"Fear of Being Different"

People associate being homophobic with the idea that people are afraid of gays. The question is what would a gay do to straight men to make them be so afraid? The problem is not of being afraid of them, but appearing to be less of a man in our society to others. If a man is homophobic he will do anything he can to, oppress gays and not be associated with them. Society then starts to oppress gays, and if men are seen as gay, they are seen as less of a man. Our society is structured to believe that men are supposed to be a certain way and if a man does not follow this normalcy he is then seen as less of a man.

“Masculinity as Homophobia” by Michael S. Kimmel states that masculinity could be transformed into homophobia. Kimmel questions what a man is supposed to be like, but what if a man is different than the status quo “normalcy”? If a man is not seen as masculine but seen as feminine, he is normally cast as a gay because that is how our society sees men. When a guy is seen as a gay, than straight men are the ones that have power over them. If people of color are asked who is in power, they will say that white straight men have all the power, but if society is to ask men themselves, they do not think they have power. This is due to the fact they have never been oppressed and don't know what it means to truly be undermined by someone else.

At a very young age, a boy would have the pressure of masculinity. An example of this would be the toys a child would play with. Society would say that this boy should play with cars, Legos, and play outside. What if this boy wants to play indoors with dolls? This would be seen as abnormal and the child would be categorize by society and peers as gay. The dad will try to protect his son an av...

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...a relentless test by which we prove to other men, to women and ultimately to ourselves, that we have successfully mastered the part. The restlessness that men feel today is nothing new in American history; we have been anxious and restless for almost two centuries. (108)

Men want to prove to themselves that they are masculine because anything less is not seen as normal and nobody wants to be different that is what depicted in society. A man does not want to be seen as less of a man because he would be categorized as feminine. Once he is feminine he is either seem as a gay or close to a women; both of these are seen as inferior to a straight man. He is forever then trapped between a rock and a wall, where society is the rock. The rock can be big or small depending on how society views the idea of being feminine. Every society has a different way of treating feminism.