Based on all the readings, videos, and class discussions we have had in class, I realized that there are a number of problems and issues within our culture that still need to be addressed. Prior to taking this class, I assumed that a major problem in our society in association with gender, sex, and sexuality was the fact that women are still treated unequally. However, women are not the only victims that are forced into stereotypical ideologies, men are too. I believe men are confronted with just as much pressure to be a “man.” With that being said, a key problem within our culture that we need to address is the gendered norms and expectations men are held accountable for in order to be seen as a man.
Typically, people associate manhood as a quality that one has or does not have and the ability to prove their masculinity. Men are constantly testing themselves, performing heroic feats, taking enormous risks just so that other men can grant them their manhood (Kimmel 129). This continuous battle to prove their masculinity pressures a number of men to do so that when they do not, they feel as if they failed in being a man. Thus, men are using their masculinity as a defense mechanism against the threat of humiliation in the eyes of other men (Kimmel 135). In other words, they are afraid to admit fragility and to be seen as a wimp because of the repercussions they may face from their peers and society in general. To help change this mindset we need to allow everyone, men and women, to freely express who they are. We need to teach our children that it is okay if they do not meet the defined expectations society has laid out for them to follow.
We also need to address and discourage the repercussions men face from teasing, ...
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...Law Review. 38 (2004): 345-350. Print.
Gerson, Kathleen. No Man's Land: Men's Changing Commitments to Family and Work. New York, New York: Basic Books, 1993. 325-334. Print.
Kimmel, Michael S. “Masculinity as Homophobia: Fear, Shame, and Silence in the Construction of Gender Identity.” Theorizing Masculinities. By Harry Brod and Michael Kaufman. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, 1994. 119-41. Print.
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Shaw, Susan M., and Janet Lee. “Learning Gender.” Women's Voices, Feminist Visions: Classic and Contemporary Readings. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2012. 105-21. Print.
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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
Zeilinger believes that not only women suffer from oppressive gender roles. Men often suffer just as much if not more. She seeks to expose the issues men face in todays society. Guys do have emotions, and when they come, they must face a big dilemma. They can either disconnect from their human emotions or live in a “state of contradiction” against their “manliness.” The traits that traditionally come with being a man are harmful to society. They are expected to be “cunning and take power and control instead of sharing it.” Men must be willing to point out weaker men in order to be above them. Zeilinger points out the adverse effect this mainstream mentality has. Guys are afraid to stray from the strict rules of manliness. If men go against the common standards they risk losing their identity as men. Those who choose to not follow these social norms are seen as a threat by those who are clinging to them. Gay men, for example often choose to stray from these norms. Zeilinger brings up a story of a friend who is gay and must overcome “male and female stigmas”. He often feels displaced as he does not fit in the realm of male or female roles. Zeilinger ends her article calling for change among both men and women in order to create a healthier
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.
Good afternoon, today I will be discussing the perceptions of masculinity and the need to take responsibility for one’s own actions.
For centuries, the ideal masculinity has been seen as the provider, the macho man, the cowboy and the emotional rock, but new representations of manliness in the media have been challenging this idea (Watson 2015, p. 270). Within these new depictions, there lies a hierarchy where one form of masculinity is more accepted than the rest (Kluch 2015). Macho masculinity has been seen as being dominant in the hierarchy for generations, however, in recent years, there have been an influx of new representations of masculinity that disrupt traditional hierarchal ideas. The masculinity of the twenty first century includes emotions, sensitivity, discipline, and intelligence. These new aspects of the hierarchy have been introduced by movies such as Brokeback Mountain, 22 Jump Street, The
Rubin, Gail. "Thinking Sex: Notes for a Radical Theory of the Politics of Sexuality." American Feminist Thought at Century's End : A Reader. Ed. Linda S. Kauffman Cambridge, Ma : Blackwell, 1993. 3-64.
Warren Farrell is a well educated man who focuses his attention on gender. In his essay “Men as Success Objects,” he writes about gender roles in male-female relationships. He begins, “for thousands of years, marriages were about economic security and survival” (Farrell 185). The key word in that statement is were. This implies the fact that marriage has changed in the last century. He relates the fact that post 1950s, marriage was more about what the male and female were getting out of the relationship rather than just the security of being married. Divorce rates grew and added to the tension of which gender held the supremacy and which role the individuals were supposed to accept. “Inequality in the workplace” covered up all of the conflicts involved with the “inequality in the homeplace”(Farrell). Farrell brings to attention all ...
The gender binary of Western culture dichotomizes disgendered females and males, categorizing women and men as opposing beings and excluding all other people. Former professor of Gender Studies Walter Lee Williams argues that gender binarism “ignores the great diversity of human existence,” (191) and is “an artifact of our society’s rigid sex-roles” (197). This social structure has proved detrimental to a plethora of people who fall outside the Western gender dichotomy. And while this gender-exclusive system is an unyielding element of present day North American culture, it only came to be upon European arrival to the Americas. As explained by Judith Lorber in her essay “Night to His Day: The Social Construction of Gender”, “gender is so pervasive in our society we assume it is bred into our genes” (356). Lorber goes on to explain that gender, like culture, is a human production that requires constant participation (358).
Shaw, Susan M., and Janet Lee. Women's Voices, Feminist Visions: Classic and Contemporary Readings. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2012. Print.
Wood, J. T. (2013). Gendered lives: communication, gender & and culture (10th ed.). Boston, MA: Wadsworth Cengage Learning.
The genre of analyzation in this paper is masculinity. More in depth, the societal perpetuation of the concept of masculinity and its effects on individuals. Masculinity is a concept defined as a category of attributes, social behaviors and roles generally associated only with individuals of the male sex. It is rarely associated with females unless they are butch lesbian, and even if they are not, society will portray them as so. The concept of masculinity is a social construct – most often seen in patriarchal cultures and societies and identified mainly with gender roles. Gender roles are the acceptable or appropriate societal norms dictating
Some of the most controversial issues in society have historically revolved around matters relating to gender and sexuality. As gender plays an integral part in how we function in society, we quickly learn what is expected of us through our gender roles at a young age and our sexual scripts as we get older. We are expected to conform to our respective gender roles of femininity or masculinity depending on the sex we were assigned at birth. We learn that certain characteristics and expressions are attributed to each gender but are never taught that gender is fluid but instead it is binary. We also become subjected to assumptions of our sexual desires and attraction based on our sex and our gender and are expected not to deviate from it. We become
Minas, A. (2000). Gender basics: Feminist perspective on women and men.Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Thomson Learning.
behaviors, and social conditions that we call masculinities are “hard-wired” into males through biology (see Thorhill & Palmer, 2000) and/or the heritability of human psyche (see Jung, 1959/1989; Bly, 1990). They view masculinity as static, transhistorical, cross-cultural, and cross-situational. From this perspective, gender change is either impossible, or it involves the use of powerful force to constrain what is seen as “naturally” male. (Masculine Self pg. 19)
Rhode, D. (2000). Culture Establishes Gender Roles.Male/female roles: opposing viewpoints (pp. 22-24). San Diego, Calif.: Greenhaven Press