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Recommended: Toys as Agents of Socialization
The Toxic Masculinity What do you think are the traits that every man should have? Many people feel like men should possess the very stereotypical masculine qualities, that often include exuding strength, emotionless and even violent. There is a pressure that society puts on men to conform to these masculine behaviors. However, this pressure can result in a very toxic masculinity that can result in violent outbursts. From an early age, these ideals of manliness are often forced onto the youth, and this can impact them adversely for the rest of their life. This impact can be drastic in shaping both their character and themselves. Many men learn to strive to be what some would think of as a “manly man” which can include being strong, tough and violent. However, this pressure to obey a manly stigma has some heavy effects on men in daily life. Many men meet this pressure by putting up a false front, a type of tough disguise. This false front allows them to act the way society tells them a man should, to act tough. It is this false front that creates an extremely negative impact on men as they follow ideals that pushes them towards a toxic masculinity. …show more content…
Even children’s toys are influencers to masculinity. Men are facing an ever-increasing demand for male perfection in society's eyes. Almost all media sources show men that they must be extremely muscular, all bulk and no smarts. In recent years this pressure is only growing; just take a GI Joe toy, for example. It is no secret that the physique of these toys is extremely unrealistic, and they are only becoming increasingly demanding in appearance. According to Harrison G. Pope Jr in the Journal of the American Medical Association the ideal male image has become increasingly
Upping the Ante: Question #1 Over time, popular culture has changed the way that the ideal man is portrayed and has changed what the ideal male body is. In the past, ideal men as portrayed in movies and television were much smaller than they are today. Today, ideal men are portrayed as huge and muscular, signaling their power and aggression. One example of this in Tough Guise 2 is the G.I. Joe doll.
The topics that Joe Ehrmann uses as framework for his Building Men for Others program are quite intriguing and make you really question masculinity. The first topic, rejecting false masculinity, can be interpreted a few different ways. In the book, it states: “As young boys, we’re told to be men, or to act like men” soon followed with “we’ve got all these parents say ‘be a man’ to boys that have no concept of what that means. I completely agree with the statement of Joe Ehrmann and often question the definition of ‘being a man’. Many boys and men will reject the idea of a man being anything other than being big and strong or having power.
In today’s American society there seems to be an ever-growing pressure for young males to adopt the “tough guy” persona. The want to adopt such an identity can be rooted to the way media portrays male masculinity to young boys and pre-adolescent males. With an ever-increasing message of violence, hegemonic masculinity, and inferential sexism, being rooted in Television and films it seems young males are being wired to be view these characteristics as normal because of the cultivation theory. As Jackson Katz from “Tough Guise 2” argues, our epidemic of male violence is rooted in our inability as a society to break from an outmoded ideology of manhood.
Whether this be through morals, choices, beliefs, or personality. Holloway argues that it is through toxic/abrupt masculinity that boys are constantly caught in the crossfires between fight or flight. Masculinity becomes toxic when it becomes obsessive and disruptive. When society gets to the point where they cannot even focus or be themselves because of the fact that the only thing they care about is being the perfect man. The idea of striving to become this perfect man is an example of flight in society. Men are being forced to attempt to fit into these ideals and “prove, and re prove that they are men” in order to avoid the feeling of not fitting in with the rest of the group (Holloway). Holloway continues to discuss how throughout their lives men are constantly seen as emotionally tougher which causes them to grow up believing that if they show emotions they are weaker and are not allowed to be a part of the pack. Therefore instead of fighting this ideal and deciding to stand up for who they are, it is easier to conform and attempt to fit in because if they show discontent then they are shown as weak and unable to handle the “social constructions of masculinity” forcing them to become a social pariah and damage their spiritual
In an excerpt from his book, Guyland: The Perilous World Where Boys Become Men, which was first published in 2008, sociologist Michael Kimmel shows us how the teaching of masculinity in America begins to form at a very young age and goes far into adulthood. He focuses on how boys are molded from a young age to be men, by forms of harassment, teasing, and peer pressure from parents, relatives, friends, teachers, and society. In this specific essay, Kimmel explains the pressures young boys experience and the expectations as they grow into manhood. Kimmel vividly describes men who are pressured by their own peers to prove their masculinity. Furthermore, there is a relentless sense of having to show ones ' 'manly ' ' behavior. Masculinity is expected, and needs to be shown in-front of others at all times. For most men, being able to do
Men are allegedly competitive, aggressive, dominant, and strong and if these attributes are not acquired a man is not a man. When other men recognize a man failing in those four areas of “manliness” they compare him to a female with negative connotation as expressed in the following quote, “The worst insult one man can hurl at another-whether its boys on the playground or CEOs in the boardroom-is the accusation that a man is like a woman.” These actions create perceptions that women are unworthy and pitiful. Jensen mentions that because of masculinity men are thought to seek control over women resulting in an increase of physical violence towards women. However, masculinity has harsh effects on men as well. Men are constantly trying to prove their dominance to each other, while competing against one another for ultimate dominance. This creates a never ending cycle of competition and unease for
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.”
