1. In Riseman and Seale’s chapter Betwixt and Be Tween, they focus on how sexual identity can be used to police a male’s masculinity. It can start with something as innocent as a shy, quiet boy who starts to be picked on because he is no assertive or aggressive like the other males. The way he is picked on can be the other boy’s called him a: faggot, gay, homo, or boy lover. This means at a young age boys start to think they have to be a certain way to seem manly: assertive, enjoy sports, and be better than girls in all aspects; these are just a few ways boys try to prove their masculinity. One example that proves this was discussed in this chapter. Some students, both male and female, are given a hypothetical situation about a boy, Marcus, …show more content…
One student even said she would not stay friends with Marcus because people might start to think that she is gay, too. Situations like these stem from the way boys think they have to act at such a young age. They are brought up thinking they have to be strong, rowdy, and play manly sports. As they get older this sticks with them, so when a male tries to break outside of it, they get referred to as gay and homosexual. This continues all their life and it effects many situations, like the way men have hook-ups. In the chapter Orgasm in College Hookups and Relationships the authors discuss how 74 percent of their respondents had at least one hookup by their senior year of college. The data also showed that men are almost always at least twenty percent more likely to orgasm than women. However, this is not true when a girl and guy are in a relationship. I think reasons for this could come from how males learn at a young age how masculinity and sexual orientation correlate. This leads to men thinking that the more females they have sex with, the more masculine they are. Also, the women do not orgasm because it is just about the guy having one, then being …show more content…
One of the presentations that I enjoyed the most was Pruva’s presentation on the misconceptions of arranged marriages. Before the presentation I had a negative view on arranged marriages but through the presentation I learned why it is not as bad as people think. The people being set up do not mind it, and 65 percent of Indian students believe that parents should have the final say or their marriage. There was also a study done proving that there is not a difference in happiness levels between arranged marriages verses love marriages. However, there is one thing she should of elaborated on; the definition of arranged marriages. She said arranged marriages are when a third party is involved. This was a little confusing because I am unsure if this means things like friends setting up people count, or if something like online dating websites would count. Though, overall it was a very good and informative presentation. Another presentation I enjoyed was the presentation on the age gap in relationships. I always thought an age gap was around five years or more but really it starts at about ten years. In this presentation I learned that society can make the relationships hard and even cause people to break up. Though, these people are really in love and it is not fair to them for society to negatively judge them. I also liked that she had been in an age gap relationship before so she could understand the emotions better. These presentations make the overall class experience
Boys have to hide their true selves and feelings to fit in, but in society expect men to be both tough and gentle, and be able to express their feeling, try to not hide behind the mask. Regardless, masculinity is an unrealistic expectation of men. Who cares what others think as long as they be their true self. It is apparent through my though that this essay is a good source to research or write an essay and can be teach. This essay helps parents learn more about their children feeling and grow into manhood to become real men.
Jensen provides evidence throughout the text for three assumptions on why masculinity must be terminated from pertaining to just males. It is proposed that masculinity is harmful for both men and women, that men are surrendering their humanity by conforming with masculinity, and
Basically, what one needs to know before proceeding to read through this analysis of gender development is that gender identity refers to “one’s sense of oneself as male, female, or transgender” (American Psychological Association, 2006). When one’s gender identity and biological sex are not congruent, the individual may identify as transsexual or as another transgender category (cf. Gainor, 2000). Example, Jennifer in the book, She's Not There: A Life in Two Genders, who brought us through the struggle of living a transgendered life from start to finish. Also, the formation of gender identity is influenced by social factors, such as family, friends, the environment, etc. For example, fathers tend to be more involved when their sons engage in gender-appropriate activities such as playing baseball or soccer rather than wanting to become a dancer or a cheerleader.
There a many definitions of masculinity and those definitions are heavily influenced by culture, environment, media, and the child’s parents. When young men start to reach their sexual maturity, they have to create their own definition of what it is to be a man. The idea of masculinity creates a lot of questions, because there is no resource that will give a young male the answer. Due to this, young males learn what it is to be a man from a grab bag of possibilities. Eventually, the young male will have accumulated traits, appearances, behavior, and so on that defines what it is to be a man. With a new sense of self, the young male transforms into his idea of masculinity. In the Maltase Flacon, masculinity is defined through the actions of Sam Spade whom demonstrates the masculine principals of making his achievement of alpha male status a top priority, aggressive behavior, avoiding being feminine, homophobic, and restriction of his emotions (Meek) through his interaction with several characters throughout the film.
His work also sheds light on why different gender roles are hard for people to accept, due to the way they were brought up, and the culture they are surrounded by (Devor 8). With the belief that gender role behaviors are concrete, teenage boys believe that they must act according to their gender.
