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Social construction of masculinity and feminity
Social theoretical perspective on masculinity
Masculinity a socially constructed concept
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Abstract: The purpose of this study is to take the study of Geert Hofstede’s Masculinity index of countries and apply them to the individual states of the United States. This will apply the different cultural dimensions that Hofstede used to rank the countries. While not every criteria can be applied, similar ones will be used to create a Masculinity index for the United States.
One of my favorite movies growing up was “The Sandlot.” It’s a coming of age story of a group of neighborhood boys, who love to play baseball. The movie is set in the early 1960s, and spans the length of one summer. The Sandlot boys spent the summer playing baseball, getting into trouble and learning the true meaning of friendship. Of course, in the movies, whenever
The concept of masculinity is considered as the qualities and characteristics of a man, typical what is appropriate to a man. In this article, A Community Psychology of Men and Masculinity: Historical and Conceptual Review, The author Eric S. Mankowski and Kenneth I. Maton, analyze four main themes: "Men as gendered beings, the privilege and damage of being a masculine man, men as a privileged group, and men’s power and subjective powerlessness. The second and fourth themes are described as
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.
She taught at universities both in Australia and the United States. Connell highly disagreed that the ideas about what established masculinity are ethically definite. In other words, masculinity is important to whom is referred to. For example, “if women are seen as weak, passive and emotional, then men are supposed to be strong, aggressive, and rational” (Seidman, 221). Additionally, masculinity is based on how people interact with each other in which correlates with their race, class, and sexuality. With this said, Connell said, “to recognize diversity in masculinity: relations of alliance, dominance and subordination… This is a gender politics within masculinity” (Seidman, 223). To point out Connell’s theorizing masculinity, she believes that diversity defines masculinity has its own relationships with authorities. In our text, Seidman gave a brief example of how the roles carry out to the social authority such as President, Senator, CEO, General, media executive, or surgeon. It is stated that while there are many senators, executives, or CEOs who are women, it is definite identify as masculinity because people think those high authorities is only for a male role. In our text, Connell has mentioned that “every society has a dominant or a “hegemonic” type of masculinity” (223). This means that she believes men has the power or control type of their masculinity in the
Kimmel, Michael S. "Masculinity as Homophobia: Fear, Shame, and Silence in the Construction of Gender Identity." Theorizing Masculinities. Ed. Harry Brod, and Michael Kaufman. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, Inc., 1994. 119-42. SAGE knowledge. Web. Research on Men and Masculinities Series. 5 May 2014.
While we tend to look at the world in a gendered fashion, there are differences in what’s considered masculine and feminine. In addition to varying from person to person, the concepts of masculinity and femininity also vary across time periods, across different cultures, and even across the span of an individual’s life. Kimmel pluralizes these terms to “acknowledge that masculinity and femininity mean different things to different groups of people at different times” (Kimmel; 10). He goes on further to reference sociologist R. W. Connell’s explanation of hegemonic masculinity, which states that it is “constructed in relation to various subordinated masculinities as well as in relation to women” (Kimmel; 10). In an article by Connell, he describes
... E Glenn, and Nancy B Sherrod. The psychology of men and masculinity:Research status and future directions. New York: John Wiley and sons, 2001.
One of my favorite movies of all time is the Sandlot. This has been one of my favorites ever since I was a little girl. Which might be weird for most young girls to like a movie about baseball, but I loved watching it with my family. It was a movie that we all enjoyed. The movie starts when Scottie smalls moves to a new neighborhood towards the end of the school year. He wanted to make some new friends before summer started. One day after school, Scottie follows a group of kids to the sandlot and we watched them play baseball. Scottie did not know how to play baseball, but the group he followed friended Scottie and taught him how to play baseball. The boys caught themselves in a bit of a pickle, when Scottie barrows his step dad’s baseball,
Brannon, Linda. "Chapter 7 Gender Stereotypes: Masculinity and Femininity." Gender: Psychological Perspectives. 4th ed. Boston: Pearson/Allyn and Bacon, 2005. 159-83. Print.
Masculinity is a subject that has been debated in our society for quite some time. Many wonder what it means to be masculine, as it is difficult to define this one –sided term. Pairing this already controversial term with “feminist studies” can bring about some thought - provoking conversation. Feminist studies of men have been around for many years with regards to the feminist movement. It seeks to create gradual improvements to society through its main principle of modifying the ways in which everyone views what it means to be a man. Feminist studies of men bring forth the discussion of hegemonic masculinity; how this contributes to the gender hierarchy, the radicalized glass escalator and ultimately the faults of this theory.
The "Femininity/Masculinity" Encyclopedia of Sociology. New York: Macmillan, n.d. 1-21. Web.
In the views of Micheal Kimmel “hegemonic masculinity” is a socially constructed process where men are pressured by social norms of masculine ideals to perform behaviors of a “true man” and its influence on young male’s growth. It is the ideology that being a man with power and expressing control over women is a dominant factor of being a biological male. The structure of masculinity was developed within the 18th to 19th century, as men who owned property and provided for his family with strength related work environments was the perfect example of being a generic “American man.” Kimmel introduces Marketplace Manhood and its relation to American men. He states, “Marketplace Masculinity describes the normative definition of American masculinity.
When we first began watching this film I did not expect anything emotional or deep. Hyper-masculinity and what it means to “be a man” is a hard pill to swallow for most young men. I think that the hardest moment was watching this film is the realization that many of these perceptions were true and that I participated in them regardless whether I wanted to or not. The portion with the teacher and his students was tough to watch. Many people in my high school were filled with frustration, anger and were unable to show their emotions because of societal standards. I had many friends, including me that were raised with this language of hyper-masculinity. I know for a fact that I had the one of those coaches that the film talked about.. I could
To most, the concept of hegemonic masculinity seems vague, but yet it still penetrates the lives of every individual in Western society. And while not everyone is aware of the term “hegemonic masculinity”, if you ask any child, youth, or adult what “being a man” is, they would likely give similar stereo-typical descriptions of hegemonic masculinity. Hegemonic masculinity is defined as ‘the configuration of gender practice which [allows] the dominant position of men and the subordination of women’ (Connell, 2005, p. 77). Thus, in our Western world, there already exists a defined way we see masculinity, through the concept of hegemonic masculinity.
We live in a world where society has defined masculine and famine characteristics and features that have influenced our culture. Men are seen as:
There have been many scholars who have pondered the question of what masculinity really is and how do we define it as a society. Often the question is gender something we really do, do we each shape the course for ourselves or are we molded into a predominate shape? To even begin the long debate to answer questions such as these, one needs to look at the individual role and at the role that institutions have on us.