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Guyland
By Jeters42 | Studymode.com
Jens Jeters
3/12/12
Ms. Paez
Soci 101 M/W
“Guyland”
Michael Kimmel investigates “Guyland” where young boys socially interact as “guys”. Michael shows how these young men are stuck between youth and adulthood. As a sociologist at State University of New York of Stony Brook, Michael has perfected his specialty in gender studies. Born in 1951, Michael has published dozens of gender articles and books known in the sociology community. As a spokesperson for the “National Organization for Men Against Sexim (NOMAS), he has lectured over 200 colleges and universities” (stony brook). Guyland was published in 2008 and I will discuss the main points of “who these guys are”, “the babes in Guyland” then conclude why guys socially interact this way.
Exactly who are these boy’s representing Guyland? “Males between 16 and 26 that number
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In that period of extended adolescence, young men tend to avoid the tasks of growing up or even starting their life-long career’s. Hoffman believes that the expression “boys will be boys” is outdated and an unsafe way to deal with the social interaction of these young boys today. There has to come a point where “we must intervene if we want our boys to become men and not just ‘guys’” (Hoffman). The title can be misleading, and thought to be more focused on the college campus culture. Not so much of the 16 to 26 age gap with all white males- accordingly to …show more content…
Of all the fundamental factors girls, kids, jobs, and teachers that the guys could not have been hassled by. With Kimmel conveying hundreds of interviews across the country, lecturing at hundreds of colleges, he is satisfied with the social gender book,
For example the book in chapter 8 offers a con by talking about lack of relationships, and if guys are in relationships, they put in little effort. Guyland implies guys have as much sex as possible and watching porn reassures masculinity. I believe that’s not totally true, everyone is different and has unique way of approaching relationships. “Timid guys sometimes have a tendency to give older; more so called “popular” guys the power to define themselves, thus making their role in society greater” says Austin (pseudonym). Positively, Michael Kimmel offers a view into the minds of America 's sons, brothers, and boyfriends, and works toward redefining what it means to be a man today and tomorrow. Only by understanding this world and this life stage can we enable young men to chart their own paths, to stay true to themselves, and to travel safely through Guyland, emerging as responsible and fully formed men of integrity and
Since the advent of the word “sexist”, the label itself has carried numerous negative connotations, regardless of whether or not it has been applied to the male or female set. This idea of the modern teenager became initiated by the proliferation of visible sex symbols in the 1950’s such as Elvis Presley and Marilyn Monroe and has since become increasingly more prevalent in American society. While the connotations may be well deserved, we as culture rarely seem to remember that most stereotypes are originated as a result of an observed pattern in the behavior of certain groups of people. John Updike is merely trying to embody the mind of the modern American teenage male in “A&P”, and not expressing his own opinion as to whether the thoughts going through Sammy’s mind are acceptable or not.
Enter into any café on the UCSC campus for a prolonged period of time and you are likely to hear the words “gender is a social construct”. Initially you’ll think to yourself, “what a load of granola” this is an expected reaction because for most people the concept of “gender” is natural. Its not until you are able to see how the idea of gender is constructed from physiological differences between males and females as discussed by researcher Miller AE and his team of scientists. Or how men possess great privilege because of gender roles, and women are seen as objects, that you will truly be able to understand that gender is nothing but a social contract. Authors Gloria Anzaldúa, Marjane Satrapi, and Virginia Woolf discuss in their novels Borderlands,
The Sociologist and the Movie Man Gerry Garibaldi, a high school teacher, and Michael Kimmel, a professor of sociology, both explain how the consequences of the feminist movement are harming boys in school and later in life. Kimmel and Garibaldi present their views on the gender education problems in their articles “How Schools Shortchange Boys” and “A War Against Boys”. Both make passionate arguments and prove that boys are at a disadvantage in modern feminized classrooms. Kimmel’s arguments about the problems boys face in the American educational system are more convincing than Garibaldi’s, because his style of argumentation is more objective, supported by more statistics, and provides an unbiased restatement of opposing views. Garibaldi shares his professional experience in order to prove that boys are the ones who are being short changed in schools today.
In Devor’s article, “Becoming Members of Society: Learning the social Meanings of Gender” one can better understand how society has a big impact on how gender is perceived. Understanding
It is a widely accepted notion that social context and setting is very dependent upon gender. However, the converse is what appears to be true. Sex is biological and static, however gender is a social construct that is almost entirely dependent upon the social context in which it is placed. Contrary to what is often believed, gender is an idea that society constructs and students learn at a very early age. Once gender roles are learned, it can be incredibly damaging to act out of these roles because peer criticism as well as sheer belittlement will likely ensue. In Learning Silence by Peggy Orenstein, and Pascoe’s Dude, You’re a Fag: Masculinity and Sexuality in High School, this reality that gender is dependent upon social context is discussed. More specifically, male masculinity and its dependency on femininity, or in any case, a lack of masculinity.
