Restrictive Masculinity In Being A Man By Paul Theroux

Gender is such a controversial subject. There are some people who see it as what you are born as whereas other people see it as a choice to be whatever you want. There are people who judge whatever gender you are, no matter the choices you make. Paul Theroux wrote about how restrictive masculinity is in his article “Being a Man.” There are so many more restrictions on being feminine. Theroux’s idea of masculinity being restrictive is being challenged on the account that being feminine is seen as bad, and weak.

Theroux states, “…it is just one more awful thing about being a man.” Do you know how many other stereotypes there are for women? All of them are bad and put a bad image on women. For example, when a woman is afraid of a man because

she might get raped, it’s because “she’s asking for it with those clothes.” But when a man is accused of rape, “he simply couldn’t control himself, just look at what she’s wearing!” There have been many accounts of this excuse. Theroux says that when people say “be a man,” they mean for you to “be stupid, be unfeeling, obedient, soldierly, and stop thinking. That’s your well thought out definition for it. In reality, being a man means to be strong and act like you can do something you thought you couldn’t. “Be a woman” is completely different in the sense that it means to be weak and vulnerable to anything coming your way. In fact, the only time you hear someone say “be a woman” is when they are going to make fun of them. There are many negative connotations to being feminine but it sure is worse than being masculine.
Everything about being feminine screams weakness. The majority of heroes in television shows and movies are men. Just recently, Marvel wanted to make Thor a woman but it got turned down because of popular demand. A feminine Thor would be cool, right? Apparently not to those critics. In paragraph four of “Being a Man,” Theroux states that femininity is only defined when there is a man to witness it and masculinity is defined when a group of guys are together. There are so many things wrong about that. You know when a group of girls go to the bathroom together, guys just automatically assume it’s just a girl thing, like they need lipstick or some kind of makeup. Girls go to the bathroom together not to make sure they impress you or to look good for you, they go together to talk in private or talk about personal things that have happened. There are way more stereotypes on women than there are on men. We know that guys talk about guy stuff when they are with each other because we see it and hear about it. There is also that little number that goes “women are slaves to their emotions.” Just because a woman is emotional does not mean she is on her period. We can control our emotions better than you can control that little friend in your pants whenever you see legs.
Theroux’s idea of masculinity being restricting is not really all that good of an argument. Women or anyone that acts feminine get way more crap for being feminine than men do for being masculine. Being feminine is a sign of being fragile and weak whereas being masculine is seen as being tough and strong. He makes good points in his article, but it does not amount to what being feminine is treated like. Theroux’s idea of masculinity being restrictive is being challenged on the account that being feminine is seen as bad, and weak by everyone, really.