The Media And Music Of Men Essay

In the article “Toxic Masculinity Is Killing Men: The Roots of Male Trauma,” Kali Holloway explains why the ideal of masculinity is so unrealistic and harmful to men. Holloway also gives many studies and writings to back the idea that to be a strong man you have to suppress feelings and pain. In these studies, it proclaims that both men and women start off equally feminine as babies and that these ideas are taught to boys and girls as they grow up learning how to “be a man.” Holloway goes on to say that masculinity is not just taught by parents, but also taught through television and movies that portray men as masculine and strong. There are many examples given showing the ways men release their stress differently than women. This makes it

Hypermasculinity requires a man to be, frankly, emotionally constipated. He cannot show tears or sadness. Many young boys are told to stop crying and “man up”. By repressing natural expressions of emotion such as crying, men have withdrawn emotional states. Men being forced to repress their emotions and being raised into fearfulness of expressing these emotions, is dangerous. This emotional repression makes men more susceptible to depression and eventually suicide. Depression is commonly seen in the image of a highschool girl with no friends who is sad all the time. But that’s just not the case with most depressed people. Depression is less sadness and more emotional disconnect. This emotional disconnect of depression can be found in both men and women. Yet the same emotional disconnect of depression is something men are forced into feeling. The feeling of having to hide emotions or not being able to feel at all are signs of depression, but are the sort of traits society wants men to have- in order to Act Like A Man. When men do show emotion, it must be raw and powerful and dominating. It has to be a play of power against other men and especially a play to show power over women. They fight. And, in the most extreme case, they kill.

Society faces an issue that is not usually addressed because it is seen as the norm in today’s American culture. It is the crisis of masculinity. The notion of how men should be portrayed is not usually identified as a problem; today’s society views men’s apathetic and exasperated exterior as the orthodox behavior of everyday life. Boys at a young age are taught by the popular culture that they need to be a “real man” - strong physically and emotionally. The mask many men put up is based on the extreme idea of masculinity that emphasizes toughness, physical strength and gaining the respect of others through violence or the explicit threat of it. This front is put up by men because they do not want to stray from what is accepted, for men who

Males are interesting objects. They have to keep their chest high and stand their ground. Cowboys are supposed to have a beer belly, mustache, long comeback boots, and the upper lip mug on their face. This is how a man’s mentality should always be. Males are known to be tough and not show emotion, “Cowboys are just like a pile of rocks – everything happens to them,” (Ehrlich 1045). No matter how much they get attacked, pushed around, and so on; they are told to just stand there and deal with it. “Take it like a man,” something that is said all the time when a young boy or a grown man tries to show a “feminine” emotion. Emotion is a dull thing to a male and should not be shown. They can only be happy, or mad. There is no in between to that. If sadness is shown, then they will be called weak or a wimp, and being called

Masculinity has changed and evolved since the beginning of human creation. Males have had to adhere to the social norms of their time to survive without undue persecution. In the beginning of the 19th century, there was a shift in the way men could attain manhood. It was no longer easy for a man to enter into manhood with straightforward expectations and rituals. The state of manhood became difficult to obtain because of its precarious nature. During the same period, the industrial revolution was in full bloom giving birth to mass information outlets like newspapers, magazines, and advertisement: media. This set a prevailing state where boys and men alike could gain material on how to become or be men

Masculinity can be defined as the behaviours, social roles, and relations of men within a given society in addition to the meanings that are attributed to them. The term masculinity stresses gender, unlike male, which stresses biological sex. Despite, this we often times see masculinity being represented as directly correlating to men with an inability to adhere to this is shown making you less of a "man". As put by Katz (1999) there is an expectation that men on screen must be void of emotion, not backing down from a fight, tough and an embodiment of the male gaze. Katz (1999) argues that essentially what

They are taught from a young age to man up and be tough in the world. The guy code inforces showing emotion to the public to be very looked upon very heavily. Kimmel inquired that “ No Wonder boys are more prone to depression, suicidal behavior, and various forms of out - of control behaviors than girls are “ (54). In my opinion, I interpret Kimmel’s quote, as he is saying for the constant pressure to follow the code, men are constantly troubled to perfect their self-image from it. Although, Kimmel is addressing how the code only pertains to males, he also is saying that men are actually sensitive, even although in society and in the code, that its not a visible thing for men to be seen emotional and sad, thus this why he makes the point to why men suffer more hurtful with their emotions around others. This is a major problem because men will seek out other ways that can harm them, instead of being able to admit their problems in front of others, despite breaking the code. It's no surprise that men are mainly the ones to not show emotions in public and others, only when in comedy movies or such, its seen more historical and groundbreaking, to witness men show their emotions. Kimmel’s statement is very powerful and makes me believe that there should be something done to break the stigma that men should be allowed to show