Gaunte challenges the perceived benefits from engaging in hegemonic masculinity and its relevance to a person’s well being. Benefits are strictly social, whereas the costs are internal and limits how one can behave based on guidelines of masculinity. The phrase “man up” imposes gender expectations, exaggerating perceived differences between men and women such as physical strength and emotional absence. Mora concludes that puberty is a social accomplishment because boys can enact hegemonic masculinity, but Gaunte evokes the alternative where boys do not enact hegemonic masculinity and are penalized for it. Due to society’s expectations of engaging in masculinity, a boy’s freedom to express himself is limited, and being “strong in a way that isn’t about physical power or dominance” implies femininity (Gaunte). This is important because criticisms toward marginalized masculinities lead to internalized self-hatred that is projected onto self and relationships. Gaunte emphasizes the importance of addressing problems that arise from this, such as boys committing suicide, women being assaulted, and trans people being
E: Moreover, I also wanted to bring up this notion of compulsive heterosexuality, which is when boys force themselves to be “manly” to reassert their herterosexuality and masculinity to themselves and to their peers.
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.
In Kimmel’s essay “’Bros Before Hos’: The Guy Code” he argues that the influence of society on masculinity is equal to or greater than biological influences on masculinity. In the essay, Kimmel uses various surveys and interviews to validate his argument. He points to peers, coaches, and family members as the people most likely to influence the development of a man’s masculinity. When a man has his manliness questioned, he immediately makes the decision never to say or do whatever caused him to be called a wimp, or unmanly. Kimmel’s argument is somewhat effective because the readers get firsthand accounts from the interviewees but the author does not provide any statistics to support his argument.
In an excerpt from his book, Guyland: The Perilous World Where Boys Become Men, which was first published in 2008, sociologist Michael Kimmel shows us how the teaching of masculinity in America begins to form at a very young age and goes far into adulthood. He focuses on how boys are molded from a young age to be men, by forms of harassment, teasing, and peer pressure from parents, relatives, friends, teachers, and society. In this specific essay, Kimmel explains the pressures young boys experience and the expectations as they grow into manhood. Kimmel vividly describes men who are pressured by their own peers to prove their masculinity. Furthermore, there is a relentless sense of having to show ones ' 'manly ' ' behavior. Masculinity is expected, and needs to be shown in-front of others at all times. For most men, being able to do
‘Dude, You’re a Fag’: Adolescent Masculinity and the Fag Discourse - C. J. Pascoe 2005
Evidence shows that students tend to overestimate the sexual permissiveness of their peers (Barriger, & Velez-Blasini, 2013; Lambert et al., 2003). Similarly, quite often, in regards to the topic of hooking up, individuals engaged in pluralistic ignorance; that is, they attributed much higher perceptions of hookup encounters to their friends and students than to themselves (Hoffman et al., 2014).
...ve begins generating rumors for male peers who do not qualify as a stereotypical male. For instance, Olive pretends to have sex with a male peer during a popular house party (Gluck, 2010). This imaginary hook-up benefits the male peer’s bullying dilemma. Again, gender policing occurs between men when masculinity is questioned (Kimmel, 2008). “One survey found that most Americans boys would be rather be punched in the face than called gay” (Kimmel, 2000, p.77). The gender police govern Olive’s and the male peer’s status in social standings. America’s obsession with sex disregards if a girl truly sleeps around.
As a child develops, their surroundings have a major influence on the rest of their lives; if boys are taught to “man up” or never to do something “like a girl”, they will become men in constant fear of not being masculine enough. Through elementary and middle school ages, boys are taught that a tough, violent, strong, in-control man is the ideal in society and they beat themselves up until they reach that ideal. They have to fit into the “man box” (Men and Masculinity) and if they do not fulfill the expectations, they could experience physical and verbal bullying from others. Not only are friends and family influencing the definition of masculine, but marketing and toys stretch the difference between a “boy’s toy” and a “girl’s toy”. Even as early as 2 years old, children learn to play and prefer their gender’s toys over the other gender’s (Putnam). When children grow up hearing gender stereotypes from everyone around them, especially those they love and trust like their parents, they begin to submit themselves and experience a loss of individuality trying to become society’s ideal. If everyone is becoming the same ideal, no one has a sense of self or uniqueness anymore and the culture suffers from
In actuality, many black students are abstaining from hook up culture. Also a 2013 study presented at the annual meeting of the American Sociological Association finds that only a small fraction of college students have had more than one partner in the past year (Szalavitz). This research would contradict the claim of hook up culture being the predominate culture on campus. If hook up culture is simply a sub culture, the power of social stigma is significantly less for students who don’t participate. The negative consequences that may be experienced by women is only happening to a small fraction of wealthy white women (Heldman). Kelly argues that students who choose to remove themselves from the hookup culture run into social difficulties, because other student still engrained in hook up culture presume their platonic signals as sexual. While they may have social misunderstanding because these individuals interpret interactions differently these misunderstandings should not be perceived as something to be avoided. Embracing cultural diversity will result in misunderstanding and miscommunication. When students who participate in hookup culture interact with those who aren’t it is a mutually beneficial learning experience which may be uncomfortable and awkward but not harmful to