ipl-logo

Masculinity Research Paper

802 Words4 Pages

The Masculine Man must man up

The fragility of masculinity as a concept is worrisome. It breeds on creating fear in the other. Yet, what the in-breeder of masculinity seeks in the other is a concept far from it. That concept is femininity. Strangely, in popular queer literature, masculinity is defined as anything that is divorced from the idea of femininity.
Hence, masculinity by its very nature excludes. It excludes all things sweet. All things pink. All giggles, all whispers, all tiny hands, all small sizes.
Masculinity as we understand in today’s age, demands ‘bigness’. And by big, yes, you may be pondering upon the extravagant phallic surge to prove one’s worth in a cruel world of fellow masculinity owners.
Masculinity these days is …show more content…

What is our obsession with fitting in clear cut gender roles? What is our obsession with these ‘how to be’ sections in popular media?
Masculine Man. Masculine and man are concepts as fictional as spiderman, superman and batman.
Let us allow ourselves to wander freely with the so called differences from our self imposed utopian standards of being. The asymmetries in our characters point towards realness. They point towards struggles and a life which is less than perfect. After all, if we could buy perfection, all rich people would be saints and savants. There would be no sadness, no blue walls of guarded personalities. We clearly know from page 3 articles and other sources too that this is not the case.
What is true however is reality. And reality is distant from the conception and creation of gender binaries. We could choose to introspect and not cringe every time our being doesn’t align with the picturesque image of a gendered idol. That’s okay too; if however, we aspire to be a fictional form. Yet, beware of aspirations of this kind; they may lead to unapologetic madness roaring out of our

Show More
Related

  • Documentaries Tough Guys Summary

    771 Words  | 4 Pages

    Response The documentaries Tough Guys and Killing us Softly, really brought to light the way masculinity and femininity are represented in our society. The characteristics and associations that are made when these words are thought of are bizarre and not natural. I strongly believe that both masculinity and femininity are learned characteristics from the human environment. I often wonder if people would even have these ideas and characteristics that are associated with gender in the beginning of time, or if people have slowly began to define and differentiate the genders throughout the evolution of time.

    Read More

  • The Brief Wondrous Life Of Oscar Wao, By Junot Diaz

    963 Words  | 4 Pages

    The Importance of Masculinity The novel “The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao,” by Junot Diaz, is one of the most known books about a dystopian society. Junot Diaz discusses the importance of masculinity in Dominican Republic society. Masculinity is explained as: “All men are influenced by their upbringing, experience, and social environment which play a big role in determining one’s view of masculinity and manhood. This means that masculinity is going to be different for everyone.

    Read More

  • Growing Up In The E80's Analysis

    616 Words  | 3 Pages

    From the earliest age, you are bombard with what is perceived to be the famine or masculine ideal from commercials, movies but also its learned from the type of family unit you are most in contact with. This is not new as my mother would lament of her apparent inability to keep the house as was depicted by June Clever played by Janine Turner in the Leave it to Beaver show. Growing up, I was shown the physical stereotype of the strong male, that is successful and with a promising career but also of the empowered woman that does it all. By the 70’s, Farrah Fawcett became the ideal with the bell bottoms, feathered hair and could portray and tough crime fighter working with other women.

    Read More

  • Michael Kimmel's Bros Before Hos: The Guy Code

    967 Words  | 4 Pages

    History has repeatedly given men privilege due to their physical advantages; yet it is these same advantages that have developed into “rules” or expectations that all men should conform to in order to prove their manhood. Michael Kimmel’s essay, “‘Bros Before Hos': The Guy Code” outlines the “rules” where men are expected to never show any emotions, be brave, act knowledgeable, be risk takers, be in control, act reliable, and be competitive, otherwise they would be showing weakness which is analogous to women. It is humiliating that men associate weakness with women; they should focus on the potential of the individual rather than their gender. Most insults toward men attack their masculinity because society finds it shameful for men to be

    Read More

  • Hegemonic Masculinity In The 1980's

    389 Words  | 2 Pages

    Tension is created between how he expresses his identity and the conflicting messages of masculine identity. On the one hand, Bateman checks some of the boxes; he is young, employed, wealthy, and the reader knows he is of good weight due to his obsessive exercise regime at Xclusive, and he is definitely wealthy, as illustrated through his long lists of commodities. However, Bateman does not check all of the boxes, arguably as a result of a consumerist society and his conspicuous consumption. For example, consumerist society, as previously discussed, constantly bombards society with images of being a ‘perfect mannequin, thus putting pressure onto society, inclusive of males, to project a perfect image of themselves; however, males also have the competing ideals of masculinity to keep in mind. An illustration of this occurs when Bateman receives a facial (p.115); Bateman tries to impress the therapist by ‘flexing the muscles’ in his stomach and chest in a way that appears effortless, however, she seems impervious to his expression of masculinity (p.115).

