Contemporary Society's Crisis of Masculinity

Contemporary Society's Crisis of Masculinity

Works Cited Not Included

Masculinity is the word used to describe the broad stereotyped traits

traditionally ascribed to all males in British society and the notion

of how men should appear and behave. It is more accurate to refer to

'masculinities', to reflect the complexity and diversity of

masculinity today. There are important differences made between

'hegemonic' and 'subordinate' masculinities; hegemonic masculinity is

the dominant western image - white, heterosexual and middle class,

subordinate the diverse masculinities - homosexual men, black men and

the working class. David Beckham is a modern icon who has expressed

and challenged some of the dominant assumptions of masculinity and

identity. He is a talented and committed footballer yet his

experiments with fashion and his posing for shoots are taken by some

as an affront to the conventionalities of traditional masculine

behaviour. Rutherford stated that 'the reality of men's heterosexual

identities is that their endurance is contingent upon an array of

structures and institutions'. He believes that if these structures are

threatened or weakened then masculine identities can be threatened or

weakened. Rutherford thinks that five changes have undermined the male

dominance of certain structures and institutions. These changes are 1)

working-class masculinities threatened by the decline of heavy manual

industry. Male unemployment has risen while female employment has

increased. 2) Violent and sexual abuse of women and children has

become more widely publicised and less tolerated. 3) Men's roles

within the family have been questioned....

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... genuine rise in male dissatisfaction for which there are numerous

causes. The growing assertiveness of women and the lack of women

prepared to be the property of patriarchal men. Male power is being

overthrown.

There may be a crisis of masculinity, but

'Men still outnumber women in positions of power across the globe,

still glower downwards through the glass ceiling, still strut the

cabinet and boardrooms in every developed country in the world, the

seeming masters of their fate and everybody else's. In the developing

world the situation is even more unequal. The gender disparity in

sharing the burden of unpaid work is stark, and for all the talk of

equality women throughout the world continue to work longer hours than

men and are paid very much less for it. The colonists are still in

command.' (Clare, 2000)