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In the article “Masculinity as Homophobia”, Michael S. Kimmel is claiming that homophobia is a direct result of hyper masculinity. Hyper masculinity is the emphasis on stereotypical gender roles that are placed on men; e.g., being tough and strong. These ideas are about how a man should act in society and how a man should act with another man in society. With this idea of male stereotypical gender roles it has placed an idea of what men are supposed to be like and when men are encountered who don’t fit the definition, they can be called homosexual. Kimmel states in the article: “the great secret of American manhood: we are afraid of other men.” Men are always in a competition with each other either at sports or with who has the better job, …show more content…
First Mock discusses Jenner’s ability to successfully navigate the media maelstrom of being the largest symbol for the trans community. Mock compares this to her own experience of being a trans woman in the media. She also pays credit to Christine Jorgenson who formed the mold of what it was like to be the first person crossing the gender barrier under the media’s shallow lens. Next Mock interplays the ideas of glamour with privilege by illustrating Jenner’s ability to use her wealth and fame to put her in a position to choreograph her glamour to embody the cis-normative beauty ideal. She states that for many trans women, presentation as a woman by using glamour is a matter of safety in order to blend into a gender binary society filled with resentment and intolerance for the trans society. This leads into the disassociation most trans people who are transitioning face when dealing with healthcare. For most, this is a resource that is widely unavailable. However, due to Jenner’s privilege, she is able to have access to all the best healthcare for gender affirming procedures. Jenner was able to transition swifty, but this experience does not relate for most who often spend decades accumulating the funds necessary for the costly medical care. Finally Mock summarizes by saying that the trans community is fortunate to have access to the experiences documented during Jenner’s transition process so that more people come away with a greater understanding of the practices
Language is a powerful tool. The artful manipulation of language has sparked countless revolutions and has continuously fueled social progression over the course of human history. In Carmen Vàzquez’s “Appearances,” Vàzquez argues that homophobia is a serious concern in society. She rallies for all people, regardless of sexual orientation, to challenge society’s unyielding gender roles and homophobia. Through the art of persuasion, Carmen Vàzquez blended careful diction, emotional stories, and persuasive structure to aggressively address the problem of homophobia both coherently and effectively.
In nineteenth century, a discourse on homosexuality started to occur; meanwhile, boundaries between black and white became more and more clear. (16) It was the era when the issues that were considered as minority started to appear, and it was also the time when people were reinforcing their ideal “social norms” into the society. It was a dark age for LGBT people, African American people and female. In the article, Scientific Racism and the Homosexual Body, the author, Siobhan Sommerville, makes a strong connection between scientific racism and sexology and women’s bodies. “Although some historians of the scientific discourse on sexuality have included brief acknowledgement of nineteenth century discourses of racial difference in their work,
The piece by James Baldwin titled “Here Be Dragons” was amazing and I definitely recommend reading it. Baldwin’s piece is mainly a plea for understanding. He argues that within every person there is a little bit of the opposite; for instance, inside every male is a little bit of femininity, just as there is some masculinity within every female. Baldwin also mentions how, many times, the things we fear are things present inside of ourselves that we wish were not. In several instances Baldwin discusses how he was made fun of by men standing in large groups and then once alone the men would try to get Baldwin to have sex with them. I believe those men clung to Baldwin because they felt the homosexual impulse within themselves, and felt that ...
Homophobia does affect out society’s norms that then impacts women and men lives in our society. In
Hegemonic masculinity is the belief in the existence of a culturally normative ideal of male behavior. This ideal among other things includes the belief that men should be big, strong, and athletic. Sports, especially contact sports, reinforce this idea, as an athlete is seen as the ideal of what it means to be a man. The general belief associated with gay men is that they posses none of these traits and are thought to be feminine. These normative beliefs are not the case and are actually st...
In one interview Katie Couric sat down with Cox and transgender model Carmen Carrera to discuss their experiences as high-profile transgender women. However, Couric seemed “…mostly interested in talking to both women about their genitalia, in order to ‘educate’ others who may not be ‘familiar with transgenders’” (McDonough 2014). This demonstrates a distinct lack of the sociolinguistic competence necessary to determine what questions are or are not appropriate in a social setting. No cis woman would be expected to answer questions about their genitalia in a televised interview, yet these inappropriate questions are ones trans women face far too often. The fascination with investigating whether or not they fit with the mainstream media’s view of what a woman is—one who’s gender identity and genitalia both match—results in a complete disregard for what would otherwise be a very clearly taboo topic. Additionally, her use of “transgenders” as a noun shows a clear lack of understanding in even the most basic rhetoric used in describing trans individuals, emphasizing once again the linguistic divide between cis gendered woman and trans gendered
Aaron Devor’s essay “Becoming Members of Society: Learning the Social Meanings of Gender” describes how despite popular belief, gender and sex are not directly related and how social norms affect individual’s choice of gender. Devor‘s main argument is that gender is not determined by genitalia, but instead by the individual's own choices. Michael Kimmel’s essay “Masculinity as Homophobia” claims that gender equality is a positive thing for males and that social norms force men to act a certain way. Kimmel’s main argument is that men are always having to protect their masculinity in order to prevent themselves from appearing weak. Both authors present compelling arguments for both gender equality and for how social norms influence individuals’ gender choice. However, the two authors approach the same topic in different ways. Kimmel takes a more laid-back approach to the topic by using simple words and a conversational tone that relates to the casual gender sociologist. Devor writes a more sophisticated essay using complex terms and a more formal tone that relates to the serious sociologist that research gender studies.