    Read More

  • Othello Gender Stereotypes

    1977 Words  | 8 Pages

    Inaccurate generalizations in society latch onto minds, possibly without recognition, forming a mold for what encompasses masculinity. As a consequence, males from their earliest days are taught how to act and speak varying very much from females. From a young age boys are taught to be physically strong and that they must win athletically. The world stands excessively divided in terms of toys, food, clothes, toiletries and activities. Shakespeare represents the same idea though Othello in the 1600s with the positions of power politically solely being held by men.

    Read More

  • Masculinity In Michael Kimmel's The Joy Luck Club

    1641 Words  | 7 Pages

    Quotation Analysis “It is true, of course, that white guys do not have a monopoly on appalling behavior. There are plenty of young black and Latino boys who are equally desperate to prove their manhood, to test themselves... but only among white boys to the dynamics of Guyland seem to play themselves out so invisibly” (Kimmel 10). 1. Richard Blanco grows up being coerced into flirting and going out with girls. He does this in order to fit in with his friends and uphold the expectations of his family.

    Read More

  • The Sun Also Rises Masculinity

    818 Words  | 4 Pages

    Masculinity is represented through wealth, status, and power. Femininity is lacking these traits. Only through Brett's help can Mike display masculinity. His desire to become an ideal masculine being is simply impossible. He is far too dependent on Brett and her masculine power to ever be successful on his own.

    Read More

  • Masculinity And Gender Identity Essay

    2091 Words  | 9 Pages

    While for long time women have taken centre stage and have been pushing for women’s right and equality in a largely male dominated society. We forget that it is not only the women’s identity which is warped and under heavy scrutiny of the man-made categories that we have created but men as well. So when asking various men and women and questioning them on how they defined masculinity, they were left silently confused and unsure what they had to say. However, they answered it along the similar lines, “by possessing qualities traditionally attributed to men, such as aggressiveness.” Or “having qualities regarded as characteristic of men and boys, as strength, vigour, boldness, etc.; manly” When asked about what traits fall under ideal masculinity, they stated the following traits

    Read More

  • Masculinity As Homophobia Analysis

    1394 Words  | 6 Pages

    “Masculinity as Homophobia” an article by S. Kimmel, that talks about how men these days have the fear of being judged and ranked based on their manhood. There are some arguments that the Professor mentions and uses in his article that supports his argument and some experiences from other people 's perspective in life of men over the years. The author’s main argument is about how men these days are being watched and judged closely based on how they walk, talk, eat, dress, move and look like. The author explains how the world is judging men and how it tries to take that power and that pride of being a man.

    Read More

  • Michael Kimmel's Essay Masculinity As Homophobia

    261 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the essay “Masculinity as Homophobia” by Michael Kimmel, he brings up many points as to how men view masculinity as trying to be perfect to hide underlying insecurity. He then states that anything deemed less than manly (females, people of race, homosexuals, etc.) is ridiculed because of the way we view masculinity. Kimmel first brings up a story about boys on a playground, where you have to prove that you’re manly at a young age, and that it is essentially engraved into our nature that we must not be a “sissy”. This then stems off to how violence is created by this sense of manhood, since we must always fight and never run when conflict arises. Kimmel argues that we have gender coded responses to everything, and that if a man does anything

    Read More

  • Examples Of Masculinity In John Eldredge's Wild At Heart

    1967 Words  | 8 Pages

    If someone asked you what it means to be a man, what would you say? Would you give an example of a person you think is manly like William Wallace? Or would give definitions like strong, courageous, loving, and adventurous? There are countless examples of what people think it means to be a man. God specifically created a man to be manly.

    Read More

  • Toxic Masculinity In Media

    1492 Words  | 6 Pages

    There is a lot of pressure on men in society to be manly; however, what exactly does it mean to be manly? Though many people have different opinions, a lot of them conclude that a man has to be strong and somewhat emotionless to be considered a man. This assumption can lead to Toxic Masculinity, which is “A false idea that men are expected to be as manly as possible” (The Hard, Adrenaline-Soaked Truth About 'Toxic Masculinity, 2017). Men are forced to face these assumptions not only from those around him, but also from people he might see in Media. Media reinforces Toxic Masculinity which in turn causes men to belittle women.

    Read More

  • Definition Essay: The Value Of Feminine Words

    433 Words  | 2 Pages

    It is the same for males and females. Sometimes, we are lost in stereotypes when we concern masculinity and felinity. Women are not as strong as men; women should be submissive and obey their husbands; men should be tough and never cry; men are always the center and top. But as we known, there are women who are more capable than men, and there are men are emotional and cry. Who defines "masculinity" and "feminity"?

    Read More

  • Armine Brand Headscarf Analysis

    973 Words  | 4 Pages

    Recently, I saw a billboard which advertises Armine brand headscarf. There were three young women, wearing headscarves and riding a bright red car. It was not realistic, I thought. You can’t see three conservative women driving in a fancy car alone at night. It was like magazine covers, the superwomen pictures, which are also not realistic.

    Read More

More about Masculinity Research Paper

Open Document