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Double Standard Essay Research Paper Masculinity is

Double Standard Essay, Research Paper

The Double Standards of Masculinity

The concept of masculinity has been extensively debated in our society, both through formal research and informal discussions. Defining what it means to be masculine is a complex task, as it should ideally be based on personal perception. However, our society imposes certain characteristics and expectations on masculinity. This essay explores the societal beliefs surrounding masculinity and highlights the existence of double standards.

Socialization of Masculinity:
Men are socialized to believe in specific traits that determine their manliness (Witt, 1997). These traits range from not expressing emotions when hurt to engaging in aggressive behavior. The process of socialization starts during infancy when a child’s self-concept is shaped by various ideas and beliefs (Witt, 1997).

Suppression of Emotions:
From an early age, boys are taught not to cry or show vulnerability. They internalize messages from parents and society, leading them to believe that boys and men should not cry (Witt, 1997). This creates the perception that expressing emotions is unmanly, reinforcing the double standard.

Gender Stereotypes in Media:
Media, particularly advertisements, play a significant role in legitimizing masculine behavior. Advertisements often associate masculinity with aggression, portraying violent actions as instrumental in establishing manliness (Katz, 1998). Studies have shown that commercials targeted at boys frequently depict verbal and physical aggression, reinforcing societal expectations (Bowker, 1998).

Sports and Physicality:
Sports further reinforce society’s definition of masculinity (Stearns, 1990). Boys observe their fathers’ interest in sports and idolize the athletic achievements portrayed in the media. This influence encourages boys to engage in physical activities and equate physical prowess with masculinity (Stearns, 1990).

Fear of Femininity:
Interestingly, masculinity is often defined not by what it means to be manly but by the avoidance of femininity. Young boys learn about masculinity at such an early stage that they accept it as an unquestionable truth (Buss, 1994). The fear of being labeled feminine or weak creates a pervasive anxiety among males.

Continuation of Double Standards:
The double standards associated with masculinity persist into adulthood. Men are expected to be stoic and unemotional when facing challenges or harassment (Gwartney, 1998). As men grow older, society emphasizes health, fitness, and physical appearance as criteria for ideal masculinity (Gwartney, 1998). However, these standards often overshadow the importance of mental, emotional, and intellectual attributes.

The double standards surrounding masculinity are evident in societal expectations and behaviors. Men are pressured to conform to a narrow definition of masculinity that emphasizes toughness and physicality while discouraging emotional expression. To address these double standards, society should recognize and appreciate the diverse aspects of masculinity, allowing men to express themselves authentically without fear of judgment or ridicule.
The force male child & # 8217 ; s informant on telecasting farther legitimates this. Katz explains that advertisement imagination equates maleness with force. For male child this means aggression is instrumental in that it enables them to set up their maleness ( Katz, 91 ) . Lee Bowker researched the influence advertizements have on young person. He asserts that plaything advertizements having merely boys depict aggressive behaviour. Queerly, the aggressive behaviour by and large consequences in positive effects more frequently than negative. Bowker besides looked at commercials with male childs that contain mentions to domination. The consequences of all the commercials indicate that 68.6 % of the commercials positioned toward male childs contain incidents of verbal and physical aggression ( Bowker, 119 ) . There was no cross gender show of aggressive behaviour. Interestingly, non one single-sex commercial having misss demoing any act of aggression. This research helps explicate that it is non merely the support of parents to the kid that legitimate maleness but society as a whole. Another illustration of how this can be reinforce even by adult females who may or may non be seeking to advance such belief is with an experience I had turning up. When I would acquire a cut or a contusion, I would rally up all the strength I had to non shout. I feared that if I cried I wouldn & # 8217 ; t be worthy of being a tough child. On one juncture I had a terrible cut in my articulatio genus that required several stitches. When I took a expression at the lesion after turn overing up my pants. , my first idea was to interrupt out shouting. However, at that minute my instructor told me what a brace male child I was and how astonied she was that I was non shouting. She likely did non recognize that she was directing a message to me that if I cried I would non be tough plenty, and hence I would non go a existent adult male.

