The Social Construction Of Masculinity

Women today are still battling with the stereotypes given to them many years ago. Women are seen as less than men, they are expected to stay home and take care of the children and absolutely never be more successful than a man. They are not supposed to be seen as the hero in a situation because heroes are seen as masculine men, not women. More shows and movies are starting to fight back against these stereotypes. One show in particular, NCIS or the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, portrays women as strong and successful. It gives women a chance to show how confident they can be in themselves and that they can also be considered the hero. NCIS shows through Abby and Ziva that women can be successful and the hero, which provides women with a strong and heroic role model to emulate.

Historically, men have held every position of power and status in known societies, civilized or otherwise. Men have been the fore-runners, the providers and the respected warriors of every age since the dawn of recorded time. These cultures did not confuse their identities or cultural roles in regards to gender; men were expected to win fame and fortune for themselves and their families, tribes or clans while women were expected to support their men in domesticity and child-rearing. Men knew what was expected of them since birth as they were often surrounded by masculine role-models in their own societies. However, modern masculinity has become something else entirely. Too much has been written about these time periods to rehash any of the

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.

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.

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.

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.

As Ehrmann states in the opening scene, “If you're going to be a man in this world, you better learn how to dominate and control people and circumstances.” This quote summarizes the never-ending goal men must meet in our society. This goal, of maintaining masculinity, has lead to the violence, depression, and confusion among males. In the film, they examine the cause and effect of male gender-policing in our society. Through personal anecdotes and expert testimony, the film sheds light on the painful cost of masculinity in America.

The movie “Tough Guise” examines and evaluates the relationship between cultural and social construction of masculinity and the images we see in mass media and popular culture. The movie recognizes immense violence in America as a product of gendered associated phenomenon, and identifies and explains its connection to cultural codes and ideals of “masculinity”. In the movie, Katz main thesis revolves around the idea: masculinity is created; it does not inherently exist, as opposed to one’s biological sex. Central to his argument is this concept: One may be born as male or female: which is one’s biological identity, but the concept of “masculinity” is a societal and cultural construct. To further empower his thesis he argues that media plays a vital role in dispensing and sustaining this cultural construct.

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

The idea that manhood represents a fixed, inevitable; some natural state of being is a myth. It is a twist in its origin: Men created the concept of “masculinity” in order to cage himself in it. What became a norm for “masculinity” in a society is largely a made cultural frame, not something a male’s shared trait. One way to understand the

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.

This masculinity is socially and culturally endorsed by the society (as noted by Robyn and Wendy) and its granted men benefit in terms of public status and privileges. A fundamental elements of hegemonic masculinity is that women are subordinate to men. Though it is not all men that practice this, but they all benefit from it. This masculinity promote values in men such as courage, inner strength, aggression toughness in mind and body and self reliance

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).

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

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