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Feminism Vs Masculinity

988 Words4 Pages

Masculinity refers to the qualities, personality traits and roles that are associated with the male gender. In the 21st century, there has been a movement, a drive in the more socially aware sections of the world to equalize or balance out masculinity and femininity. Feminism or, at least the main stream feminism aims to find equality for the females in social, political and economical fields. Even today, as we work forward to find a middle ground for the two genders, masculinity is seen as the superior quality that only men are privileged to have. Hence, main stream feminism is so focused on emancipating women by encouraging them to let go of the ‘weaker’ feminine qualities and roles and fit themselves in a Man’s world by embracing masculinity …show more content…

Or at least that is the reason that was given and it might just be a large section of the female population suffering from internalized misogyny after all.
Now, there is no doubt that we are far away from that point where men and women will be seen as equals. But that will not happen till it becomes a common knowledge that, while different from each other – Masculinity and Femininity both are two sides of the same coin. But looking back at the human history, we cannot ignore how far our society has come with this particular issue. Every race, culture and civilization of the past can be studied based on their definition of masculinity. Many cultures that worshiped Gods that were considered feminine will have a history of the actual human females being treated lesser than men and men’s other more valued possessions.
In ‘Things Fall Apart’, a Postcolonial tragedy written and published in 1959 by Chinua Achebe – The main character – Okonkwo, a male warrior and farmer of the Umuofia clan, a lower Nigerian tribe, is the epitome of ‘masculinity’. The story is set in the 1890s. It starts before the Colonialism of the tribe and other villages around it and sheds a light on why the people gave in so easily to the new political …show more content…

The ones who didn’t have it and suffered due to it, the men who weren’t masculine enough, the women, the children were more open and hopeful towards the new religion, culture and social changes that Colonialism brought – all of these that were considered to be not manly by Okonkwo and other ‘Masculine’ men who thought like him. The moment they saw something other than their own culture and tradition, based at least a little less on gender hierarchy, they were scared of it and resisted. Because they knew their traditional idea of masculinity and the status, the power it gave them over others will be taken away in the new

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