This doesn’t occur just in their relationships, but in every facet of life. Men are constantly in a struggle for power and control whether it is at work, home, during sports, or in a relationship, this remains true. So the only way for them to get this power is for them to be “men”; tough, strong, masculine, ones that demand and take power. Where does this thirst for control come from? Is it the natural structure of a man, or is it a social construct?
Men prove their masculinity by acting tough and joking about hardships or danger proving dominance. The stigma of men walking away from a fight not being honorable is an example the authors used to portray that being passive is far from being masculine. Although women have been observed to take into healthier lifestyles they still succumb to the problems of eating disorders and binge drinking in their college years. Eating disorders such as anorexia and bulimia are issues linked to the western cultural ideals for beauty and many of the times women will find themselves having a hard time reversing such a disorder or even being
Vironia Qaryaqos Raymundo Quezada CCS 119 10 December, 2017 El Machismo All men have wanted to feel and look like a machismo at some point in their life. The topic of machismo is not addressed often and does not contain enough resources and articles about it. It is what many men want to be and what many women want to see in a man. Women feel attracted to men when they feel like he has the ability to protect them from any kind of harm even when they are not generally in any type of danger.
Myers mentioned in his article that this generation of young discouraged, angry men feels abandoned with the today’s norms. Male movie stars and athletes have further influenced the masculine norms. In males perspective, liking a feminine color, doing feminine actions, listening to specified girl music is considered to be less manly. These have greatly affected the likes and dislikes of many men. The entertainment industry has created a big gap between what is masculine or feminine. This has caused a big separation and it's getting worse. Male are taught to be man of the house, strong, and powerful, but sometimes they’re belittled by society that they can’t do certain things and all the power is
When someone is thinking of a man, what do they think? Strong? Brave? That’s what most people think; in reality that is a very false image. In “Bros Before Hos: The Guy Code,” Michael Kimmel, talks about what it means to be a man and what it takes to be a man in today’s world. Men are pressured into what they “should” be. If they don’t follow certain unwritten rules, which include: not asking for directions, not giving up, not showing fear, or any signs of emotional weakness, such as tears; they are considered less than a man, a wimp. A real man must be aggressive and brave, he must defend his territory: status, family, possessions. Men blindly follow the Guy Code, they believe in order to fit in, they must comply and be part of the pack.
Tough Guise :Violence, Media and the crisis in Masculinity released in 1999 by anti-sexism activist Jackson Katz is an hour long documentary depicting masculinity in the American culture from late 20th century to mid 20th centuries . It shows us how most men think about themselves and what attributes they should possess in order to be respected in the society. Their thoughts are mostly influenced by the powerful media which repetitively shows that men should be tough and masculine in nature. In the documentary, the definition of a real man is someone who is masculine, independent, tough and intimidating.
This results in men being forced to suppress any emotions that would expose them as not being as manly as they appear to be from the exterior. This oppression of men’s feelings is another way the Western harem impacts men’s
As a child develops, their surroundings have a major influence on the rest of their lives; if boys are taught to “man up” or never to do something “like a girl”, they will become men in constant fear of not being masculine enough. Through elementary and middle school ages, boys are taught that a tough, violent, strong, in-control man is the ideal in society and they beat themselves up until they reach that ideal. They have to fit into the “man box” (Men and Masculinity) and if they do not fulfill the expectations, they could experience physical and verbal bullying from others. Not only are friends and family influencing the definition of masculine, but marketing and toys stretch the difference between a “boy’s toy” and a “girl’s toy”. Even as early as 2 years old, children learn to play and prefer their gender’s toys over the other gender’s (Putnam). When children grow up hearing gender stereotypes from everyone around them, especially those they love and trust like their parents, they begin to submit themselves and experience a loss of individuality trying to become society’s ideal. If everyone is becoming the same ideal, no one has a sense of self or uniqueness anymore and the culture suffers from