Masculinity In Modern American Culture
People don’t always understand that silence is not a sign of weakness, it is in fact unmeasurable strength. Modern American culture conditions people, particularly men, to believe that masculinity consists of outwardly aggressive behavior and unrestrained hypersexualization of women, but sometimes a true sign of masculinity is the ability for one to remain silent and listen to others. I once found myself in an unpleasant situation that involved repeated instances of sexual harassment that almost escalated to rape. I was exposed to an awful atmosphere of intolerance as one of my peers used vulgar phrases directed towards my sexuality and attempted to engage in physical misconduct. After I removed myself from that situation I began to feel a
decrease in my self-worth and my personal safety. I was targeted because of my sexual orientation. I was on the verge of having an emotional breakdown from the overwhelming feeling of humiliation and fear, but instead of cowering I chose to push on. I did not mention the incident to anyone, I simply smiled as if nothing happened. While I may have not talked about the incident, I most certainly did not ignore it, rather I reflected upon it. Momentous progress has been made in the fight for LGBTQ rights since its humble beginnings in the 1970`s, and I refused to allow all those centuries of tireless battles against intolerance to go to waste. The untold names of LGBTQ hate crime victims reminded me of how violent fear can escalate to if it is allowed to go unchecked. Instead of being ashamed of who I was, I chose to overcome that unpleasant experience by reassuring myself of my own self-worth. I did not allow that person`s bigotry to stop me from expressing myself, I refused to become affected by such forms of religiously conditioned hatred. Silence was an instrument I used to reflect my resiliency and maturity, it was a sign of survival. By remaining silent, I was making my attacker aware that I had remained unscathed by his prejudicial words. I did not reward his ignorance with a response, because then I would be scooping down to his level of vulgarity. The same vulgarity that has been used in centuries of oppression. Silence has always been used as a form of nonviolent resistance. One of the first demonstrations for African American civil rights used silence exclusively, I am no different.
decrease in my self-worth and my personal safety. I was targeted because of my sexual orientation. I was on the verge of having an emotional breakdown from the overwhelming feeling of humiliation and fear, but instead of cowering I chose to push on. I did not mention the incident to anyone, I simply smiled as if nothing happened. While I may have not talked about the incident, I most certainly did not ignore it, rather I reflected upon it. Momentous progress has been made in the fight for LGBTQ rights since its humble beginnings in the 1970`s, and I refused to allow all those centuries of tireless battles against intolerance to go to waste. The untold names of LGBTQ hate crime victims reminded me of how violent fear can escalate to if it is allowed to go unchecked. Instead of being ashamed of who I was, I chose to overcome that unpleasant experience by reassuring myself of my own self-worth. I did not allow that person`s bigotry to stop me from expressing myself, I refused to become affected by such forms of religiously conditioned hatred. Silence was an instrument I used to reflect my resiliency and maturity, it was a sign of survival. By remaining silent, I was making my attacker aware that I had remained unscathed by his prejudicial words. I did not reward his ignorance with a response, because then I would be scooping down to his level of vulgarity. The same vulgarity that has been used in centuries of oppression. Silence has always been used as a form of nonviolent resistance. One of the first demonstrations for African American civil rights used silence exclusively, I am no different.