The myth and reality of the cowboy shaped today’s definition of masculinity because they have this high and strong stature they need to uphold. Masculinity is having the traditional acts as a man, such as being strong and secure. In today’s word man and women have two different mindsets. Even though we are all humans, our gender defines the way we should act due to how society makes it. The myth has affected males physically, emotionally and mentally. The idea is that they are supposed to act accordingly. In reality, everyone wants to grow up differently, so why would they be forced to act/be a certain way. Masculine’s definition is stereotypically twisted.
Males are interesting objects. They have to keep their chest high and stand their ground.
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Growing up as a male, they will mainly hear these sayings all the time, “Be a man,” “Don’t show emotions,” “Don’t act like a girl,” “Be cool and better than others” and “Grow some balls.” There are many other things that have been said but I am pretty sure you get the point by now. Living in today 's society, in other to have that man box they have the obligation to prove their manliness. It controls and takes over their box. Especially during school, seeing all the bad males being favored for being mad, this makes the younger generation look up to them and want to be like them. Males are known to look for trouble, they don’t know why they do it, but it feels right when they do it because it 's the only way they can “earn” respect from friends and outsiders. Every male feels they deserve respect, they will try to get it no matter what, “Respect is linked to violence,” Dr. Marshal stated in the video “The Mask You Live in.” Males are aggressive, it’s like a special trait they’re known to have. IF violence I the only way they can get respect, then that’s what is indeed to happen. Males mask their feelings, and push everything out with actions. There is no need to be weak if they know can they can man up, “If I can man up, why step down from that,” said a student in the video “Mask You Live In.” Males know they can be superior, rough, the …show more content…
Sometimes young males are pressured way more than they should be, or at least that’s what I think. If a girl cries, she is greeted with kindness and condolences. On the other hand, if a boy cries, he is looked down on and called weak. This is where the man box come in, as a “man,” young boy or grown man, you cannot show emotion unless it is aggressiveness. You have to look fearful and immune to the weakness. The reactions to a boy crying can be accidental, “Out of my own frustration of my role and responsibility of building him up as a man to fit into the guidelines, defining man box,” Tony Porter said this in his video called “A call to men.” This is a good example of what I said earlier in this paragraph about how if a boy cries, the response he might get. Instead of listening to the reason a male might hurt or feeling “weak,” they are pressed to get rid of that emotion and man up. It probably takes more to make a male cry or weak, so why do we automatically get angry with them about something that is probably causing them to stress and wanting to hurt themselves? We hurt them more than help them when we do this. The fact that we are so hard on males, makes them not respect our females as much either. The ideal is, “Women are of less value, property of men and sexual object to men” said Tony Porter in the video, “A call to men.” The main problem here is that women deserve way more respect
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.
An article entitled “How Boys Become Men,” written by Jon Katz was originally published in January, 1993 in Glamour, a magazine for young women. In this article the author claims that the men are insensitive because they have had to learn to hide their feelings during the stage of growing up with other boys. The author defines his claim by analyzing the process of boys growing into a man with the focus on the lesson boys learn that effect their adult lives. The author describes these lessons with the code of conduct imposed upon boys, for example “never admitting fear”. He explains these codes with several instances and by including his own example to convey to the reader the challenges of growing into a man. Through the various stories of young boys, he intends to explain why men seem so insensitive to help women understand why men sometimes seem “remote” or “uncommunicative”.
