Stop for a moment and think what if homophobia didn’t really mean what we think it means. What if it really meant the opposite? Michael S. Kimmel’s essay “Masculinity as Homophobia” explains that homophobia is actually the fear of being perceived as gay. Yes, this might come as a shock to some people, but let’s see why this actually might make sense. This essay discusses that men in order to look as manly as possible, they act in very different ways, and sometimes they even exaggerate their behaviors (103). According to Kimmel men are afraid of being humiliated by other men and they would rather jeopardize their health just to preserve their masculinity (105). The author states that society has a great impact on how one should behave in order to be perceived e real men. That’s why I deeply agree with Kimmel’s general idea that homophobia is actually the fear of being …show more content…
What I mean by this is that when men act violently they are trying to prove their masculinity. For example a friend of mine beat up a classmate when he called him “gay”. This example helps support the topic sentence because it shows that my friend was so afraid of being perceived as gay that he would rather get in trouble for fighting at school. Another example that I have is that of my cousin. Everybody knew him as the toughest guy of the neighborhood and he build his reputation by using violence. Whoever didn’t respect him usually ended up in the hospital. When I asked him why he was always so violent he explained me that in that area that’s the only way you can show that you are a man, that’s how others respect you, when you are stronger than them. These examples show that when someone’s manhood is brought to question, violence is one of the ways that they prove their masculinity. So by these examples we can clearly see that Kimmel’s ideas are still true to today’s
When Katz interviews inmates in prison, many of them say that the reason why they use violence is that it is the quickest way to achieve respect. The idea behind respect is that it is a circle. When one wants to achieve respect, in some cases, they use violence to develop it, but to establish respect, one has to show their masculinity. Many times masculinity is achievable only through violence, which then completes the casual loop. The sociological idea of sociobiology, the study of social behavior in both humans and animals, can be applied to this scenario since humans have the incessant need to be socially accepted by their peers. For instance, many gang initiations involve an act of violence, and if one does not go through with the task at hand, the individual will lose the respect of every member. Therefore, males will show their masculinity to their peers to gain their respect. While I do agree with the notion that every person has to prove themselves to others, the idea of establishing respect through violence is not the answer. While it is the fastest way to achieve masculine approval, it is also the fastest way to lead one down a path that they cannot come back. While violence is not the answer, if one does not establish their masculinity, many often comment that they are not a man, but feminine instead. This transitions into how one tries to prove their
Boys are influenced by many of their coaches in life; brothers and fathers telling them they must be tough and show no pain, teachers who expect them to work hard at everything they do, and in the back of their minds are their mothers who worry about them over extending and getting hurt. Kimmel asked a few men in their 20’s, “where do young men get these ideas” (the Guy Code), they all gave the same answers: their brothers, fathers, and coaches. One mentioned that his father would always be riding him, telling him that he must be tough to make it in this world, another said his brothers were always ragging on him, calling him a “pussy” because he didn’t want to go outside and play football with them. He just wanted to stay in and play Xbox. Yet another said that whenever he got hurt his coach would mock and make fun of him because he was showing his feelings. The world is a very competitive for men, they believe they must always prove themselves to other men. Men get pressured into doing things they don’t want to do. Men shouldn’t be pressured they should be able to do what they want to
Language is a powerful tool. The artful manipulation of language has sparked countless revolutions and has continuously fueled social progression over the course of human history. In Carmen Vàzquez’s “Appearances,” Vàzquez argues that homophobia is a serious concern in society. She rallies for all people, regardless of sexual orientation, to challenge society’s unyielding gender roles and homophobia. Through the art of persuasion, Carmen Vàzquez blended careful diction, emotional stories, and persuasive structure to aggressively address the problem of homophobia both coherently and effectively.
The results reflect opinions from people in the general public who support his argument. The fact that he took the time to conduct these interviews shows that he is informed on the topic and is trying to gather credible information to support his argument. He also quotes social psychologist Robert Brannon’s four basic rules of masculinity in the text. This shows Kimmel took the time to research the topic and learned from the work of other researchers. The author acknowledges the expectations that society has for a man to be considered masculine but he does not think society should have these expectations. Kimmel does not reveal his masculinity or lack of in this essay, so we cannot be sure if his character influenced this writing. If he were extremely masculine he would probably be more likely to side with society’s views but if he were more on the feminine side he would be more likely to oppose society’s views. Kimmel has some credibility because of his use of interviews and surveys but lacks some credibility because of the lack of statistical data on this
Kimmel supported his opinions mainly with quotes. He interviewed many guys and one woman from several colleges. He also took inspiration from other works. He quoted social psychologist Robert Brannon’s four rules of masculinity to explain how he came to create his own “Guy Code.” Barry, on the other hand, used his own life as evidence. He wrote anecdotes about his computer and about a dumb running challenge. He also used an analogy towards the end of his introduction. To explain how men deal with morals, he told a story about his dog digging through the
Homophobia does affect out society’s norms that then impacts women and men lives in our society. In
Hegemonic masculinity is the belief in the existence of a culturally normative ideal of male behavior. This ideal among other things includes the belief that men should be big, strong, and athletic. Sports, especially contact sports, reinforce this idea, as an athlete is seen as the ideal of what it means to be a man. The general belief associated with gay men is that they posses none of these traits and are thought to be feminine. These normative beliefs are not the case and are actually st...
