Inside the World of Boys: Behind the Mask of Masculinity by William Pollack William Pollack, in his article “Inside the World of Boys: Behind the Mask of Masculinity”, discusses on how boy tries to hide behind the mask and the stereotypical of masculinity. He demonstrates how boy hide their deepest though and feelings and real self. Pollack open the essay with “a fourteen-year-old boy, he is doing badly in school and he might fail algebra, but when teacher or his parent ask about it, he said everything is just fine. He hide his true identity behind the mask, and let no one see his true self.” After read the story, I think the story is really useful source to write an essay about how boy become men and they are emotionless. Pollack is a well-respected author of a number of books, to guide boys successfully through the many challenges they face. Pollack is the Director of the Centers for Men and Young Men and the Director of Continuing Education Psychology at McLean Hospital, and is Assistant Clinical Professor Psychology in the Department of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. He is the Past President of the Massachusetts Psychological Association, a member the Boston Psychoanalytic Society, a Diplomat in Clinical Psychology and a Founding Member and Fellow of The Society for the Psychological Study of Men and Masculinity. Some of the book that Pollack had wrote are Real Boy’s Voices, New Psychotherapy for Men, The Re-creation of Masculinity, all this book here help to understanding and interacting with boys of all ages and teach them how to deal with everyday life. Pollack is an expert in the areas of boy's development, education and men's roles. He help young men how to deal with everyday life, such as in workplace, schoo... ... middle of paper ... ... must deal with all the images put out by society, his peers and his own family, by deciding for himself what values are important to him. Boys have to hide their true selves and feelings to fit in, but in society expect men to be both tough and gentle, and be able to express their feeling, try to not hide behind the mask. Regardless, masculinity is an unrealistic expectation of men. Who cares what others think as long as they be their true self. It is apparent through my though that this essay is a good source to research or write an essay and can be teach. This essay helps parents learn more about their children feeling and grow into manhood to become real men. Bibliography: Works Cited Cohen, Theodore. “Men And Masculinity.” Ohio Wesleyan University. Canada, 2001 . Pollack, William “Dr. William Pollack.” Information on William Pollack. 2001 .
In the essay, “Changing the World One Boy at a Time” written by Mark Honigsbaum, boys are lost or they are in crisis. These boys have troubles in their everyday life. The author illustrates that boys need a mature male adult to help them guide to the right path. To convey his message, Honigsbaum explains that these boys have psychological issues. He then states that the event, where they receive a psychological test, reveals a boy’s personality. Lastly, he argues that to make the right decision, a boy needs the guidance of a mentor. He presents those arguments with the use of statistics, expert opinion, rhetorical questions, anecdotes and comparison.
In the essay, “The High Cost of Manliness,” writer Robert Jensen discusses the harmful effects of having male specific characteristics, such as masculinity. Jensen realizes that men’s actions and ways of living are judged based upon the characteristic of being manly. He argues that there is no valid reason to have characteristics associated with being male. Society has created the notion that masculinity is the characteristic that defines males as males.
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
As we grow up, people experience different ways of how to express themselves as an individual, especially how to express their emotions to others. Depending on how we are raised, we stereotype boys to be strong and sturdy while girls are gentle and sweet. In both their respective articles, “Defining a Doctor” and “His Marriage and Hers: Childhood Roots,” Zuger and Goleman compare and contrast the different ways of how each gender showcases their behavior and emotion to others. In “Defining a Doctor,” Zuger observes two interns and notices how differently they approach their patients by using their emotion. In contrast, Goleman in “His Marriage and Hers” defines the separate emotional worlds between boys and girls and how their upbringings are
In Kimmel’s essay “’Bros Before Hos’: The Guy Code” he argues that the influence of society on masculinity is equal to or greater than biological influences on masculinity. In the essay, Kimmel uses various surveys and interviews to validate his argument. He points to peers, coaches, and family members as the people most likely to influence the development of a man’s masculinity. When a man has his manliness questioned, he immediately makes the decision never to say or do whatever caused him to be called a wimp, or unmanly. Kimmel’s argument is somewhat effective because the readers get firsthand accounts from the interviewees but the author does not provide any statistics to support his argument.
1. In Riseman and Seale’s chapter Betwixt and Be Tween, they focus on how sexual identity can be used to police a male’s masculinity. It can start with something as innocent as a shy, quiet boy who starts to be picked on because he is no assertive or aggressive like the other males. The way he is picked on can be the other boy’s called him a: faggot, gay, homo, or boy lover. This means at a young age boys start to think they have to be a certain way to seem manly: assertive, enjoy sports, and be better than girls in all aspects; these are just a few ways boys try to prove their masculinity. One example that proves this was discussed in this chapter. Some students, both male and female, are given a hypothetical situation about a boy, Marcus,
George Orwell quotes, “He wears a mask, and his face grows to fit it.” The documentary, “The Mask You Live In”, directed by Jennifer Siebel Newsom, shows different ages of males who struggle to be themselves while battling America’s limited meaning of manliness. George Orwell quotes, “He wears a mask, and his face grows to fit it.” Influenced by the media, among their age group, and the grown-ups in their lives, adolescents dissociate their emotions, disrespect women, and are aggressive. Society gender stereotypes affect young males to change to fit into the societal norm as they characterize “real” men.
