Thaddeus B. Williams Jr. 10/12/14
Dr. Sheppard Anthropology
The Illusion of Masculinity The gender roles for males is a social construct in which sets men in the position to certain behavioral, emotional, and social norms within a society or specific culture in which individuals have to adhere in their social environment. How does that shape ones identity and sense of self? Also, what are the repercussions to ascribing to these roles as a base model for one’s social life? In this abstract I will explore the effects for hyper masculinity in American, the individual effects and also the effects for women in society. Gender in a society is thought of to be biological but how much that society commits to this is questionable. When a person thinks about gender we often tend to think about the biological differences that make us different but as we are seeing through the media or in society the social construct of hyper masculinity can have devastating and detrimental effects to society. The Planned Parenthood site has listed some of the most used words to describe masculinity: independent, non-emotional, aggressive, tough-skinned, competitive, clumsy, experienced, strong, active, self-confident, hard, sexually aggressive, and rebellious. But, this is impossible to be all the time especially when certain emotions may be how we may genuinely feel, how we react, or how we define ourselves. Some men may have so-called female traits and vice versa in contrast to
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 America today there are clear views on what masculinity and femininity. These views have given Americans the outlines for how they must behave based on what gender they are. Masculinity is constructed in American culture through many different forms of media, so as the ideals and values attached to masculinity change in the media so has the ideals and values that the everyday man see as being part of masculinity. In this respect the ideals and values of masculinity are shaped by what the media shows it to us.
Many people confuse the definition of gender and sex. “Gender, on the other hand, refers to the meanings, values, and characteristics that people ascribe to different sexes. Sex is a biological concept, determined on the basis of individual 's primary sex characteristics.” (Blackstone) Society gives social cues on the appropriate behavior for each sex. For example, women are to exert more feminine traits such as being dependent, emotional, passive, innocent, nurturing, and/or self-critical. On the contrary, men should be more
Society’s current structure of masculinity is unforgiving in form. It cuts out other forms of masculinity, it physically and mentally demanding, and its ill effects extend far beyond the men it infuses itself in. Yet what would we do if we were given other options for masculinity, ones that allowed for unique blends of attitudes and perceptions? Looking in to the lives of homeless men we can see the forced strategies which create new masculine codes created for the adaption against patriarchal pressures. They are made out of survival need to circumnavigate the painful mental and physical reality that is only made worse by harsh masculine standards. Yet these new masculinities hold out a form of hopefulness for society. They offer up new discussion to what it means to be a man, the potential for change, and what we can expect from changes in male identity over time. Using what we learn from the disadvantaged, we can hope to improve the lives of people, although the process will take time, effort, and careful mediation.
There is a masculinity crisis in America that has been escalating, since society has gravitated to the auspice of anti-marriage and single parenthood. The nuclear family is the root of a successful society. In a traditional nuclear family, family structure plays a vital role in the healthy developmental stages from birth through adolescence; otherwise, the child cannot adjust due to lack of social conventions. There are numerous factors that contribute to the threat of masculinity in our society; namely, families headed by single mothers, the media metrosexualizing males, and absence of God.
To read Babio without recognizing the gender politics at work in the play would disregard much of how the play itself creates meaning. So much of the play’s plot and character dynamics are related to the way gender functions in this play. One major theme of Babio is the idea of masculinity and how masculinity is defined. Through the portrayal of Babio as an effeminate character, Babio is able to define masculinity through absences in Babio’s Character. Consequently, Babio makes the additional point that lovesickness is not an intrinsic aspect of medieval masculinity, despite the fact that love sickness is often attributed to men.
