The Driving Hormone Controlled From The Pituitary Gland

“Be a man!” A phrase which is very prominent in popular culture can be seen anywhere from movies to a household. In fact, there is a documentary entitled, The Mask You Live In, about how young boys are molded into men by the things they see and hear every day. Today, most American boys grow up with a predetermined definition of masculinity based on certain things that they see every day.

1. In “Many Boys Today Define Masculinity Negatively”, the author Leonard Sax writes about how the meaning of masculinity has become redefined in a negative way. Sax states that the phrase “Be a man!” didn’t always mean to not be feminine, the phrase originally meant to be courteous, respectful, and competent. The original intention of this phrase to have boys emulate the wholesome family men in popular culture but in recent years the men portrayed in pop culture have become less principled. This change in role models has led masculinity to be seen as a negative aspect in society today. Sax believes that the best solution for this issue is to give young boys the guidance they need by connecting them with gentlemen from past generations who actually learned what it meant to be a man.

One of the key concepts detailed by Pringle (2007), is the idea of hegemonic masculinity, which was originally coined by Connell (1995). Connell suggest that the concepts of hegemony and masculinity have been intertwined, which has created a social form of a masculine ideal, developed around male dominance, power and patriarchy over groups who are deemed “weaker” such as women and homosexual men. Hegemonic masculinity is essentially a socially elite or desirable status, with which the “performance of ‘masculinity’” can be legitimately practised within society.

Back in 1987, Raewyn Connell coined the term hegemonic masculinity in a seminal text, Gender & Power. Hegemonic masculinity refers to the dominant form of masculinity that exists within a particular culture. Relative to this ever changing, idealized form of masculinity are different subordinated masculinities – those within a culture that do not live up to the so-called masculine gold standard. Put simply, there are “real men” and then there are all other men.

“Hegemonic masculinity is a particular clarity of masculinity to which others among them young and effeminate as well as home sexual men are subordinated” (Kimmel 119). For instance, in the film The Wedding Crashers there is a scene where John and Jeremy play football with William, Clearly, Sack lodge, and Clair and Clearly. Jeremy keeps getting knocked out by Sack, who is purposely hurting him to show that he is the Alpha man. He is demonstrating that he is strong and aggressive. Jeremy shows weakness, therefore John calls him a pussy because he is lacking on how men are supposed to be, meanwhile Sack shows traits of what a real man should act and look like. The film really concentrates on this particular concept throughout the film and it really discourages men into believing or thinking that they can act sensibly, however it promotes men to act tougher, more aggressive in order to be a man. Hegemonic masculinity is still very much common throughout society, and it has for many centuries, but as described previously society is changing it slowly proclaiming hope for men to withdraw from such a bizarre standards.

Cultural attitudes towards masculinity have transformed in recent years. Boys are taught the “values” of this attitude early on and it is reinforced throughout their lives. As a result of these changes, the pressure to display and assert one’s masculinity has been amplified. The “traditional” definition of masculinity requires males to establish homophobic attitudes, be clean shaven anywhere below the neck (much like women) and have rippling muscles. These expectations can greatly affect a boy’s self-esteem and well-being as he is growing up in a society that is increasingly obsessing over the concept of the “ideal man.”

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

Hegemonic masculinity is considered a dominant form of masculinity in society. An example of hegemonic masculinity is a tough guy who is violent and rough but is not emotional. This excerpt discusses how men in society conform to dominant ideals about masculinity. One reason men are more dominant may be due to upringings in which men are raised to be in charge, more assertive, providers, and to avoid expressive emotions such as sadness, empathy, etc. Men may be raised to hold power and their counterparts, females, may pick up on what they lack which includes being nurturing and being an emotional provider.

But it is neither the king nor the kingmaker—the potent, hormonal essence of competitive, risk-taking masculinity—it’s often assumed to be” (p. 21). Fine believes there is a direct correlation from the effects of an individuals beliefs and environment to their specific actions. Fine agrees with Eagly’s and Wood Social Role theory explaining, “Sex differences and similarities in behavior reflect gender role beliefs that in turn represent people’s perceptions of men’s and women’s social roles in the society in which they live”(p.459). Testosterone is not the main factor behind the way males act, it is the reaction to the way a male acts. Society pressures males to be providers, strong, competitive and sexual.

the winning and holding of power and the formation (and destruction) of social groups in that process” (644) such that it is crucial that the ruling class establishes and maintains its domination. Moreover, it includes persuasion of a big part of the population, especially through the media and the organization of social institutions. Homophobia and heterosexuality form the foundation for hegemonic masculinity and all comprehension of its meaning is predicated “on the feminist insight that in general the relationship of men to women is oppressive” (644). Hegemonic masculinity is grounded in form of the hero and displayed through forms that deal with heroes, e.g., sagas, and westerns, in television, books, and movies (Connell qtd. in Donaldson 646). To define a specific form of masculinity as hegemonic, it is important to note that “its exaltation stabilizes a structure of dominance and oppression in the gender order as a whole” (Connell qtd. in Donaldson 646).

“Every culture in the world prescribes norms for behaviour that are assigned on the basis of sex” (Kilmartin, 1993, p. 3). Traditionally though the two main constructed genders belong to masculinity and femininity, for men “They learn to act in a ‘masculine’ way and avoid … [the] ‘un-masculine’. The social settings in which adult men find themselves tend to reinforce these standards” (Kilmartin, 1993, p. 6). Masculinity is associated with the public sphere and according to Kilmartin these traits that are reinforced by society include; dominance, competitiveness, lacks emotion, is aggressive and forceful.

In order to fully understand a more in depth evaluation of both why and how men conform to this social phenomenon, one must know how hegemonic masculinity is defined. This term was made popular by Connell’s work Gender and Power which critiqued the male social role and how hegemonic masculinity has developed (Connell 830). Scholars agree that hegemonic masculinity is characterized by “being emotionally detached and

Masculinity is described as possession of attributes considered typical of a man. Hegemonic masculinity is a form of masculine character with cultural idealism and emphasis that connects masculinity to competitiveness, toughness, and women subordination. Masculinity hegemonic is the enforcement of male dominion over a society. Masculine ideology dates back to the time of agrarian and the industrial revolution in Europe when survival compelled men to leave their homesteads to work in industries to earn a living for their families while women remained at home to take care of family affairs (Good and Sherrod 210). Women did not work in industries then because industrial labor was considered too physical beyond their capacity. This led to

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

In contemporary society, hegemonic masculinity is defined by physical strength and boldness, heterosexuality, economic independence, authority over women and other men, and an interest in sexual relationships. While most men do not embody all of these qualities, society supports hegemonic masculinity within all its institutions, including the educational institute, the religious institute and other institutes which form the ideological state apparatus.