The Representation Of Gender Masculinity

One of the major themes in Pat barker’s ‘Regeneration’ is gender and masculinity, this is my chosen theme. The novel overall reflects the struggles of World War one soldiers and their attempts to overcome the trauma of war experience. In this essay, I will be exploring ways which Barker represents my chosen themes. By discussing in depth and focusing on homosexuality, parenthood, emasculation, and mutism as a symbol.

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.

Social construction is defined as “a socially created aspect of social life” (Board of studies, 2009, pg.52) and has played a significant role in the way gender roles for males is perceived in society. Masculinity is “the meaning and expressions given to being male and the social organisation of men’s lives and relations” (WHO, 2010, pg.10). Masculinity has adapted throughout the years in regards to how the society that we live in has socially constructed standards for males and how it has affected masculinity. Therefore it has allowed individuals to conform to what society requires males to be. Factors that play a role in the social construction of masculinity are parents/friends, the media, ethnicity and the government.

Usually I have a natural affiliation to viewing texts as a feminist, but recently this has been turned around. Masculinity is often perceived as the ideal trait for a man and this masculinity can be explored through the aspects of dominance, objectification, ownership and the space this dominance has in our society. The masculine lens puts most of its emphasis on strength and dominance, the idea of being able to control others. The epitome of a man's man can assert himself over others often by controlling physical and conscious space. This frequently violent type of masculinity has a huge influence over the feminine as well as creating a feeling of insignificance for men who do not fulfil this type. “Taking a ‘gender perspective' is often assumed to mean highlighting the roles, needs and rights of women and girls – vital to addressing persistent gender inequalities in access to power, influence, resources and security.

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).

Masculinity can range drastically in the level, shape, and or form it takes in each individual’s mind, but this phenomenon is formed as a complex experience through social construction. Masculinity has never been an ideal or a code I found myself reflecting on growing up, but my subconscious was constantly battling the juxtaposition of my experience at home, school, and on basketball teams. These factors would eventually shape my idea of masculinity surrounding home, particularly through the communicative aspects of athletics and academics.

If a person where to go out on the street and ask people that they see to describe the traits that they associate with masculinity, they would likely hear terms such as strength, bravery, or any number of other power-related words; moreover, it is for this reason that sayings such as “be a man” are synonymous with taking control of a situation of facing what a person is afraid of. These concept are not, at first glance, directly dangerous to society, but, when studied more closely, these mainstream ideas of masculinity present themselves to be quite problematic due to the fact that they rely on negative aggressive actions in addition to subverting other groups of people in order to be a true masculine man. To clarify, hegemonic masculinity

Everyone who does not fit the idea of masculinity has been placed in the other category. Kids have a hard time to self-identify themselves because of all the masculine role moles that present themselves in the media. Masculinity has created a structured binary that makes their role the ideal role for society to be. That ideal role is traced back to a long history of old traditions, that society cannot look past. This ideal of masculinity has created complications within gender and sexuality that have made people hold onto heteronormative ideals. The heteronormative ideals have created a privilege society where the white males dominate the world and place everyone who does not fit in their binary into the other people category.

‘Masculinity refers to the social roles, behaviours, and meanings prescribed for men in any given society at any one time… Although we experience gender to be an internal facet of identity, the concept of masculinity is produced within the institutions of society and through our daily interactions (Kimmel 2000)’ . As the type of behaviour and ideals that constitute as masculine vary depending on the social context of the time, the portrayal of masculinity in Beowulf and SGGK (Sir Gawain and the Green Knight) will be somewhat different. Traditional traits that are commonly regarded as fitting with the concept of masculinity include physical prowess, courage, honour and glory, and loyalty. The representation of these traits in the respective two poems will be explored in this essay and it will be argued that while the expectations of masculinity are very similar in both poems, there are some striking differences, particularly a much greater emphasis on the importance of a man achieving glory in Beowulf and a greater regard for life in SGGK.

