Media And Masculinity

The concept of masculinity is encouraged and reinforced to young boys before they are able to comprehend what they are being taught. Society regurgitates these ideologies of what is an acceptable form of masculinity, and passes them on to other men and boys. The exposure that young boys and other men retain from what masculinity should be, is not limited to what their family consciously projects on to them, but also in various forms of media. Such as, on television, within the film at the movie theaters, social media influencers and accounts, and especially from their peers.
The portrayal that boys and men are given in regards to how they should behave in order to blend in and be accepted with the norms that are placed within society, is very often a toxic form of masculinity that which in turn, grooms’ boys into hyper masculine adult men. This global acceptance and incentive of hypermasculinity have devastating recoil.
Media contributes to a significant chunk of the beauty standards set for men, in fact 56% of well over 500 advertisements were shown with hyper masculine visuals (Ruminawi). Often the standard set for men are rooted in traditionally masculine activities and appearance. For instance, having a tall and muscular physique is very often the ideal appearance for men, as they are widely portrayed in all forms of media.
Gender roles, which is the social expectation that varies for each cultures and communities for how a person in society should behave, present themselves, and speak based on their gender (Hesperian Health Guides), contributes to the hypermasculinity that men are expected to express. Such as being the one in the household to work and earn all or the majority of the money. However, due to these social expectations for men, it results in pent up aggression and lead to violence