Masculinity In Society

Americans believe that they have the freedom to speak, dress, and act how they please, but they may not realize that they are subconsciously put under pressure to speak, dress, and act a particular way depending on their gender. Gender in America is either feminine or masculine with no in between. In Aaron H. Devor’s book “Becoming Members of Society: Learning the Social Meanings of Gender”, he discusses the way that society defines gender roles and how these specified roles are learned and applied throughout life. Next, in the book “‘Bros Before Hos’: The Guy Code” by Michael Kimmel, he examines the standards that are set for masculinity and how men apply and use those to make their behavior seem acceptable in society. Lastly, Jean Kilbourne

The standards of masculinity can further be described by Kimmel as “The Guy Code,” which is “...the collection of attitudes, values, and traits that together compose what it means to be a man” (Kimmel 541). This “Guy Code” consists of rules telling men to not act like sissies, effeminate, or gay in any way. It also emphasizes men must not be wimps and they should be wealthy and in power or dominant over others. While on the surface these may seem not harmful, they can be damaging to men who like to have a sense of fashion or show emotions because those are qualities that a man shouldn’t have. The “Guy Code” forces men to suppress their urges to dress the way they’d like and pressure them into not revealing their emotions. This type of degradation can lead to men having low self-esteem, body issues, and other mental health problems. For example, Kimmel argues that a boys parents and other authority figures lead them to believe that they need to “...deny their emotional needs and disguise their feelings...so many boys end up feeling emotionally isolated” (Kimmel 548). Since its already known that kids learn gender roles at a young age, it should be no question that they start to affect them at a young age. Telling young boys that crying isn’t how you act like a man causes them to suppress their emotions. Bottling up emotions for any human leads to

Many advertisements that can be seen everywhere in our lives are influenced by gender roles. When ads show images picturing violence against women it leads to the “...objectification and disconnection [that creates] a climate in which there is widespread and increasing violence” (Kilbourne 171). Femininity displays women as being submissive which is a stereotype the media plays into. The media uses women as subordinate and submissive objects that won’t fight back because they are weak. This also gives the impression that it’s normal and ok to view women only as objects that can be beaten on. When advertisements view women as items, it degrades them from the human beings that they are to nothing, meaningless, worthless objects. The gender roles of dominant men and passive women give a bad impression to young people by allowing “Many young men feel they have the right to judge and touch young women and the women often feel they have no choice but to submit” (Kilbourne 511). The sexualization of women in ads leads to men feeling entitled to a woman's body. This normalization allows men to think it’s ok to use sexual aggression, violence, and rape because they have seen displayed across societies media. Women feel that since it’s feminine to be passive and submissive they should let men dominate over them when really it only leads to crime. Kilbourne