The myth that boys in today’s society are encouraged to follow this “Guy Code” in order to be accepted amongst their peers, friends and family members can cause great emotional side effects. In “Bros Before Hos”: The Guy Code” by Michael Kimmel, he did a survey amongst college campuses and the question was simple “what is a man?” and the responses were pretty predictable. A few phrases stood out amongst this “Real Guys Top Ten List”: “ Boys Don’t Cry”, “Size Matters” and “Take It Like A Man” (Kimmel 462). All these phrases feed into this myth that men are to be aggressive and strong at all times. This “Guy Code” that is spoken of is a gathering of values, attitudes and traits that describe what a man is to be (Kimmel 462). Boys in todays day

Connor Beaton, the Ted Talk speaker defines a real man as one who has emotional resilience. The speaker at this point talks about the expressions and emotions of a real man. Beaton lamented, “Being taught that self expression is not what real “man” face today”( Beaton 00:56). Beaton talks about the bitter truth faced by men in today’s society. Men are not supposed to show self expression and are supposed to be tough and strong to be able to withstand any problems and that is being resilient . Self-expression is not for a real man and is only for women . Men can not express themselves in today’s society and Feminism isn’t the death of today’s society . A real man is not supposed to cry or sing as it is only for women in today’s society. This in today’s society defines gender socialization and its effects.The effects are that people expect something from a person but if a he/she does not deliver the same impression, the person is not considered the same and is treated differently.Similarly, Beaton says that a person is a real man if he is emotionally suppressed. Beaton exclaims, “ Emotional suppression creates a culture where men avoid emotion almost entirely. A culture where we stop talking about the truly important things in our lives , a culture where brotherhood and true companionship is discouraged ”(Beaton 09:00). Men according to the society are supposed to be tough and are supposed to

When someone is thinking of a man, what do they think? Strong? Brave? That’s what most people think; in reality that is a very false image. In “Bros Before Hos: The Guy Code,” Michael Kimmel, talks about what it means to be a man and what it takes to be a man in today’s world. Men are pressured into what they “should” be. If they don’t follow certain unwritten rules, which include: not asking for directions, not giving up, not showing fear, or any signs of emotional weakness, such as tears; they are considered less than a man, a wimp. A real man must be aggressive and brave, he must defend his territory: status, family, possessions. Men blindly follow the Guy Code, they must comply in order to be part of the pack, to fit in.

Today in Hip Hop every rapper has to portray themselves as being hard, having a lot of girls in their circle and having money. Since the beginning of the American society being considered a real man was to be able to protect their families. When television came around western films portrayed men as either strong or weak and defined their masculinity as being the stronger man because of their guns. For example in a western movie during a draw two men would be about twenty feet away from each other and whichever man shot the other man first won the draw and was then considered the dominant male and very masculine. Therefore what goes on in rap

    In society today, masculinity is seen as never crying or feeling pain. Emotionless zombies who show no sympathy and have no care in the world are the manliest of them all. Media portrays masculinity in his skewed way. Fight Club is known for its extreme display of the masculine identity. Conformed middle aged men break out of their shells by fighting their peers and proving themselves worthy of

Brad Pitt makes a statement that illustrates the society the modern male is forced to live in, “We are a society of men raised by women.” The film shows the emasculation of the 20th century male, not only by our consumer-oriented society but also by feminine standards of civilization. The best example of this would be the support groups Ed Norton visits. In these support groups, men are told to gather power, strength and courage from each other not from themselves. At the end of the sessions men are told to hold each other and cry, things that are very non-stereotypical of men. The 20th century society does not want men to function independently and be able to be emotionally strong on their own, it does not want men to be men. Society wants to take the very ideals of being a man, independence, strength and courage and only allow for men to experience them

Being a male in today’s society is not about living and enjoyment, it has become more of a task. Social pressures and media have made it difficult for males to live a life in which they are not being pressured to act or perform a certain way. In order to reassure themselves of their masculinity, violence has become the main method in assuring themselves and those around them that they are powerful. Not only is this violence being perpetrated against others, but self-inflicted violence also exists. The violence being used is not only physical but it is emotional abuse as well. Masculinity has forced many males to perform in ways that are detrimental to their own health as well as their loved ones. Furthermore, it has also put males in the

Skinny, blond, ditzy, annoying, un-educated, easy, and considered a typical women. If you’re a women and you hear these words, does it make you think of who you are, or your mother or sisters? I think not…but I do think about the people I see on television and in magazines or in movies. What I want to know is who is writing the scripts for some of the television shows that I watch. I would like to hope that it’s not women putting these stereotypes on their fellow “sisters”.