The article written by Michael Messner explores what are some true contributing factors that prepare a young boy in male-hood leading up to masculinity. He analyzes how creating the male masculine identity for a young boy can be a result of participating in organized sports. He conducted his research starting out with interviewing 30 male athletes who mostly played baseball, basketball, football, and track. Each interviewee was retired and had at least been an athlete for 5 years.…
“Boys will be boys,” a commonplace phrase that constitutes a diffusion of responsibility away from the male perpetrators of aggressive attitudes and behaviors, supports a dangerous rhetoric that a young male transitioning into adulthood will perform acts of aggression, display a detached and uncaring disposition, and develop attitudes of intense homophobia and sexism as part of a biological norm of that stage of adolescence, a stage of life comprising a larger and larger part of young man’s life, ages 16-29. Kimmel challenges this rhetoric, arguing that there is an underlying culture of entitlement (as the gaining of equality by other groups such as women and minorities are perceived as a threat to privileges that the white man “deserves,” a zero-sum game of status) that is supported by a culture of silence (of refusing to bear witness to other men’s transgressions, which is perceived as support) and a culture of protection (in which communities shield “their” guys from the harsh implications and accountability) which allows these behaviors and attitudes to persist. Kimmel argues that…
In Russell Banks’s “Lobster Night,” violence wrongly interpreted as masculinity drives the cowardly and weak-minded into a state of delusion. People associate unrelenting strength, fearlessness, and boldness with the idea of manliness, fabricating an inaccurate representation of the male figure - as if all men ever want to do revolves around displaying their masculine nature. While this truthfully may be the case at times, it easily misconstrues the notion of an honorable man, influencing the naïve to believe the only way to portray real manhood involves excessive acts of bravery and determination, occasionally even using unnecessary force to verbally wound and/or inflict physical pain. Growing up with such an idea causes the mind to create excuses and false justifications, fooling itself into a warped version of reality.…
movie; it truly was a great movie to watch; considering it made me more knowledgeable and…
My last observation was in the boy’s aisle. It is already a known gender stereotype for boys that they must be dominant and masculine by socialization. By following up in the boy’s aisle, I wanted to find toys that stressed those known gender stereotypes that society has created for boys. First, I came across toys such as, “Starwars Double Take Death Kit,” “Small Soldiers Karate Fighters,” “Small Soldiers Action Figures,” and “WWF Ring Warriors Wrestling Kit.” These four toys have already made gender stereotype for boys to be masculine. Not only does it encourage the trait of being masculine, but it encourages competitiveness, dominance, aggressiveness, and violence. Through these toys, it reflects boys negatively by encouraging boys to stereotype themselves that violence is the way to solve problems and to be dominant and strong. It stresses importance from society that those traits, especially dominance,…
The article "Advertising and the construction of Violent White Masculinity" points to the controversy of violence and media. It emphasizes that the mainstream debate about media and violence does not emphasis or analyze the most important aspect, namely gender. Katz states that the media illustrates a wrong image of individuals committing crime by calling them 'youth' crimes or 'kids' love. He believes however that the reason why crime is committed 90% by males is due to the masculinity emphasized in our society. He also mentions that there is lack of attention on criminals from majority groups such as Whites but an emphasis by crime conducted by minority groups. The article suggests that research has avoided to explicitly specify the relationship between masculinity and violent behavior by white men has been avoided in research.Katz believes to be able to illustrate some ways to display the hegemonic construction of masculinity that is present in mainstream magazine ads and how these ads help to normalize violent male behavior. Katz suggests that one way violence is normalized is through the movie industry which shows white males engaging in violent actions without being depicted as villains. Moreover, they are regarded as heroes. The boom of the movie industry collided with the instability that was created economically for the White middle-class population. The heroes of the movie industry served as role models enabling the male white population to gain stability with masculine power through size and strength. According to Katz the physical body was the only way to obtain dominance and control for those who did not have economic resources to achieve manhood. Katz mentions another way our society tries to normalize violence in the white middle class, namely through advertisements. As Katz writes the ads are full of depictions of dangerous looking men. He points out the bidirectional relationship between advertisements and other socially accepted events such as…