The idea that teenage boys should act a certain way towards females is usually instilled in them at a young age. According to Devor, “ Femininity must be expressed through modes of… action which communicate weakness, dependency, ineffectualness, availability for sexual or emotional service, and sensitivity to the needs of others” (Devor 6-7). In other words, men have to place women on a lower pedestal because of a woman’s so called “needs” (Devor 6). The “needs” that women express are feminine characteristics. The characteristics of females listed by Devor, does not show any sign of power or dominance. Since society believes gender is a patriarchy, females have no influence and need attention. This shows that men adjust their actions around women, since they believe that women need special attention. Furthermore, if a male possesses anything non-masculine,
Gaunte challenges the perceived benefits from engaging in hegemonic masculinity and its relevance to a person’s well being. Benefits are strictly social, whereas the costs are internal and limits how one can behave based on guidelines of masculinity. The phrase “man up” imposes gender expectations, exaggerating perceived differences between men and women such as physical strength and emotional absence. Mora concludes that puberty is a social accomplishment because boys can enact hegemonic masculinity, but Gaunte evokes the alternative where boys do not enact hegemonic masculinity and are penalized for it. Due to society’s expectations of engaging in masculinity, a boy’s freedom to express himself is limited, and being “strong in a way that isn’t about physical power or dominance” implies femininity (Gaunte). This is important because criticisms toward marginalized masculinities lead to internalized self-hatred that is projected onto self and relationships. Gaunte emphasizes the importance of addressing problems that arise from this, such as boys committing suicide, women being assaulted, and trans people being
power and the ability to lead. In American culture women must act like men to gain positions of
An article entitled “How Boys Become Men,” written by Jon Katz was originally published in January, 1993 in Glamour, a magazine for young women. This article details the process of a boy growing into a man and mainly focus on the lesson boys learn that effect their adult lives. These lessons are about how to hold back emotions and never appeared sensitive. The author includes examples of his own experiences as a boy to convey to the reader the challenges of growing into a man. Through the various stories of young boys, the author is trying to prove that the men are insensitive because they had to learn to hide their feelings during the stage of growing up with other boys. The purpose of the author is to explain the women of the world, why men appear to be emotionalist and “macho.” The author’s main idea of this article is to explain why men are insensitive and to help women understand why men sometimes seem “remote” and “uncommunicative.”
Males go through the expectation of hyper-masculinity (a psychological term for the exaggeration of male stereotypical behavior, such as an emphasis on physical strength, aggression, and sexuality. This term can be pejorative, though it is also used when examining the behavior (as adaptive or maladaptive) dispassionately.) This means that a man or male must be strong and never be week or cry. Hyper-masculinity would also include being fearless, arrogant, and much even violent. This can be a way for some males to show their dominance, A man shall never, under any circumstances, be caught folding towels or folding laundry. I believe men are made to think that they must mask their emotions. For example, if a boy/man has a natural love for art, theater, or singing they are immediately categorized or “boxed” and put in a space where children are called “gay” and “fag.” In my life I have heard males being told things such
Director Stanley Kubrick once said, “When a man cannot choose, he ceases to be a man.” This point is extremely evident in today’s society. The world today has constructed an idea of masculinity that doesn’t allow for boys to be secure with who they are. Society is constantly pushing boys towards perfection leading to anxiety, and as a result these men are not choosing who they want to be or how they want to live; instead they are being who everyone else wants them to be and living how everyone else wants them to live. The film trailer for, “The Mask You Live In,” focuses on this issue, and pushes for some form of change in today’s popular culture. Their goal is to bring to light an issue that many individuals today are overlooking, that being how many boys are wearing a ‘mask’ and the fact that the phrase “man up” is something we need to begin to redefine. Expert opinions, interviews with young boys, factual evidence, emotional appeal, and imagery all help the film create a strong, positive argument.
However, paradoxically, the process of learning to obtain masculine self-fulfilment is characterised by a boy’s recognition of his inadequacy”. I agree with this because many young men like Dave and myself defines manhood with an age but I learn that from my mistakes. Dave never gave the gun to his mother and ended up killing jenny (the mule) and lied about the death of the resulting in having to pay for the death. It’s easy to lie about something but it’s not so easy to stand just to your action and that’s what a man would do. For me not having freedom and the power to do what I wanted made me learn the hard way because I didn’t have a father who was really involved in my life to teach me.
behaviors, and social conditions that we call masculinities are “hard-wired” into males through biology (see Thorhill & Palmer, 2000) and/or the heritability of human psyche (see Jung, 1959/1989; Bly, 1990). They view masculinity as static, transhistorical, cross-cultural, and cross-situational. From this perspective, gender change is either impossible, or it involves the use of powerful force to constrain what is seen as “naturally” male. (Masculine Self pg. 19)