Lesson 11. Men and Masculinities

Society has placed men with the gender quality of masculinity. Often times we perceive men to be strong, protector, and leader in society. This is considered the norm, but not all men fit into this category. I have selected pictures to define a few terms related to masculinity and hope they will make sense as to what society portrays as masculinity.

1. This picture symbolizes brotherhood which is a distribution of power to a certain class of men. It replaced what was known as patriarchy because everyone is equally distributed.

2. The cover of this magazine  displays very wealthy men who have changed our world through innovative thinking and technology. These men symbolize hegemonic masculinity which can be defined as the standard image of masculinity and have become the standard for which  others are to follow. This is considered the gendered norm for men in society.

3. When society says "man up," we are saying stop being a coward and stand up for yourself. This can be depicted by Fight Club. These guys form a club that they test their manhood by taking part in an underground fight club. One doesn't have to fight to "man up," but should show gender traits of the opposite of those that are considered feminine.

4. Male gender policing is enforcing what the gender norm is on those who don't fit the stereotype. On this cover of the DVD, if one wasn't aware of what this movie was about, one might see Will Ferrell as being a little bit away from the male gender norm because he has more feminine qualities. They show him with a bag of groceries to prove my point while Mark Wahlberg can be identified as the male norm looking confident on a motorcycle. Male gender policing would be a question of sexuality and may include violence toward the person in question. Many times those are who get picked on and mistreated because of not fitting into the stereotype of the masculinity gendered norm.

5. I'm using this cover of the DVD, to describe the term "male fight." Even though dance isn't just for girls, it is seen in society as more feminine than masculine. Other forms of formal training such as cheerleading and careers that are considered feminine like nursing and caregiving . For one reason or the other men seem to abandon these areas they feel make them feminine and reduce their masculinity. School plays a big part of the male flight. For women who apply men seem to drop out in not wanting to be associated with them. This is becoming an epidemic in our society.