Essay On Masculinity In American Culture

The population of the United States is a combination of people from many ethnic, racial, and religious groups from different backgrounds and countries. As a result, the American Identity revolves around a set of ideals, not a common ethnic identity. The core belief in the American Identity is that the U.S. is a place of freedom and equal opportunity for all. Everyone has the resources to reach their full potential and deserves a voice in their governing body. Due to the pre existing gender hierarchy and beliefs about society that the original settlers and explorers brought from overseas, masculinity has been the driving force in the creation and development of the American identity. Throughout the evolution of the United States as a country,

To understand the linkage between sexuality and gender, it is important to reimagine the relationship between sexuality and gender and the rapport they hold with self-identification. Not long ago, sexuality was tied to procreation - becoming the core of one’s identity. Gender had always been tied to biological sex. However, a crisis of gender identity emerged and blurred the gender and sexuality binaries that had become commonplace social facts. A fluidity was created that allowed individuals to not feel the pressure of fitting inside distinct identification categories. Steven Seidman’s Revolt Against Sexual Identity provides anecdotes that describe the liberation that comes with rejecting these norms, “...her identities as transgender, female,

C.J. Pascoe, in her book Dude, You’re a Fag, argues that heterosexuality and dominant masculinity are inextricably linked. In order for boys to assert their masculinity, they must comply with the social processes that Pascoe calls “compulsive heterosexuality.” Compulsive heterosexuality builds on the concept of compulsory heterosexuality, a theory coined by researcher Adrienne Rich which refers to heterosexuality as political institution that enforces heterosexuality on women as a means of ensuring male dominance through “physical, economic, and emotional access” (86), and constructs alternative sexualities as “the other.” Compulsive heterosexuality encompases a myriad of sexualilzed gender performances and rituals, not merely to affirm one’s

Similar to how value is assigned based on appearance and sexual accessibility, virginal status is the third method of evaluation for women. Although there is no set medical definition for the term, virginity it is still used as a gauge to measure a woman’s self-worth (Valenti 182). For instance, numerous Christian-affiliated, conservative institutions equate virginity to morality and weave this comparison into their abstinence-only educational programs (Valenti 183). This standard also completely narrows the field of what it means to be moral. Thus, a woman is only of good moral standing (or in other words, pure) if she remains a virgin. Moreover, this restriction on expressing sexuality encourages passive behavior amongst women. In addition, linking a woman’s ethics to her body reinforces the double standard related to sexuality between men and women. Ultimately, being sexual is “stigmatized in women, but encouraged in men” (Heldman, Part 2). This double standard, combined with the expectations of passivity, reinforces the concept of rape culture. Women are expected to refrain from sex in order to embody purity and thus, are defined by what they do not do. Meanwhile, men are encouraged to express their sexuality and therefore serve as the actors in society. Furthermore, rape culture is reinforced through the media’s images of sexual objectification. As seen on a Duncan Quin

Michel Foucault’s The History of Sexuality(1976), indicate that the history of sexuality is the history of oppression .The relationship of sex oppression always as power, knowledge and sex. Sex becomes an object to be oppress because it is unproductive in a capitalism society. The bourgeoisie not allow the workers use energy on sex, since workers’ energy is for production. Therefore, knowledge about sex and talk about it is control by the bourgeoisie. Rubin (1984) stated that “The realm of sexuality also has its own internal politics, inequalities, and modes of oppressing” (p.267). Sexuality is full of repression. She indicates sex hierarchies to point the sex have been good and bad, but it is not that dualistic indeed. Masturbation is one of the example that can show society always control sex strictly.

Social institutions are influenced by social institution, religion, economy, family, medicine also law. Each institution supports “sexual ideology, or discourse, also sexual activity”.