In the past decades, the struggle for gay rights in the Unites States has taken many forms. Previously, homosexuality was viewed as immoral. Many people also viewed it as pathologic because the American Psychiatric Association classified it as a psychiatric disorder. As a result, many people remained in ‘the closet’ because they were afraid of losing their jobs or being discriminated against in the society. According to David Allyn, though most gays could pass in the heterosexual world, they tended to live in fear and lies because they could not look towards their families for support. At the same time, openly gay establishments were often shut down to keep openly gay people under close scrutiny (Allyn 146). But since the 1960s, people have dedicated themselves in fighting for
Aaron Devor’s essay “Becoming Members of Society: Learning the Social Meanings of Gender” describes how despite popular belief, gender and sex are not directly related and how social norms affect individual’s choice of gender. Devor‘s main argument is that gender is not determined by genitalia, but instead by the individual's own choices. Michael Kimmel’s essay “Masculinity as Homophobia” claims that gender equality is a positive thing for males and that social norms force men to act a certain way. Kimmel’s main argument is that men are always having to protect their masculinity in order to prevent themselves from appearing weak. Both authors present compelling arguments for both gender equality and for how social norms influence individuals’ gender choice. However, the two authors approach the same topic in different ways. Kimmel takes a more laid-back approach to the topic by using simple words and a conversational tone that relates to the casual gender sociologist. Devor writes a more sophisticated essay using complex terms and a more formal tone that relates to the serious sociologist that research gender studies.
Jackson Katz is the founder of Mentors in Violence Prevention which is an education program that has been focused on military and sporting organizations in attempts to put a halt on gender violence. Other than being an educator, Katz is also an author and filmmaker. In 2013, he produced the film Tough Guise 2. In this film, Katz reviews the normalization of male jurisdiction in America. The film looks at the messages of gun violence, sexism, and bullying that are sent to men throughout their entire life. Tough Guise 2 argues the statement that male brutality is a rooted back to our cultural standards of manhood. A pivotal point of the film is that a male’s masculinity is not just handed to them, it must be earned. During the course of the film, this point is supported by examples such as gun violence, homophobic messages and mass shootings.
If a man possesses the masculinity that society claims he should have, he may still experience many emotional issues within himself. After a man has been taught that domination is the key, they may develop a sense of aggression. Aggression may also follow the fact they men hold all of their feelings into to protect themselves from the schemas. Men have been seen to use violence in their past to solve their issues. In the documentary, one of the prisoners in the group session spoke about how he was in jail because all of his emotions that had been bottled up become uncontrollable in one instance. If a boy or a man does not contain the masculinity expected, he may become bullied and out-casted. The continuation of discrimination toward a boy may cause suicidal thoughts. On top of being bullied for not being a powerful man, he may still be trying to hold in his emotions to prove that he
The Web. 12 May 2014. Fone, Byrne. A. Homophobia: A History of the.
He gives little credibility to the "not all men statement, addressing that while informative on an oppositional attitude, it does not do anything to address the sometimes toxic aspect of growing up as a man. The two stories are alike in the sense that people agree men can be, and sometimes are, violent. There are certain expectations placed upon a man as he grows and strives to be masculine. However, the stories diverge on a course of action.
Over the course of history, the definition of manhood has changed and morphed according to society’s rules. In his essay “Masculinity as Homophobia,” number four in The Matrix Reader, Michael Kimmel tackles the truth about what manhood has become and how society has challenged the meaning of homophobia. He begins with an analysis of history, and then proceeds to relate masculinity and homophobia to power, women, and violence. Manhood had not always existed; it was created through culture. Depending on the era, masculinity has a different meaning.
When one hears the words “LGBT” and “Homosexuality” it often conjures up a mental picture of people fighting for their rights, which were unjustly taken away or even the social emergence of gay culture in the world in the 1980s and the discovery of AIDS. However, many people do not know that the history of LGBT people stretches as far back in humanity’s history, and continues in this day and age. Nevertheless, the LGBT community today faces much discrimination and adversity. Many think the problem lies within society itself, and often enough that may be the case. Society holds preconceptions and prejudice of the LGBT community, though not always due to actual hatred of the LGBT community, but rather through lack of knowledge and poor media portrayal.