This difference in oppinions give credence to the idea that gender (more specifically the binary of male and female) is not the the most fundimental aspect of masculinity. Rather it is a specific interpretation of masculinity that makes the male gender masculine; “it is difficult to say that the male body can be objectivley defines and that it exists without cultural influence. The male body has a particualry close connection to cluture and discorse and is one of the main avenues throughout which culture attempts to construct masculinity” (Reeser, 2010, p.91). in terms of generation to generation, the ideals of masculity have change greatly over the last thirty years, from a patriarchal norm to what could be labeled as a more effeminate masculinity. According to John Maclnnes, the “innovations of late modernity have undermined the sexual division of labour and the dominant beliefs which have served to substantiate notions of masculinity” (Whitehead and Barrett, 2001, p.307), and that “the legacies of patriachy and the rationalisaton of male privilege have reached an impasse and we are witnessing...the end of masculinity as a gender iudentity” (ibid, p.27). this idea would suggest that a cultural change is happening that is affecting traditional veiws of

This paper is devoted to the research of masculinity, in particular, to the way men lead conversations, putting major focus on gossiping. For a long time they suggested that gossiping refers exceptionally to females, but the research proves that men gossips much more frequently than women, taking a great pleasure from this process.

In 2014, twenty-four-year-old football player, Michael Sam, was the first openly gay man to be drafted into the NFL. The country rejoiced at the fact that not all gay men were “sissies”. The feminine man stereotype is perceived as bad and negative; yet, most gay men have most likely had at least one “feminine” experience. However, no one knows why, exactly, that is. Why is it that there is a very evident stereotype that all gay men, do traditionally feminine things? Even more so, why is that stereotype mostly true? Where does this stereotype come from? And finally, why is there such a negative stigma? The feminine gay man stereotype has lived on for centuries, and will most likely continue for many more. It is

This dissertation explores an emerging masculinity with an unlikely genesis stemming from a television program called My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. I call this developing form of masculinity “concordant masculinity” which defines itself through harmony by means of collaboration and agreement without coercion or appropriation. This form of masculinity varies from other structures of the term in that it allows for greater gender fluidity and a wider array of gender performances while further fracturing contemporary understandings of traditional masculinity. Simultaneously, concordant masculinity does not dismiss or marginalize other types of masculinity as previous constructs have a tendency to do. Moreover, compromise is a key component

Since the day you’re born, society has told you what you can and cannot play with, wear, and even say.The United States has designed an unrealistic definition of American masculinity. For men, society has told them how they are to fit into society’s mold of masculinity. They are bombarded with rules and restrictions, and are told that if they do not conform to fit the picture of the ideal man, they are deemed “different”, a misfit. Being a “real” man has never been harder, and many people and companies are starting to see that. In recent news, Mattel, the worldwide company that is behind the Barbie doll, is a symbol for young girls and feminism. Recently, the Barbie company has embraced that not only young girls like to play with their dolls but also boys can enjoy them without feeling like their masculinity is being challenged. They released their first commercial that features a boy playing with their newest barbie, “Moschino Barbie.” Their ad allows men of all ages to change the way society defines their masculinity through changing the way “female” activities are viewed. Boys are born loving creatures, but at a very young age they are taught the traits, diminutive language, and mindset that aligns them with society’s concept of what it means to be a man.

How is gender and gender roles socially constructed? Soulliere states that gender is a cultural creation that is frequently developed by and represented through popular cultural media such as advertisements, music, sports, and entertainment television (Soulliere 2006). The article “Wrestling with Masculinity: Messages about Manhood in the WWE” by Danielle M. Soulliere (2006), examines messages about manhood revealed by televised professional wrestling (Soulliere 1). Messages concerning masculinity and manhood were investigated and compared to the cultural version of masculinity (Soulliere 2006). Soulliere’s research proves that the World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) depicts messages, which supports the dominant hegemonic form of masculinity (Soulliere 2006). To further grasp and understand Soulliere’s hypothesis, we must first examine her research methods and outcomes.