In his 20/20 interview with Diane Sawyer on April 24, 2015, Bruce Jenner came out as a transgender woman, making her interview television’s “highest-ever rated newsmagazine telecast among adults 18-49 and adults 25-54.” Following her highly successful interview, Jenner’s emerging identity was revealed in a Vanity Fair cover interview by Buzz Bissinger. The magazine featured Jenner on its cover page, titled “Call Me Caitlyn” and photographed by Annie Leibovitz—the magazine’s first issue to feature an openly transgender woman. Upon its release, the image garnered immense public attention, and has been noted to mark a cultural shift in our thinking.as one
Jenner...shouldn't get to define us.” (Paragraph 9) It implies that she is resistant of being define by trans women and denied trans community. I think that is offensive to transgender people because their words can be wrong, but we can't ignore them from our community and hurts their feelings. However, Jill Filipovic in response to Burkett thinks Transgenders people are being discriminated. In the article, she said "...suffers the kind of violence and discrimination heaped on trans women should of course, make transgender rights a feminist issue." (Paragraph 13) That states how unfair trans people are treated and the needed support for trans women to be part of the women group. Even if trans women are not originated women, but their positive attitude and efforts should be appreciated and be recognized as the sign of society
According to Kimmel, the earliest embodiments of American manhood were landowners, independent artisans, shopkeepers, and farmers. During the first decade of the nineteenth century, the industrial revolution started to influence the way, American men thought of themselves. Manhood was now defined as through the man’s economic success. This was the origin of the “Self-Made Man” ideology and the new concept of manhood that was more exciting, and potentially more rewarding for men themselves. The image of the Self-Made Man has far reaching effects on the notion of masculinity in America. Thus, the emergence of the Self-Made Man put men under pressure. As Kimmel states,
In the article “Beating Anorexia and Ganing Feminism,” Marni Grossman shares her experiance of how she overcame her struggle with anorexia through understanding the feminist movement. Marni objectafies the ways in which society’s expectations and ideas of what it means to have “beauty” is having and negitaive impact. I had a very similar experiance to Marni, in fact the first time I hated my apperance was in the seventh grade. I have olive skin and bold brows, features which i was often complamented on, yet hated. Shawn and Lee argue that “there is no fixed idea of beauty”, suggesting how social ideals from society differs depending on the culture (183). I remember A male student was bullying all the females in the class by Inscribing Gender
Kane, Matt. “Victims or Villans: Examining Ten Years of Transgender Images on Television.” GLAAD. N.p., 21 Nov. 2012. Web. 08 Mar. 2014.
She shares the reader a story of a transgender women named Chloie Johnson -who was denied admission to a female CrossFit fitness competition due to her sexual orientation. The letter that CrossFit sent Chloie Johnson stated that she was not allowed to compete due to the fact that she was “… born, genetically - as a matter of fact - with an X and a Y chromosome and all of the anatomy of a male of the human race. Today, notwithstanding any hormone therapy or surgeries, Chloie still has an X and Y chromosome.” Due to the fact that Chloie Johnson had been born as a male, she was denied the opportunity to compete in the CrossFit strength competition. By sharing this story, Castillo gives the readers a chance to pity Chloie Johnson and to feel anger towards the close-mindedness and discrimination of the CrossFit company due to Chloie Johnson’s biological sex.
Over the course of history, the definition of manhood has changed and morphed according to society’s rules. In his essay “Masculinity as Homophobia,” number four in The Matrix Reader, Michael Kimmel tackles the truth about what manhood has become and how society has challenged the meaning of homophobia. He begins with an analysis of history, and then proceeds to relate masculinity and homophobia to power, women, and violence.
Nicole begins by quoting Ms. Jenner’s speech about respecting transgender individuals, including herself that she gave while receiving the Arthur Ashe Courage Award. She then proceeds to talk about how uncomfortable the presence of transgender people, both inside and outside the bathroom,