Masculinity in the Media
Masculinity has changed and evolved since the beginning of human creation. Males have had to adhere to the social norms of their time to survive without undue persecution. In the beginning of the 19th century, there was a shift in the way men could attain manhood. It was no longer easy for a man to enter into manhood with straightforward expectations and rituals. The state of manhood became difficult to obtain because of its precarious nature. During the same period, the industrial revolution was in full bloom giving birth to mass information outlets like newspapers, magazines, and advertisement: media. This set a prevailing state where boys and men alike could gain material on how to become or be men through media. With the pervasiveness of mass media, there came cultural hegemony that still lasts today. Hegemony is defined as domination of one power or state within a league, confederation, etc, or of one social class over the other. In the case of American culture, a select few were setting the standards for what it took to be a man. Usually these men were in leadership positions and not of the same social class as the common American population. Presently, mass media (specifically television and films) plays a major role in how men and women perceive gender roles, sexuality, and beauty. Media has shaped expectations of masculinity and men's interpretation of family in different ways over decades of television. How does television affect the male perspective on masculinity? There is no doubting that media has a profound effect on people. Several studies have shown this to be true, but it is important to understand how it affects society.
Men and masculinity are represented in relati...
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... our society.
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For centuries, the ideal masculinity has been seen as the provider, the macho man, the cowboy and the emotional rock, but new representations of manliness in the media have been challenging this idea (Watson 2015, p. 270). Within these new depictions, there lies a hierarchy where one form of masculinity is more accepted than the rest (Kluch 2015). Macho masculinity has been seen as being dominant in the hierarchy for generations, however, in recent years, there have been an influx of new representations of masculinity that disrupt traditional hierarchal ideas. The masculinity of the twenty first century includes emotions, sensitivity, discipline, and intelligence. These new aspects of the hierarchy have been introduced by movies such as Brokeback Mountain, 22 Jump Street, The
According to Human Sexuality in a World of Diversity 's gender role is a “learned role by observing behaviors of their parents, peers and media” (Rathus, Nevid, & Fichner-Rathus, 2014, p. 25). Research shows how gender roles in America have evolved and have changed over the last centuries, although there could be many reasons for this change I will examine some causes for the change in gender stereotypes. The following topics were studied during my research: Increased technology and access to internet, violence and explicit content in video games, movies and television shows resulting in gender stereotypes. In addition, the media can have a large influence on societies perception on how women and men are should look like which are sometimes
The genre of analyzation in this paper is masculinity. More in depth, the societal perpetuation of the concept of masculinity and its effects on individuals. Masculinity is a concept defined as a category of attributes, social behaviors and roles generally associated only with individuals of the male sex. It is rarely associated with females unless they are butch lesbian, and even if they are not, society will portray them as so. The concept of masculinity is a social construct – most often seen in patriarchal cultures and societies and identified mainly with gender roles. Gender roles are the acceptable or appropriate societal norms dictating
Mares, M., & Verma, S. (2015). Television and Its Effects on Interfamilial Relationships. Retrieved September 28,
Television and the housing boom are both products of post-war American prosperity. Both developments are linked not only temporally, but culturally as well. Their significance is often times interdependent. The introduction of network television programming into American homes began in the late 1940s, as did the housing, and post-War baby boom. Suburbs became the new melting pot as migration from ethnic working class neighborhoods created enclaves of whiteness. At the same time, families on television were reflecting this change in social hierarchy. Early television sitcom families were happy and safe, with a professional father, a loving, nurturing mother, and two or three well-adjusted children. And they were always white and money was never an issue. The suburban home was an oasis of domesticity, free from communism and atomic threat.