Throughout the history of the world, and specifically in the United States, the pressure that has been forced onto men in society has not only had a significant impact on the people themselves but in society as well. This can be seen through America’s history, the evolution of men and masculinity and even reflected through the development and growth of women and women’s roles in history. The expectation placed on men to conform to what would be considered masculine in that era was an extremely important factor in a young man’s life. This pressure was enforced not only by society but by men themselves who held each other to a specific and high standard. In order to understand the role that men play in society and the ideology of masculinity,
“The cult of masculinity.” When it comes to the big screen, women are treated like second-class citizens. Women were portrayed as helpless creatures, waiting in the castle for their Prince Charming whereas men were dauntless, swooping the Princess of her feet and saving the day. This gender gap came to an end when The Hunger Games (2012) was released in theaters. The brave Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) did what no “real” man or Prince could ever do – stand up for someone else – even when it meant risking her own life. The Hunger Games was not only one of the top grossing movies of the year, but it was also one of the very few movies where a woman was able to display her stability and willingness to fight. The Hunger Games, Divergent, and Gravity are some of the few movies that show a women’s potential than to sit in a castle. They all show three common characteristics for the roles of women: courage, personality, and recognition.
Masculinity is a topic that has been debated in our society extensively, through research as well as in informal settings. Many wonder what it means to be masculine, and if we can really assign a definition to such a subjective term. After all, shouldn't one's own perception be the determinant of what constitutes masculinity? This self-construction would be the ideal in our society, but unfortunately, it represents a false belief. Masculinity has certain characteristics assigned to it by our culture. In this paper I will explore the many facets of masculinity and demonstrate how certain beliefs pertaining to it are perpetuated in our society. I will also uncover many of the contradictions between society's assigned definition of
My study looks at how all my texts are connected by portrayals of masculinity and conformity. All of these texts have main characters who struggle with the demands of masculinity and the pressures to conform to society’s view of masculinity. The texts that I am using are Foreskins Lament by Greg McGee, The Godfather by Francis Ford Coppola, Kite Runner by and The Tomcat by James K Baxter. This interests me because I am a young man beginning my adult life and I feel a lot of pressure to conform to what society thinks is a good man.
Patriarchy, a system in which the father or eldest male is head of the family, has defined manhood ever since the American Revolution. "Men were socialized to think of themselves as breadwinners,” providing for the family’s physical, and financial needs and “women with the round of cooking, house cleaning, and mending,” performing all the domestic chores, including child-care. This difference was essential in creating an image of the Ideal American man. However, the Great Depression heavily challenged and complicated this culture of masculinity. The stock market crash wiped investments clean, businesses failed to function and
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).
The notion of hegemonic masculinity has altered the field of gender studies and many academic arenas. An idea popularized by R.W. Connell, hegemonic masculinity has played an integral role in the emotional development of American men, articulating the impact that this societal construction has had on the concept of American masculinity. It is a contested topic, yet the impacts that it has in terms of sexuality, struggles for power and political leadership, and gender identities are valid (Connell 830). Although difficult to fully achieve, it acts as a guiding force for the stereotypically masculine. Hegemonic masculinity assumes the subordination of all other forms of masculinity, placing it at the top of the social hierarchy. At the same time, the idea of hegemonic masculinity has served as a bridge between the growing field of men’s’ studies and female studies (Connell 829). Several authors share the premise that men in American society conform to the standards of the social construct of hegemonic masculinity.
Chevrolet has created a commercial based on the actions of women who prefer “masculine” male drivers versus “passive” drivers. The message is intended for men, however, it also has a major influence over women due to the severity of their opinion about men. Masculinity and insecurity coincide with each other creating the idea for men to prefer to have the object the leans toward them being the real men women desire. Men who are susceptible to this notion are usually single and looking for a partner, wanting to man up other man, value others opinion about them, and/or creating self-worth based upon the fear of rejection. They feed into what society believes are the things that make a man “ a man,” and strive and/or do anything to achieve the acceptance of not only women but their male peers as well. These men want to fill a social void that is missing in their lives.
According to Anthony Clare the heart of the masculinity crisis lies within the understanding of “the private and public sphere, the intimate and the impersonal, the emotional and the irrational” (Clare, 2000:212). Both men and women are both confined to their spaces and the line between the two has somewhat been blurred, thus resulting in a crisis. The way in which this line is blurred is by masculinity becoming more feminized. There have been two major shifts in masculinity over