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Conclusion on social norms
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In society we have unspoken rules and societal norms that teach us how everyone is supposed to behave. These rules are specific to a person’s sex and gender identity and can be heavy policed if broken or followed too much. These societal norms are based on a gender binary. This binary is the male masculinity and female femininity roles. Male masculinity roles include the man being the bread winner in a family, the man has to fit the hegemonic masculinity ideal male image. This image includes many different factors that men should mold themselves. Some include a man that is strong, can fight, white, rich, straight, smart, and muscular (Wade & Ferree, P. 125)
With male hyper masculinity being a predominate image that is stuck in our heads, part due to institutions and social interactions that
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Conformity. This is when cultural goals and institutional means can both be obtained. 2. Innovation. This is when cultural goals can be obtained but for institutional means a person may change their values in order to achieve this. 3. Ritualism. This is when cultural goals cannot be obtained but institutional means are still in practice. A person gives up on their higher aspirations in life but still provide a service to society. This could be by working a job and staying in middle class. 4. Retreatism. This is when nether cultural goals or institutional means can be accomplished. This is can occur due to giving up your values. Many people tend to go to drug use or living in the streets. 5. Rebellion. This is when both cultural goals and intuitional means are both sub situation of values. This is by rejection social norms and structures and creating your own views, cultural ideals (Amatrudo, 2009, P. 21) This conformity to rebellion provides evidence, looking at more individual hardships with strain. This can connect to the intersectionality of black males, living in the inner city because we know that the inner cities is where a majority of the crime, lack of resources
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.
Unfortunately it seems to be a subject that doesn’t get much attention. It is almost as if it is swept under the rug in our society. The idea of gender as we think of it, is solely a social construct, born into existence by the pressure of tradition and the supremacy of the majority. This is true for our perceptions of "masculinity" and "femininity", and this point is driven home in "Bros Before Hos: The Guy Code." Michael Kimmel points out the stereotypes men are taught to believe make them more manly. According to his interviews with various men from all over the country, the male social facade was put upon them by fathers, grandfathers, coaches, older brothers and other significant male role models as young
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
In one of our class discussions on hegemonic masculinity, we attempted to define a general list of characteristics or behaviors that one should have in order to attain this ideal. However, there was no consensus on these qualities. Frequently, the qualities that we would suggest would be those that were the opposite of qualities associated with women. For example, if we would categorize being emotional as a trait assigned to women, we would assign the trait of being impassive to men. This would also occur when we considered which behaviors would be considered masculine. While we assumed women would perform work inside of the house, we assigned men to work outside of the house, doing activities such as maintaining the yard or fixing the car. Most of, if not all of, the qualities and behaviors we assigned as being a part of hegemonic masculinity perpetuated the idea of gender inequality. When we assumed that those characteristics would be considered aspects of hegemonic masculinity, we restricted them to only being assigned to men because if a woman could possess those characteristics, it wouldn’t be considered a masculine aspect. This also explains how hegemonic masculinity can perpetuate
Throughout history, time has created and shaped the ideal type of men, while society chooses what it means to be a real man..The ideal real men needed to be strong, provider of his family, decision maker, economically, educationally, physically, and politically dominant (Myers). The difference between the masculinity of the 20th century and the 21st has changed significantly. The ideal men status in 1900’s was rich, educated, powerful, and successful. In today’s perspectives, men needs to be strong, tall, handsome, capable, and unemotional. The contrast of these two centuries are mostly about men’s social status and appearances. Before, it was all about what a man is capable of doing and how powerful he could be compared to today’s ideal,
According to Kimmel, the earliest embodiments of American manhood were landowners, independent artisans, shopkeepers, and farmers. During the first decade of the nineteenth century, the industrial revolution started to influence the way, American men thought of themselves. Manhood was now defined as through the man’s economic success. This was the origin of the “Self-Made Man” ideology and the new concept of manhood that was more exciting, and potentially more rewarding for men themselves. The image of the Self-Made Man has far reaching effects on the notion of masculinity in America. Thus, the emergence of the Self-Made Man put men under pressure. As Kimmel states,
In our society, that is to say, the American culture, we view masculinity through male dominance. This idea was founded and install in us at a very young age, which is why we see adolescent boys acting in a violent manner. We are pressured by our society to accept the gender norms because we are taught to insult or degrade those who are different from us, that was the bases on which America was founded.