These narratives reinforce the link between masculinity and violence as it forces men to feel that their manhood is threatened by women. Therefore, breaking the narratives and starting new ones where feminism can be viewed not as a dividing tool women use for a power grab but a uniting tool used to shed light on the harm hegemonic masculinity can cause resulting in progress for both genders. To break the link between masculinity and violence boys and men need to be taught that emotions, and being gay are not anti-masculine but that masculinity is a malleable and one ideal should not be the standard but that they can make masculinity their own. Overall, to reduce the negative impact of toxic masculinity on people of all genders campaigns like the White Ribbon which is “the largest effort in the world of men working to end violence against women” (White Ribbon Campaign 188). This campaign works to reduce the negative impact of toxic masculinity for people of all genders as it forces men to face and challenge their perception of masculinity and to counter the serious issue of violence against…
Men and women in our culture are constantly forced to act a certain way. Humanity takes joy in dictating how each gender should behave. In Jock Culture by Robert Lipstye and Strong Enough by Wendy Shanker, we learn countless pressures and insecurities both women and men face in today’s society. The tension placed on both men and women to meet a certain standard often lead to catastrophic outcomes. Unfortunately, both men and women constantly feel the pressure of fitting into society’s norms, and fitting into these norms comes with many consequences.…
Through watching this short documentary I have learned and acknowledged how we are so easily influenced and shaped through a variety of things: family, community and media. Numerous kids around the world learn at an early age to put on a so called "front" or "guise" to show only the certain parts and qualities that a tough guy possesses. At the beginning there was a clip where young boys defined being manly as: being tough, powerful, athletic, muscular, and stud. If you did not fit into this category then the names that you were associated with were: wimp, fag, and sissy. The family and community have a huge part in shaping kids this way, but the biggest influence in the media/ television. For example, kids view Latinos or Mexicans as boxers and Asians as martial artists or even as criminals. This gives them an image of male dominance, power, and also control.…
What does it mean to be a man in society? Jackson Katz in the documentary “Tough Guise” argues that social media puts a lot of pressure on how men should look and act. For example, Arnold Schwarzenegger is possibly one of the most popular role models for young boys and men today. Therefore when our society thinks of the ultimate “many man” the first thing that comes to mind is strong, aggressive, tall, handsome, courageous, rough, tough, emotionless, insensitive, fearless and practical. Men should not be soft, submissive or weak. If a man would show weakness in any way, there would be much criticism to follow. People fail to realize how their cultural expectations can be harmful to boys, men, women, and society as a whole. Our culture needs to be more excepting of what it “truly” means to be a man.…
Growing up in our society and transforming into various norms, values and beliefs, is revolutionary amongst young men and ladies, and today I will specifically focus on young men. My little brother is 12 years old, he is already expected to “act like a man” or “man up”, and He will be told to show no weakness. This kind of advice will hinder my brother from becoming a “true man”. According to tough guys 2 by Jackson, Katz 86% of armed robberies are committed by men, 77% of aggravated assaults are committed by men, 87% of stalkers are men, 86% of domestic violence incidents resulting in physical injury are perpetrated by men, 99% of rapes are committed by men, Men commit approximately 90% of murder, and over the past 30 years, 61 of the last 62 mass…
Student Carmen Tieu, in her opinionated article, “Why Violent Video Games are good for Girls” expounds upon the idea that violent video games are good for girls. Tieu explains that violent video games boost confidence in women. She goes further on to say that it makes aware of the different socialization processes of men and women.…
Miedzian, M (1991) Boys will be boys: Breaking the link between masculinity and violence. Peace.ca…
[ 41 ]. Katz, Jackson (Writer). Tough Guise: Violence, Media & The Crisis in Masculinity. Media Education Foundation. (1999). Film.…
A sociological video illustrates how cultural messages in children’s media normalize domestic violence in the movie Beauty and the Beast. The characters describe the beast abuse as “just a shot temper”. The movie teaches the girls that unacceptable behavior of the male will change when you counter it with love and care and that the women should be patient of the man’s abusive behavior to help him change that behavior and help him get the prince inside him -when the beast transform into a…