schaefer, R., 2012. p354)

Steve Craig, in his article Men’s Men and Women’s Women especially define how different sexes in advertisement can influence a particular audience towards a product; one stereotypical method he describes is “Men’s Women” (Craig).One such ad using sex appeal, and a basic structure of “Men’s Women” to bring in customer was made by BMW in 2008 to sell their used cars. BMW, which is a world-renowned company known for its performance heavy automobiles, targets a male audience by comparing a gorgeous woman to their cars.This ad by BMW, who no doubt make amazing cars, degrade women through its message, and it enforces Steve Craig’s “Men’s women” tactic, but this ad also goes a step further and displays the ever-present patriarchy in advertisement overtly.

A masculine person is seen as powerful, demanding, and heard. Also normally the person who is more “strong”, either literally or figuratively.

Alternatively, masculinity is also shown to be suave, refined, and successful through the man’s social presentation. His overall direct nature make him the center of attention. Furthermore, he sports a carefree attitude throughout the vast majority of the advertisement. It is clear that he is always in

It is generally considered the opposite of “femininity,” which is usually linked with being freely expressive, emotional, weak, submissive, and of women (Armengol-Carrera197). While the binary is seemingly innocuous, the nature of the standards of hegemonic masculinity causes men to be expected to uphold latently poisonous and malignant standards imposed on them since birth. As children, boys learn how to be men by receiving thousands upon thousands of subconscious messages about manliness from their family, friends, media, and from simple day to day interactions with other people. As written by Marvin Allen in Angry Men, Passive Men: Understanding the Roots of Men's Anger and How to Move Beyond It, “taken as a whole these messages encourage boys to be competitive, focus on external success, rely on their intellect, withstand physical pain, and repress their vulnerable emotions. When boys violate the code, it is not uncommon for them to be teased, shamed, or ridiculed” (Allen 1).

Men are seen as more masculine with their appearance for example a suit and tie. Women are seen as revealing and feminine. Women are shown defenseless as they lay lying around in advertisements. Women who are seen hugging the man are seen as dependent, weak, and passive.

Masculine to me means that not only are you physically strong mentally and emotionally strong. It also means that you carry yourself with confidence and humility and compassion. To me it's important that a male is able to express his emotions without feeling weak. To me, masculine, means to respect others no matter what circumstance and be responsible.

Male gender roles in society is very clearly seen in magazine covers, because they are images which will attract us to buy their product. Upon opening a cologne magazine, I found a picture that displayed a man, wearing all blue, in front of a dark navy background. His facial expression was broody, with not a tint of joyfulness in his eyes nor in the picture. Additionally, the other cologne ad has a “gentlemen” (as said in ad itself) drenched from the rain, as he was holding an umbrella for a woman. However, his expression was sealed with a smirk, as he tugged on his tuxedo. These advertisements give the buyers an idea on what our ideal of a how man should be. They should be strong, in both their outer appearance and their emotions. They seen

Media portrays women in a discriminatory way. No one really acknowledges the fact that men are discriminated against throughout media. According to Jackson Katz in Tough Guise “Men need transforming too” (Jackson Katz). Although it is not considered as prominently as it is for women, it does happen. There are some ads that actually put men and women next to each other. With the male in the picture or advertisement not being the most attractive and the female is very attractive. Those cologne companies such as aventus by creed are telling the audience that if they use this cologne, the most attractive person would flock towards you. Men want a woman who would love him for him not just because he smells good. Our society causes women to feel inferior to men but in all actuality men and women are either inferior or superior towards each other. In the Sex Discrimination and Sexual Harassment article it states“Sex discrimination exists when a person or group of people are treated unfavorably solely on the basis of their sex. In the United States sex