Masculinity in the Media
Masculinity has changed and evolved since the beginning of human creation. Males have had to adhere to the social norms of their time to survive without undue persecution. In the beginning of the 19th century, there was a shift in the way men could attain manhood. It was no longer easy for a man to enter into manhood with straightforward expectations and rituals. The state of manhood became difficult to obtain because of its precarious nature. During the same period, the industrial revolution was in full bloom giving birth to mass information outlets like newspapers, magazines, and advertisement: media. This set a prevailing state where boys and men alike could gain material on how to become or be men through media. With the pervasiveness of mass media, there came cultural hegemony that still lasts today. Hegemony is defined as domination of one power or state within a league, confederation, etc, or of one social class over the other. In the case of American culture, a select few were setting the standards for what it took to be a man. Usually these men were in leadership positions and not of the same social class as the common American population. Presently, mass media (specifically television and films) plays a major role in how men and women perceive gender roles, sexuality, and beauty. Media has shaped expectations of masculinity and men's interpretation of family in different ways over decades of television. How does television affect the male perspective on masculinity? There is no doubting that media has a profound effect on people. Several studies have shown this to be true, but it is important to understand how it affects society.
Men and masculinity are represented in relati...
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... our society.
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For centuries, the ideal masculinity has been seen as the provider, the macho man, the cowboy and the emotional rock, but new representations of manliness in the media have been challenging this idea (Watson 2015, p. 270). Within these new depictions, there lies a hierarchy where one form of masculinity is more accepted than the rest (Kluch 2015). Macho masculinity has been seen as being dominant in the hierarchy for generations, however, in recent years, there have been an influx of new representations of masculinity that disrupt traditional hierarchal ideas. The masculinity of the twenty first century includes emotions, sensitivity, discipline, and intelligence. These new aspects of the hierarchy have been introduced by movies such as Brokeback Mountain, 22 Jump Street, The
Eron, L.D. (1963). Relationship of television viewing habits and aggressive behavior in children. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 67, 193-196.
The genre of analyzation in this paper is masculinity. More in depth, the societal perpetuation of the concept of masculinity and its effects on individuals. Masculinity is a concept defined as a category of attributes, social behaviors and roles generally associated only with individuals of the male sex. It is rarely associated with females unless they are butch lesbian, and even if they are not, society will portray them as so. The concept of masculinity is a social construct – most often seen in patriarchal cultures and societies and identified mainly with gender roles. Gender roles are the acceptable or appropriate societal norms dictating
The concept of masculinity is considered as the qualities and characteristics of a man, typical what is appropriate to a man. In this article, A Community Psychology of Men and Masculinity: Historical and Conceptual Review, The author Eric S. Mankowski and Kenneth I. Maton, analyze four main themes: "Men as gendered beings, the privilege and damage of being a masculine man, men as a privileged group, and men’s power and subjective powerlessness. The second and fourth themes are described as
Television and the housing boom are both products of post-war American prosperity. Both developments are linked not only temporally, but culturally as well. Their significance is often times interdependent. The introduction of network television programming into American homes began in the late 1940s, as did the housing, and post-War baby boom. Suburbs became the new melting pot as migration from ethnic working class neighborhoods created enclaves of whiteness. At the same time, families on television were reflecting this change in social hierarchy. Early television sitcom families were happy and safe, with a professional father, a loving, nurturing mother, and two or three well-adjusted children. And they were always white and money was never an issue. The suburban home was an oasis of domesticity, free from communism and atomic threat.
I never realized the impact television has had on my family until recently. My parents divorced eleven years ago, resulting in my sisters and I being raised in a single parent household. My mom decided to go back to school and get her degree; soon after she met the man she would marry and become our stepdad. Our family transformed from a nuclear family, to a single parent family to a mixed family. My mom had made a career for herself instead of being the stay at home mom like we saw in the traditional nuclear families. I was truly shocked to see how closely television shows resembles my own family. It is safe to say that television has progressed the culture of American families everywhere, even our
Mares, M., & Verma, S. (2015). Television and Its Effects on Interfamilial Relationships. Retrieved September 28,
Throughout society, men and women have been expected to live by guidelines consisting of media generated ideas and ways of living out life. Both men and women’s thinking process are being altered the negative effects of society’s mass media. For both sexes, this repeating negative exposure causes a constant downfall in self-image and creates media influenced decisions that lead to unhealthy lifestyles. The media effects the thinking process of both men and women in negative ways therefore media needs to be heavily regulated.
In the views of Micheal Kimmel “hegemonic masculinity” is a socially constructed process where men are pressured by social norms of masculine ideals to perform behaviors of a “true man” and its influence on young male’s growth. It is the ideology that being a man with power and expressing control over women is a dominant factor of being a biological male. The structure of masculinity was developed within the 18th to 19th century, as men who owned property and provided for his family with strength related work environments was the perfect example of being a generic “American man.” Kimmel introduces Marketplace Manhood and its relation to American men. He states, “Marketplace Masculinity describes the normative definition of American masculinity.
The media, through its many outlets, has a lasting effect on the values and social structure evident in modern day society. Television, in particular, has the ability to influence the social structure of society with its subjective content. As Dwight E. Brooks and Lisa P. Hébert write in their article, “GENDER, RACE, AND MEDIA REPRESENTATION”, the basis of our accepted social identities is heavily controlled by the media we consume. One of the social identities that is heavily influenced is gender: Brooks and Hébert conclude, “While sex differences are rooted in biology, how we come to understand and perform gender is based on culture” (Brooks, Hébert 297). With gender being shaped so profusely by our culture, it is important to be aware of how social identities, such as gender, are being constructed in the media.
Socialization of people has been occurring through family, public education and peer groups. However in recent years, the mass-media has become the biggest contributor to the socialization process, especially in the ‘gender’ sector. The mass-media culture, as influential as it has become, plays the most significant role in the reproduction process of gender role stereotypes and patriarchal values. It is true that a family model of nowadays is based rather on equality than on patriarchal values and women have more rights and possibilities on the labor market. However, mass-media still reflect, maintain, or even ‘create’ gender stereotypes in order to promote themselves.
Furthermore, television violence causes aggressive behavior in children. Many people believe that children who watch violent television programs exhibit more aggressive behavior than that exhibited by children who do not (Kinnear 23). According to the results of many studies and reports, violence on television can lead to aggressive behavior in children (Langone 50). Also, when television was introduced into a community of children for the first time, researchers observed a rise in the level of physical and verbal aggression among these children (Langone 51). The more television violence viewed by a child, the more aggressive the child is (“Children” 1).
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Some “admirable” portrayals of males in the media can also be a bit destructive. Most movies and television shows have the big shot business man who is the "epitome of success, embodying the characteristics and acquiring the possessions that society deems valuable” (Children Now, 1999). This portrayal of me...