Whatever we see in movies, television, video games, or any other source of entertainment, there will always be a male figure who symbolizes masculinity to the fullest extent. All that masculinity representing empowerment is what seems to appeal to men nowadays. In Michael Kimmel’s Guyland: The Perilous World Where Boys Become Men the novel presents the irresistible desires that men seek in order to receive the approval of other men. An approval where men gain access to the concept of Guyland, where young men become masculine in order to fit in socially and to feel empowered. However, achieving absolute masculinity leans toward the use of violence that is presented in the media, presenting a message where violence is used for the purpose of
The idea that teenage boys should act a certain way towards females is usually instilled in them at a young age. According to Devor, “ Femininity must be expressed through modes of… action which communicate weakness, dependency, ineffectualness, availability for sexual or emotional service, and sensitivity to the needs of others” (Devor 6-7). In other words, men have to place women on a lower pedestal because of a woman’s so called “needs” (Devor 6). The “needs” that women express are feminine characteristics. The characteristics of females listed by Devor, does not show any sign of power or dominance. Since society believes gender is a patriarchy, females have no influence and need attention. This shows that men adjust their actions around women, since they believe that women need special attention. Furthermore, if a male possesses anything non-masculine,
Boys think that they must put on a persona that they are tough and no one can hurt them. I agree with the author that the boys are forced to hide their emotions and fears that’s why men become insensitive. Because the most important factor of how boys become tough men is how adults treat and teach them differently from girls. The boys start hearing messages that they need to be strong and tough from adults since they are just babies. I think this is the main problem that causes men to be insensitive and emotionalist. However, it is their parents, society, and everyone around them who affect the boys to become the men that they should be. If people treat boys same as how they treat the girls, I guess men will act the same way as
They do this by proving they are not weak or feminine. In fact, according to Michael Kimmel in “Men, Masculinity, and the Rape Culture”, the worst thing one can call a man is a word that is feminist based. This is why it is so important to men that they show domination and strength. But what is unknown is that biologically, men and women are very similar. In The Mask You Live In, Neuroscientist Lisa Eliot describes, “Throughout history there’s been this belief that men and women are fundamentally different creatures… Sex is a biological term. It refers to which chromosomes you have… Gender is a social construct.” Men are so afraid to be feminine yet there is little difference biologically between men and women. Masculinity and femininity are socially defined. Therefore, men and women should be able to act the same without being judged. Moreover, men do not show their true selves because of the risk of other men judging them. Dr. Caroline Heldman explains in the documentary that, “There’s a whole social system the polices them through this low level threat from other men if they’re not manly enough.” Similarly, as Michael Kimmel writes in “Men, Masculinity, and the Rape Culture”, men in groups are the most dangerous because they feel they need to prove themselves to each other. Rather than constantly proving their manliness, men need to be themselves in order to attain
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
Males continually want to be the best, being a distinct priority in their lives. Knowing that they are the best acts as a control valve in their life. This is best demonstrated in our own society through sports. Men trained to be brutal "killers." When a sports career is over men are left with a void to vent frustration. This characteristic of today's society can also be seen in Shakespeare's time in the sport of falconing.
If a man possesses the masculinity that society claims he should have, he may still experience many emotional issues within himself. After a man has been taught that domination is the key, they may develop a sense of aggression. Aggression may also follow the fact they men hold all of their feelings into to protect themselves from the schemas. Men have been seen to use violence in their past to solve their issues. In the documentary, one of the prisoners in the group session spoke about how he was in jail because all of his emotions that had been bottled up become uncontrollable in one instance. If a boy or a man does not contain the masculinity expected, he may become bullied and out-casted. The continuation of discrimination toward a boy may cause suicidal thoughts. On top of being bullied for not being a powerful man, he may still be trying to hold in his emotions to prove that he
This paper will detail the toxic effects that were caused by the hypermasculine attitude our culture has created. It will prove that glorification of masculinity encourages abuse, violence, and gender roles. What do most people think when they hear the phrase “be a man”? They probably think to toughen up and suppress their emotions, because everyone knows men don’t cry. In our society, traditional masculinity is characterized by violence, danger, promiscuity, and a lack of emotions. This is seen as the ultimate standard all men must aspire to. This infatuation with standard masculine ideals has instilled people with a mindset of male superiority. Society’s glorification of masculinity is toxic because it encourages