Early feminist studies of gender often depicted the expression of masculinity as solely meant to subordinate women. Upon further research and understanding of gender and its role in society, gender theorists have realized that masculinity is not only a patriarchal regulation against women, but that it also has negative effects against men. Masculinity has different characteristics in different cultures, but masculinity in general presents a hierarchy of traits, with femininity as the lowest, least desirable trait. In American culture, masculinity is defined within multiple structures, such as race, class, and sexuality, where a man’s masculinity can be lessened by his traits as well as these identities. Often, normative expressions of masculinity
Robert Bly explains that the ideal image of masculinity depicted by our western views is said to be the 50’s males. “These men had a clear image of what a man was, and what his responsibilities of a man were, but the isolation and one-sidedness, of his vision were dangerous.” By the sixties, males became aware of the feminism movement that the 50’s males tried so hard to ignore. With the changing times, the combined influence of feminism and the gay movement has exploded the conception and uniform of masculinity and even sexuality is no longer held to be innate. Men during these movements felt threatened by the newfound power of these individuals and sense of self. The 70’s brought upon an era of the ‘soft’ male, who were not interested in starting wars or harming the earth. Yet they remained unhappy, and lacked energy because they are providers and not procreators. Even through the chain of events in American society, the view of masculinity is still ever
Over decades, television shows have reflected the social changes of the family structure. Starting with the 1960’s, a family commonly consisted of parents and their children. Nuclear families, with parents and children, embodied shows like Leave it to Beaver and The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriett. Family was everything to people back in the day. People lived to create and spend time with their family. Television shows were emerging steadily and became popular. Also, television was a main source for families to bond over, and it influenced the behavior of family members. Leave it to Beaver and Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet played a major role in shaping the family structures. During the 1960’s, middle-class white families dominated television shows. Situation and family drama’s mainly influenced the traditional family structure (Television and Family 1). In Leave it to Beaver, the focus was on the ideal suburban family in the fifties through the sixties. The show was mild and the spotlight was more on the children in the family compared to the adults. The theme presented was a happy and loving family (Cox 1). The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet was an enduring family-based comedy on television. For decades, the Nelson family symbolized a wholesome and normal family. Their main focus was to epitomize a happy, upright family life (Wesblat 1)....
The media is a very influential aspect of our daily lives. The media is everywhere we look, everything we listen to, and everything we talk about, we cannot escape it. It only makes sense that the media would have an affect of the construction of how we view masculinity and femininity. The media has the ideals or standards of what it means to masculine or feminine which with our changing times do not represent a majority of people. These standards are set so high that no one can reach them, which makes people feel defeated since they do not meet these expectations. With many people not fitting into these generalized norms we set for a “man” or “woman” it is time we get rid of these norms, or at least update them to the times. People are changing
While the social construction of femininity has been widely examined, the dominant role of masculinity until recently, has remained largely invisible. To construct a reasonable for or against argument that will outline whether masculinity is in crisis or not, I will apply relevant media theories along with ideas from influencing figures to create a constructive argument. The questions that arise that either support or argue with the statements that key theorists propose will be answered formatively and critically. Furthermore, analysis of the representation of gender and masculinity within modern media forms, along with the rise and formation of the ‘laddish’ culture and what factors have influenced the creations of lad mags; while outlining
We live in a society that often sends many confusing and contradicting messages to males. These young people that are taking in large amounts of media experience a contradiction between their own reality and media’s messages. These young men are bombarded with advertisements and media based ideas that can harm and alter the way young men operate. Our young men of o...
The media, through its many outlets, has a lasting effect on the values and social structure evident in modern day society. Television, in particular, has the ability to influence the social structure of society with its subjective content. As Dwight E. Brooks and Lisa P. Hébert write in their article, “GENDER, RACE, AND MEDIA REPRESENTATION”, the basis of our accepted social identities is heavily controlled by the media we consume. One of the social identities that is heavily influenced is gender: Brooks and Hébert conclude, “While sex differences are rooted in biology, how we come to understand and perform gender is based on culture” (Brooks, Hébert 297). With gender being shaped so profusely by our culture, it is important to be aware of how social identities, such as gender, are being constructed in the media.
The Representation of Men and Women in the Media Men and women are both represented differently in the media these days. Then the sand was sunk. Ironically it was even represented differently in the title of this essay. Men came before women! I am writing an essay to explain how men and women are represented in the media.
Furthermore, television violence causes aggressive behavior in children. Many people believe that children who watch violent television programs exhibit more aggressive behavior than that exhibited by children who do not (Kinnear 23). According to the results of many studies and reports, violence on television can lead to aggressive behavior in children (Langone 50). Also, when television was introduced into a community of children for the first time, researchers observed a rise in the level of physical and verbal aggression among these children (Langone 51). The more television violence viewed by a child, the more aggressive the child is (“Children” 1).