The Pros And Cons Of Hyper Masculinity

Historically, masculinity in the United States has been constructed as being White Protestant Anglo-Saxon, furthermore heterosexual and in charge of all matters, and this definition sets standards against which other men are measured an evaluated. Michael Kimmel provides a good definition:

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.

The definition of masculinity; Is the fact of being a man or having qualities considered typical of a man.

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

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.

The concept of masculinity has been around for an eminently long time. However, the qualifications for being

All over the world Masculinity has many different cultural definitions. Depending where someone is from, and what they were brought up to believe, defines what the term “masculinity” entails. Different Social institutions all over the United States, such as the military, sports, clubs, and fraternities, have been constructing their interpretation of masculinity. One major social institution that is active in thousands of Universities across the United States is campus fraternities. Campus fraternities create their own sense of masculinity by generating certain requirements and characteristics a man must hold in order to represent them as a part of their fraternity.

Society teaches young boys that they must always be tough and they must hold in their “feminine” feelings, such as crying. Not being able to adequately express emotion causes a build up of unresolved feelings and unfortunately when this build up becomes too high, the most natural outlet is violence. This form of hyper-masculinity contributes to issues of depression and suicide in boys, gun violence and mass shootings, and sexual assault on women because the built up emotions within young boys feeds violence. “Real” boys suffering from depression are taught not to show that emotion. They are taught that it is okay to talk about anger but not okay to talk about sadness because sadness is a “feminine” emotion. Without an outlet to work through sadness, depression brings out aggression and can lead to suicide because boys feel so alone and unable to talk to anyone about the thoughts racing in their head. Likewise, if young men do not take their own lives as a result of built up sadness, they may act out on the public in order to feel control—perhaps with gun violence, mass shootings, or even sexual assault on

In Toxic Masculinity is Killing Men, Kali Holloway discusses the issue of men slowly deteriorating due to their own masculinity. I found Holloway’s article to be both informative and compelling due to her ability to explain, in detail, her views about masculinity along with facts and statistics to back up her argument. I agree with Holloway’s argument that men are so focused on proving their masculinity to not only themselves, but also to everyone else in the world and that it’s taking a toll on their lives. In Toxic Masculinity, Kali Holloway begins her argument by simply stating that masculinity is killing men.

Masculinity versus

Are men and women both equally capable of tears? Also does a man still retain his masculinity if he is seen crying in public? A better question to ask: why is a large emphasis laid on an imaginary/intangible aspect of a man? As described in Dr. Ronald F. Levant's Masculinity Reconstructed, the traditional male norms include: “avoidance of ‘femininity’, restricted emotions, sex disconnected from intimacy, pursuit of achievement and status, self-reliance, strength, aggression, and homophobia” (Levant 12). We live in a society that is changing the role of men and the way they are viewed. For decades the saying, "grown men don't cry," has been drilled into the minds of boys and young men. When is it appropriate to cry? What is a man supposed to

     The well-known concepts of masculinity and femininity run rampant in our society. We live in a world where men are told to be masculine, women are told to be feminine and those who do not do as they are told, will suffer the societal consequences.

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.

“Masculinity is not something given to you, but something you gain. And you gain it by winning small battles with honor,” (Norman Mailer). Masculinity holds a different meaning for everybody. For some people it means being a male, but for others it holds a deeper meaning. For example, my dad believes that in order to have masculinity he must be able to fix everything. He takes on tasks having to do with landscaping, plumbing, lighting, and even interior design; most of the time, he says something along the lines of “I can fix that in a minute” or “I’ve just got to go get the supplies.” He then waits until my mom gets a professional to come do the task, and he claims that “we did not give him enough time to get it done.” My dad, along with my other male friends, feels that since he is a male he needs to prove his masculinity by putting on the act of a handyman.