Unfortunately it seems to be a subject that doesn’t get much attention. It is almost as if it is swept under the rug in our society. The idea of gender as we think of it, is solely a social construct, born into existence by the pressure of tradition and the supremacy of the majority. This is true for our perceptions of "masculinity" and "femininity", and this point is driven home in "Bros Before Hos: The Guy Code." Michael Kimmel points out the stereotypes men are taught to believe make them more manly. According to his interviews with various men from all over the country, the male social facade was put upon them by fathers, grandfathers, coaches, older brothers and other significant male role models as young
Hegemonic masculinity surfaced as a critique for sex role theory, stating that masculinity may vary depending on ones socialization. This idea became more evident once women entered the workforce, as men felt emasculated after what was once solely a male-based aspect of daily life, was now open to women. As the world continues to develop so do gender roles. A major aspect of sports is the clearly defined gender order, which governs the behaviours of both men and women as a means of preserving patriarch and heterosexuality. This order is instilled in boys from a young age in the hopes that they follow these strict societal norms expected from them. To help preserve this thinking, institutions continuously attempt to better male athletes by focusing their attention on the male population as oppose to splitting this attention on both male and female
Men feel pressure to fit in the category of what society describes as a man. They have the responsibility to be first in everything. Showing emotions should not be a part of men life. Men need to focus on their role to be the strong sex. Crying its weakness and its only meant for women. The other day I overheard my daughter’s grandmother asking her grandson why he was crying, she told him that he should not be crying for everything because that is only for girls and that he needed to learn that boys don’t cry. This action really pissed me off, how she dare to tell the little boy who is only 8, that he is not suppose to show how he feels because he is a boy. This is how society put in our mind since we are little the way we are suppose to act. I couldn’t agree more with Carlos Andres Gomez that states in his essay Confronting the Superhero Myth, “we need men who are striving to grow and learn and ask questions and risk being wrong and be humble and be better today than they were yesterday”. Indeed, we need men that are equal to women and that don’t feel less because of it, and this includes how they feel. There is nothing wrong with crying or showing your emotions. Being able to express yourself only shows how strong you
Each gender is separated by untold rules or guidelines that they must abide by. This in turn creates inner tensions that inhibit personal growth. For males this may be, or is, an extraordinarily arduous task. More often than not it is other male figures, such as the father, that administer and enforce these certain rules. The most common of these rules include the fact that boys cannot cry, and if he does, he is considered to be acting like a girl, and therefore made fun of. Those mere statements may compel boys to set aside their emotions, in other words, to put them “on the back burner.” This could affect the child's effort to grow, and also create problems with the ability to understand their emotions as well as others. Traditionally boys are prohibited to do anything that is immensely feminine, such as ballet or dance. Even though these both are advertised primarily for girls, boys are included in these activities. For instance, in the movie called Billy Elliot, there is a boy struggling between his love for dance, and his fathers expectations of him. Billy's father wants him to continue with his boxing classes (though ...
This is considered to be the first of the four basic rules of the “guy code”. According to Kimmel this means, “Being a man means not being a sissy, not being perceived as weak, effeminate, or gay. Masculinity is the relentless repudiation of the feminine”(541). The impact that this has on men is extremely negative in many different ways. A negative effect of not being a “sissy” and suppressing your emotions at all times is building up aggression within. A University of Texas professor named Art Markman helped conduct a study on what happens when suppressing emotions. Markman states “ People may become more aggressive after having a long period of time in which they’ve had to control themselves” (www.youtube.com). It has been shown that by suppressing your emotions you are vulnerable to snapping and unleashing plenty of aggression. I personally would agree the rule “No Sissy Stuff” exists and males definitely enforce and police it upon each other. This is something that begins at young age, young boys for example would make fun of another boy because he fell and began to cry, they might even laugh and call him a cry baby. The importance on why males should not follow this rule is that by continuing to hide behind this mask of being strong you are mentally damaging yourself. Building up your emotions and not releasing them leads to plenty of negative side effects that can be easily avoided by just showing how you feel. Suppressing emotions can also hold