Different communities and culture have different views related to sexual behavior and expectation. In some culture, a woman’s role is more conservative and restrictive

Other readings have discussed the history of sexuality—A history of Latina/o Sexualities. Throughout history, women were supposed to be passive. Women were there to please the man and ofter were viewed as the inferior. Sex was viewed as something that was essential only for reproduction; it was only to be pleasurable during a marriage and through very strict guidelines set by the church. This is still an influential way which women are being treated today. Throughout the articles when women expressed their sexuality they were victims; it was seen as something only males have the agency to do.

"Changing Attitudes about Sex" an article from Obesity, Fitness, & Wellness Week (2015), informs the reader that the growing acceptance for same-sex sexual relations, premarital sex, and a greater number of sexual partners is due to the growing inevitable need for individualism in younger generations. From the trivial topic of mandatory uniforms in school to the foremost political debate over same-sex marriage the controversial word that unites the topics is individualism. Most people feel as if they have the freedom to be themselves in every aspect of everything they do. People express themselves and communicate to others not only through what they say but as well as what they wear and how they carry themselves. Ranging from the people born in the 1900 's to people born as late as 1990 's as each generation grows so does the acceptance for premarital sex, multiple sexual partners, and same-sex

Druckerman, Pamela. “The New York Times: Talking to Kids about Sex.” The Opinion Pages. Today’s Paper. Web. 10. Dec. 2014.

A patriarchal system refers to “A form of social organization in which males dominate females” (Macionis). America is still considered a patriarchal society even though feminists are rising up more and more. Some researchers claim that biological factors like the difference of hormones and how the brain is structured differently is a major part as to why America cannot seem to break the chain of patriarchy. Through this chapter examples of how gender is perceived/rooted links to the way our society is set up. Men still dominate work fields such as engineering, computer science, and physical science. Although women have went from 20 to 60 percent work force population, jobs are relatively gender base. Women still have mostly “pink-collar jobs” with male overhead. While America has come a long way from the past, things like gender inequality, job stratification, and unequal pay make America a patriarchal society.

For Goodness Sex, by Al Vernacchio, is a welcome relief from the two previous books; Girls & Sex and Man Interrupted, as the focus is about sexuality as a whole; gender, sexual orientation, etc., rather than on the culture of females and males. In a chapter titled “Gender Myths,” Vernacchio (2014) asks the question, “male and female, is that all there is” (Vernacchio, A., p. 112, 2014)? In teaching his class on Sexuality and Society, Vernacchio asks these questions and questions similar, demonstrating that he takes into consideration that there are feelings at stake and keeps in mind the human aspect of sex and sexuality as he is intentionally behind challenging students to foresee and develop their sense of values about sex, instead of constantly being “in the moment.”

Summary: I have explained in this presentation the importance of sex education in reducing the rates of unwanted pregnancies among the adolescents. Secondly, sex education has been argued to contribute significantly to the reduction of the spread of HIV and AIDS among the adolescents. The third point that I have presented is that abortion levels have declined as a result of sex education targeting the adolescents in schools. Finally, I have argued that sex education results in fewer teenage pregnancies when compared to settings with no such education.

This article, “Gender Development Research in Sex Roles: Historical Trends and Future Directions” was written in a 2011 on NCBI, which points towards how the gender roles are different and how the society views them. This text includes the study of gender development, sex roles and trends over the past 35 years. Today gender roles, especially in the United States, are different from what they were in the past. But there are still many differences in roles of sex in many places around the world where women are considered less than men. They are not allowed to go out without a man going along. They are not allowed to continue their education because many still feel that women are meant to do the housework and take care of their children while

We live in such society where beliefs about everything have been rooted by superstitious norms and values. People ashamed while talking about the sex and don’t want to talk by thinking that what images they would have in their society if they talk openly in this topic or rather they think that talking on this topic will down their prestige in society. Since a long time sex education has been a great challenge in regarding whether to consider it in school education or not. There had been many disputes about it. It’s because our Nepali traditional society believes that including sex education in high school education will destroy their children’s character and morality as per them it make them aware about sexual intercourse and they try to do it with practice. Having a