Tough Guise 2: Violence, Manhood & American Culture

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

In Robert Jensen’s article “The High Cost of Manliness”, he states that the idea of masculinity is a bad thing and they should get rid of it. This article debates on the common stereotypes of men, as he states:

Burak defines gender socialization as “the process of interaction through which we learn the gender norms of our culture and acquire a sense of ourselves as feminine, masculine, or even androgynous” (Burack, 1). According to Burack, people of different genders behave differently not due to biological factors, but due to socialization that teaches individuals to behave in a particular way in order to belong to a certain gender. For example, women may tend to be nurturing, not because they are biologically programed to be caretakers, but as a result of society teaching them through toys and media to act as mothers. In this way, gender becomes a performance based on expectations rather than natural behaviors or biology, a phenomenon called “doing

Aaron Devor discusses the patriarchally-expected gender roles of today’s society. He delves into the discussion of femininity versus masculinity. Society associates femininity with weakness, whilst associating masculinity with greatness.

The author of this article is Robert Jensen. He is a journalist professor at the University of Texas at Austin. Jensen’s writing and teaching focus on interrogating power structures of race and gender. He also wrote and published The End of Masculinity; therefore this is a topic that he feels really strongly about. Jensen first published the article “The High Cost of Manliness” to argue for an end to the conception of manliness.

What are some benefits to boys and men of putting on the “tough guise”? When is it an effective and adaptive response, and when is it self-destructive and dangerous to others?

Jackson Katz’s film Tough Guise 2 seeks to expose how the media promotes a toxic ideology behind what makes a man masculine and show that it is a social construct. For decades print, television, videogames, and film have presented masculinity in a way that makes men think the only way to be manly is to be emotionally unavailable, sexually aggressive, and violent. This ideology has been a curse on culture in America and many other countries around the world. “We're not living in the Wild West. We're not a Third World nation” (Katz). The days of warrior culture, where a man had to protect his family from being pillaged in the dead of night, are long past us. However, the media promotes an ideology that men must still be prepared to answer the

Unfortunately, toxic masculinity plays a role in every society, therefore many people, mostly men, put on a “mask” to hide behind in order to make a false impression of their best selves. No matter who it is, everyone has a way that they want people to know them by, which is why it plays such an important role. The book Lord of the Flies is a fiction text about a group of young boys whose plane crashes after it was shot down during a war. The boys turn from civilized to savages on their long journey on the island as they become less and less of a society. Toxic masculinity affects society in more ways than one and often is used to get ahead or to be seen as superior.

Horror films are undeniably an interesting form of art that surprisingly, most males like to experience. In popular culture, as a male, gaining unquestionable masculinity is very essential. But there are always exceptions, what are these exceptions? Slasher films, in Carol Clover’s words, are “the immensely generative story of a psychokiller who slashes to death a string of mostly female victims...until he is subdued or killed, by the one girl who has survived” (Clover 193). Slasher Films portray a noticeably emerging pattern in horror films where killer, normally male, is ultimately eliminated by the female protagonist that was left to fend for herself. In “ Her Body, Himself: Gender in the Slasher Film”, Clover analyzes how slasher films,

Each day, millions of individuals around the world are exposed to media messages. Whether these messages are broadcasted through television, print media, or the Internet, the dominant culture has an undeniable influence on the minds of the general public. With the tactical use of both apparent and subliminal messages, the thought patterns of many individuals have been moulded to believe only one perception of what is morally acceptable. The ideology of masculinity, and the guidelines surrounding its validity, is one of the many societal norms constructed by the media. Over the past fifty years, men’s physiques, weapons, and vehicles, among other things, have undergone a massive transformation in published works.

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. The types of media that encourage Toxic Masculinity are Television, Music, and Social Media.

Masculinity (also called boyhood, manliness or manhood) is a set of attributes, behaviors and roles generally associated with boys and men. But the culture doesn’t end at the definition, it starts from there. The first thing to come to mind when the word masculinity is heard is usually a man flexing his gigantic muscles, as the word might sound to suggest, and that right there is the current culture of masculinity because sadly, in the world we live in, not everyone has a “muscular body”.

In David Fincher’s, dramatic film “Fight Club”, Fincher develops satire to explain the masculinity of the main characters throughout the movie. Being masculine and or having masculinity, means qualities traditionally ascribed to men, as strength and boldness. Typically, men are seen to be strong, able to fight, have a large frame, and or be fearless. Men such as Arnold Schwarzenegger and Chuck Norris are seen to society as Masculine men. However, some develop their masculinity later than others. In comparison to men, women are seen to be more modest, tender, and self-centered. Masculinity Is the social problem that David Fincher attacks in the film simultaneously using satire.

When thinking about your biggest fear what tends to come to mind? Statistically speaking, most people 's biggest fears are snakes, spiders, heights, even the dark. But, what if I told you that one of the men 's biggest fears aren 't what we think it is? The biggest fear most men are afraid of admitting that they have is the fear of showing emotion. Due to a very serious but not so talked about issue in this nation called toxic masculinity, most men aren 't comfortable with sharing their emotions, which creates an unstableness In behavior for the remainder of their lives. I hope to persuade you to read into the issues regarding toxic masculinity, and

Toxic Masculinity is the root of men’s oppression, and it requires our attention to be adequately addressed. This is because in the United States we teach boys that demeaning women make them more valuable to society. The idea is that women are only around to give men pleasure and to be seen as objects. In the documentary, we are also told by Joe Ehrmann that in addition to demeaning women we are taught that we need to strive for money and positions of power to obtain money with the help of media and film perpetuating the idea. He also added that if that we look at what society is telling boys, they will lose what is truly important in life. Adding to this, Madeline Levine says that she has had young children tell her that they want to be a