Sawyer Victor COMP 150 10 October 2017 Genre Analysis: The Societal Concept of Masculinity 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 …show more content…
The samples being analyzed in this genre analysis all utilize the rhetorical devices known as ethos (credibility), pathos (emotion), topos (theme or convention), and logos (logic), which are used as persuasive contrivances. An analysis of the genre focused upon the social construct of masculinity reveals one major challenge facing society: the perpetuation of gender roles and the degrading effect it has on individuals. The purpose of this essay is to establish an accurate analysis of the genre of masculinity as well as three different samples from the genre and their utilization of rhetorical devices. This essay provides an analysis of the rhetorical situation of the masculinity genre taking into account and analyzing three examples of work from the …show more content…
It compares and contrasts the “physical view on masculinity” as it has changed over the centuries in relation to society’s views on it. In her article, Bordo explains, “Attention to beauty was associated not with femininity but with a life that was both privileged and governed by exacting standards… By the end of the nineteenth century, older notions of manliness premised on altruism, self-restraint, and moral integrity – qualities that women could have too – began to be understood as vaguely ‘feminine’… ‘Homosexual’ came to be classified as a perverse personality type which the normal, heterosexual male have to prove himself distinct from.” (402) Bordo goes on to explain how in the twentieth century the homosexual community has greatly influenced social discourse through developing the way models pose. In turn, this discourse has shaped the way male bodies are portrayed both in advertisements and within our culture, and broken the idea that all male bodies need to be portrayed in a strong and masculine fashion. In her article, Bordo uses a surfeit of anecdotes to typify pathos, several accounts of logos, and ethos to show the adaption that has taken place in the masculine advertising
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)
In Susan Bordo’s essay “Beauty Rediscovers the male body”, Bordo stresses the changes on the concern of the male body and how the male body is depicted in advertisements. Bordo demonstrates her stance on male advertising with graphic images of male bodies with intense descriptions. In the 1990s there was this emergence of male models depicted in a more sexual way. As Bordo states in her essay, the images of these
Mosse, L George. The Image of Man: The Creation of Modern Masculinity. New York: Macmillan publishers, 1996.
The first study looks at the different types of masculinity and such as hegemonic masculinity and how it relates to the hierarchy masculinities. The researchers observed male student’s attitudes in male dominance, such as power and violence. They further examine Connell’s social theory of gender by looking at two different schools and studying the relationships between the boys (Lusher, Robins, 2010). This theory is widely used to explain the hierarchical behavior in the use of masculine power, such as complicit, dominant, and subordinate masculinities (Lusher, Robins, 2010). Their methods involved studying the schools, which are religious, based and are all boy schools ...
Jackson Katz is an author, a lecturer, filmmaker and a well known anti-sexist male activist. He’s made a few documentaries and has written articles and short stories on ending violence against woman and sexual equality. One of Kat’s writings is a non-fiction article called “Men, Masculinities, and the Media”, in it he writes about the challenges of male identity, how the media defines masculinity and how it correlates with sexual equality. In the beginning of the article, Katz makes a comparison about masculinity and The Wizard of Oz. He compares Toto pulling back the curtain and revealing a scared, pathetic man pretending to be someone great, the Oz, to the way media portrays man and influences man. He mentions that the curtain symbolizes a shield to protect men’s vulnerability and humanity (Katz 1). Media image is an important influential source to woman and man; it follows throughout generations and can shape the ideas and behavior of both sexes. In “Men, Masculinities, and the Media”
In Judith Halberstam’s piece “Female Masculinity,” she offers the audience a few potential definitions of the term ‘masculinity’ and how the term applies to “feminine masculinity.” She states that “although we seem to have a difficult time defining masculinity, as a society, we have little trouble recognizing it” (935). Halberstam suggests that female masculinity is often blatantly ignored in culture and studies due to the indifferent feeling often associated with the topic. Halberstam uses her essay to explain a variety of aspects associated with female femininity like tomboys, queer methodologies, and the bathroom problem. Halberstam’s description of the term ‘Tomboys’ is reminiscent of the character Emily Fields from the Pretty Little Liars book series by Sara Shepard. Progressing through middle school with a group of ‘girly’ friends, Emily is easily labeled with the term ‘tomboy’ due to her sporty exterior. Her overly conservative Christian family and classmates see no ‘threat’ or meaning behind Emily’s tomboy appearance because they believe it is just a stage in her life. As soon as Emily enter tenth grade and starts hanging out with a homosexual female, her family and classmates grow concerned about Emily’s masculine looks and behaviors. In the book titled Prettty Little Liars, one of the liars, Emily’s evident masculine ways raises concern to her thesis-go back and fix it .