Society in general has a way of naturally assigning men and women with individual roles that need to be complied with. To clarify, in the 1950s and 1960s, American women were required to maintain their homes while raising their children and making sure the husbands were happy. On the other hand, American men had to provide for the family and protect them. Displaying characteristics not parallel to one’s gender is rarely unobserved and almost always has negative consequences because society seeks to maintain order. In reality, the people cannot conform to society’s “norms” because people have the right to be independent of society, yet be a part of it without sacrifice. An example would be how American society views masculinity as a man who
One highly unique example of the masculine gender role is the popular social networking app Tinder. Although intentionally designed to simply bring singles in the area together to socialize and possibly develop relationships, Tinder has taken on an increasingly sexual undertone. What started as a social networking tool, has now become a glorified booty call app. However, in an article dedicated to the process through which boys learn to be men, Dr. Jackson Katz defines this generation as being raised “in a society that, in many ways, glorifies sexually aggressive masculinity and considers as normal the degradation and objectification of women” (Minnesota Fathers & Families Network, 2007). In other words, the aggressive sexual behavior exemplified on the Tinder app is becoming increasingly normal. Katz goes on to explain that today’s youths will consider normal the concept that, “sex is what makes you more of a man” (2007). With such an emphasis on sex, Tinder will serve as yet another way for college-aged males to achieve this increasingly normal definition of masculinity. Another example, and one that probably relates closest to my own example, is the television series Blue Mountain State. The show follows three incoming freshman football players attending Midwestern University who must quickly learn
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
Men are stereotyped as “self oriented” while women are stereotyped as “other oriented.” The reason for this is that in most cases, the woman is assigned to take care of the children and other domestic roles, while the man has greater involvement in competitive markets (Cuddy). Gender roles and stereotypes are often placed on men because of where they live, or their expectations their upbringing put upon them. “Men align more closely with the core cultural values of a given culture than do stereotypes of Women” (Cuddy). A mans environment usually affects who he becomes as a
Be a man! You must be as swift as the coursing river! Be a man! With all the force of a great typhoon! Be a man! With all the strength of a raging fire, mysterious as the dark side of the moon!
Society has wrapped their heads around that if you are man you need to be strong, muscular, hairy, bossy and a protector in order to be masculine. Women have to be pretty, clean, follows the rules, not talk to much and to not be loud. Clearly, the expectations that society has for men to be ‘masculine’ and or a woman to be ‘feminine ‘is going to influence their personality an identity. In order for people to follow these expectation they will have to alter who they are, how they speak, the way they carry and represent themselves in social interaction with other member of the society in order to fit it and be accepted. We pay very close attention to the gender roles that we have established. The gender that we have stepped into will determine how we are treated and how we treat others (Zevallos, Zuleyka
Masculinity and femininity are two terms, which have been interpreted differently throughout history. Both the males and the females have responsibilities and duties but these duties differ based on one’s gender. Gender has played a prodigious role in the economy, politics, and the society. Everyone starts making interpretations of the strengths and weaknesses based on one’s gender. These interpretations are not always based on his or her ability but is usually based on his or her gender. Males tend to be judged as extremely strong and unfashionable in terms of appearance. Whereas, females are judged as expensive and very fashionable. Males and females both differ in their abilities and their enjoyments. Fashion, entertainment, and strength are three topics, which are used to define masculinity and femininity in the 21st century.
The differences between women and men are not solely biological. Our society’s culture has established a set of unwritten cultural laws of how each gender should act, or in other words society has ascribed a stereotype. Men’s gender identity has been one of masculinity, and masculinity is defined as referring to a man or things described as manly. What does manly mean though? Is a male manly if he is “Mr. Fix-it”, or the jock, or if he sits on the couch on Sunday watching football? This latter statement is a stereotype of men, that has been around for decades, and is current as well, but starting with the 1960’s a man’s role started to change, despite the stereotype not changing to accommodate it. For the past 40 years one can see how men have taken on roles stereotypically ascribed to women, such roles including being the “stay-at-home mom”, which we can find an excellent example of in the 1980’s film “Mr.