An article entitled “How Boys Become Men,” written by Jon Katz was originally published in January, 1993 in Glamour, a magazine for young women. This article details the process of a boy growing into a man and mainly focus on the lesson boys learn that effect their adult lives. These lessons are about how to hold back emotions and never appeared sensitive. The author includes examples of his own experiences as a boy to convey to the reader the challenges of growing into a man. Through the various stories of young boys, the author is trying to prove that the men are insensitive because they had to learn to hide their feelings during the stage of growing up with other boys. The purpose of the author is to explain the women of the world, why men appear to be emotionalist and “macho.” The author’s main idea of this article is to explain why men are insensitive and to help women understand why men sometimes seem “remote” and “uncommunicative.”
In the Washington post the essay “Why Schools Are Failing Our Boys” relates to the study of the “boy problem” Fink’s concern is that boys have a harder time in school causing them to drop out or not to go on to college. I agree with Fink’s concern because of the mistreatment of genders and the pressure put on students as a whole. Based on class readings it has been illustrated that throughout history boys felt as though school made them feel less masculine. From what I have personally seen in school, boys are constantly being told to “man up”. I feel as though boys are expected to act a certain way and all students are expected to conform to a certain type of learning. Fink’s truthful experience through her son is an accurate model on how
Wood, J. T. (2013). Gendered lives: communication, gender & and culture (10th ed.). Boston, MA: Wadsworth Cengage Learning.
The topic of gender is always a heart-wrenching debacle, but when authors like Kilbourne and Kimmel displays the topics, it shows they are fully aware of the audience, matching it with the correct purpose and stance. They know which types of appeals are most appropriate for captivating the audience’s attention as well. All these elements combined together create an article that surely compels the reader to think twice about women in ads, or regular men, hiding their emotions.
Gender inequality is prevalent in all major societies. The way that I would describe gender inequality is the unequal and unfair treatment between the two sexes. Sex makes up the biological differences of male or female. While gender is learned through social interactions and behaviors applied to the sexes. As a result, from a very early age, we are taught to follow certain gender expectations. For this reason, I agree with the statement that inequality is the result of gendered systems in which we live. I will evaluate certain chapters by Michael Kimmel in his book Gendered Society, to help show how we use certain concepts learned from society to run our lives. In today’s society children are raised to be a certain gender and they are expected to perform certain gender roles.
American society needs to break from the mold of the myth of gender, which suggests that society and culture dictate our roles as men and women, as can only restrict us into unnecessary conformity. The opinion of society should no longer decide who we are, what we do, and what we’re capable of doing. We, as Americans, need to deeply analyze and question this fallacy of gender and the way it restricts us at home, in the media, and in the classroom. If we continue to follow the invisible guidelines of in invisible rulebook, we’re destined to hurt ourselves and our future generations by remaining nestled into our cultural cocoons and never shedding them.
According to Kimmel, Guyland is a different world where young men live. It is not a way of life, but simply just a stage. It only occurs for a certain period of time, between adolescence and adulthood. It is a place where guys can go to connect with other guys unbothered by their parents, jobs, kids, girlfriends, and other external factors. Kimmel labels it the "Peter-pan mindset" because the guys involved seemingly have their mind set on boyhood with the struggle of acting like a man. Five characteristics that can be attributed to "guyland" are: people from the ages of sixteen through 20, they often times stop talking to their parents whom they believe "just don't get it", middle-class kids, college bound or in college, they live with other
Kimmel, Michael S, Amy Aronson, and Michael S Kimmel. The Gendered Society Reader. New York: Oxford University Press, 2004.
The social construction of gender leads to the creation and sustainment of sex roles that we have been taught to adhere to since birth that results to social doings through the creation of gender – who we talk, how we dress and who we associate with. Men are taught to masculine qualities like not crying and women are taught to do feminine characteristics like playing with dolls and wearing dresses. A prime example of this is in the article written my Diane Reay, that analyzes the construction female behavior, where those who identified as “girlies” care about their appearance and we regarded to as stupid by their classmates. Those who challenged the feminine norms, where referred to as “spice girls” and labeled as bitches or little cows by their teachers because they where thought to be negative influences to the rest of the class. Reay states that, “boys maintain the hierarchy of social superiority of masculinity by devaluing the female world,” (Reay, 2014, pg. 257) by esteeming males over females, it creates gendered expressions that depict once gender more promising that the other in society, where self-declared tomboy Jodie stated that, “Girls can be good, bad or- best of all – they can be boys,” (Reay, 2014, pg. 257) which solidifies the social norm of males being better than