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
Unlike the negative opinions about masculinity said that it is dangerous, violence and a threat to women, positive opinions people wanting to restore masculinity. “A professor of political science and philosophy at Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada” (Newell) had written an article discuss about positive things of masculinity. According to Newell that “young men need to learn a positive version of masculinity that encourages honor, pride, and respect for women.” With him, masculinity is a positive thing for men, it is honorable and respectful, therefore young men should learn it. Sadly, throughout the years, masculinity has changes a lot which made people misunderstood the actual definition of it and mislead it to violence and misogyny (Newell). Even though everyone has their own personalities, but babies are born, raise and teach by their surroundings. Due to that reason, “Newell contends that society needs to channel certain boyish traits, such as a desire to be heroic, in positive directions and teach these boys how to become honorable men.” Babies are like a clean slate, what they see is what they are going to learn, they should see and learn masculinity in positive ways of it, not the bad ways of it. To learn masculinity in positive ways, Newell states, “to do this, we must recover a sense of what it means to be manly—honorable,
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.
A young boy is walking home from the bus stop after school. Suddenly three boys run up to him from behind and tackle him to the ground and throw his diorama away from him. When the boy gets home his parents ask why his diorama is beat up. He doesn’t want to tell his parents what happened, because being picked on, showing large amounts of emotion, and telling is a weak thing to do. The parents eventually do hear the story and confront one of the bully’s parents the next day about what happened, the bully’s parents reply, “Well boys will be boys”. The story that just been told is an example of the major problems with todays society’s view on masculinity: being weak is bad, violent behavior is acceptable because it is natural, and it is acceptable for males to show excessive amounts of aggression. The story shows three issues, but there are others. The idea of
This paper will discuss the how hypermasculinity and its psychological effects being dependent on gender roles, and the history of masculinity; taking the psychological approach to asses this topic. In the beginning of the paper masculinity is defined as being the way a male is supposed to act and live because of the gender role placed on them at birth. The idea that there is only one kind of man; handsome, muscular and driven is unfit for society as a whole. From there the psychology behind masculinity is discussed to which will tie into the fragility of the masculinity complex and how it poses a threat to young adolescent men globally; validating cultural elements are bequeathed in making gender roles. Society, politics, and religion advertise
In todays society everyone constantly fights on the gender role issues about breaking and/or rewriting them to accommodate the needs of everyone, yet when you touch the topic of men ad their “masculinity” it becomes a soft spot. Masculinity doesn’t defy your strength or make you feel any “less” of a man, but many aspects greatly affect the outcomes of the following beliefs.
Sex and gender are attributes to our identity. Sex describes the physical and biological factors we are born with, for example male or female genitalia, as quoted from blackadder “A boy without a winkle is a girl” (Elton and Curtis 1998). Whether we have oestrogen or testosterone hormones also tells us if we are man or woman. Gender however is in relation to stereotypes of masculinity and femininity, and expectations of what characteristics men or women should portray. Anyone given the opportunity to describe men, they would say words like dominant, non emotional, macho, aggressive, and to be the provider and protector of his family. This essay sets out to examine if masculinity is socially constructed and to do this the theories of gender, media, historical societies and even sexuality will be analysed throughout.
Masculinity and femininity are two terms, which have been interpreted differently throughout history. Both the males and the females have responsibilities and duties but these duties differ based on one’s gender. Gender has played a prodigious role in the economy, politics, and the society. Everyone starts making interpretations of the strengths and weaknesses based on one’s gender. These interpretations are not always based on his or her ability but is usually based on his or her gender. Males tend to be judged as extremely strong and unfashionable in terms of appearance. Whereas, females are judged as expensive and very fashionable. Males and females both differ in their abilities and their enjoyments. Fashion, entertainment, and strength are three topics, which are used to define masculinity and femininity in the 21st century.
Americans believe that they have the freedom to speak, dress, and act how they please, but they may not realize that they are subconsciously put under pressure to speak, dress, and act a particular way depending on their gender. Gender in America is either feminine or masculine with no in between. In Aaron H. Devor’s book “Becoming Members of Society: Learning the Social Meanings of Gender”, he discusses the way that society defines gender roles and how these specified roles are learned and applied throughout life. Next, in the book “‘Bros Before Hos’: The Guy Code” by Michael Kimmel, he examines the standards that are set for masculinity and how men apply and use those to make their behavior seem acceptable in society. Lastly, Jean Kilbourne