Sports is another type of legitimation that reinforces society & # 8217 ; s definition of maleness ( Stearns, 211 ) . Boys watch how their male parents get so interested in the game whether it is football, hoops, or any other athletics that enforces maleness. Children notice that the work forces on Television impress pa and they want to be like that. This initial reinforcing stimulus is a major influence for male childs desiring to larn sports ( Stearns, 211 ) . It may non be merely that pa watches sports on Television, but besides in talking with his boy, he may promote him to develop his athletic art. He can make this in ways such as purchasing him a baseball baseball mitt so they can pass clip playing gimmick, or purchasing him other masculine athletic equipment such as guns. All these factors serve as primary socializs in transfusing within boys the desire to stand out physically. Similarly, how frequently are immature male childs seen viing with each other in motorcycle races, Acts of the Apostless of physical strength or even in something every bit simple as & # 8220 ; my pa can crush up your dad. & # 8221 ; Little male childs are taught to see physical art as the ideal signifier of maleness ( Stearns, 212 ) .

An interesting facet of maleness is that we are non taught so much to be manfully but instead to non b

e feminine. Most of what a immature male child learns about what it means to be masculine is presented to him at such an early phase that he accepts it as an inevitable truth ( Buss, 45 ) . Often immature male childs can be found twit and even actuating each other with phrases like “don’t e a effeminate girl” or ” merely misss do that.” It seems that there is a permeant fright among all males that the worst possible abuse is to be labeled a female. David Buss says that some societies take this construct to an extreme. He talks of the induction rites of the Sambia of New Guinea stating, “Initiation rites begin when male childs are seven to ten old ages old and include unwritten consumption of older male childs seeds and painful hemorrhage by lodging grass reeds up their olfactory organ. The hemorrhage is a opposite number of menses and seeds is ingested alternatively of female parents mild” ( Buss, 213 ) . Although these actions seek to tag the male child as “not a woman” , ironically they incorporate basic feminine biologic maps that work forces lack. Secondary socialisation so acts in the ulterior phases of a boys life to reaffirm society’s beliefs about maleness ( Buss, 213 ) .

As male childs grow older, their organic structures develop and they enter junior high and high school. At this point they begin to truly understand that physical power and breadth are the ideal demands for maleness. To see how this is done, we can merely look at the accent given to sports versus the accent given to faculty members in public schools. Intelligibly, how schools emphasize sports over faculty members is traveling to hold some influence over the manner immature work forces think and visualize the importance of physical strength, but the true factor is how jocks are seen by the pupil organic structure of the school. Pep mass meetings are thrown to back up the jocks, the stars of the school. Girls drove over the masculine hunks. As immature male childs move into maturity they are told to be work forces when confronted with a challenge or when they face some kind of torment. The deduction in this phrase is that work forces should be immune to trouble and non demo any emotion. To demo emotion would be mark of failing and society would see them as abnormal or inferior ( Gwartney, 23 ) .

This procedure, nevertheless, does non stop in high school. As work forces move into their mid-twentiess and mid-thirtiess, wellness and fittingness become issues of concern. To see how wellness and fittingness are socially defined as excessively muscular work forces, one demand merely pick up a comp of Men & # 8217 ; s Health. You will happen on the screen, work forces flashing their toned, muscular organic structures, and frequently you will happen them with a deductively beautiful and toned adult female by their side. These toned and muscled work forces are seen and depicted by society as the ideal masculine object. They may non be the healthy persons and likely are non. However, they are deemed as the ideal work forces of our society. Along with the accent on wellness and fittingness comes the continued coming of athletic art ( Gwartney, 24 ) . How frequently are work forces asked & # 8220 ; did you see the game last dark? & # 8221 ; or & # 8220 ; How about them Rams? & # 8221 ; In the work topographic point and societal groupings, work forces frequently turn the subject of conversation to athletic events. From the beginning of male life to the really end, society has determined that work forces must be strong, tough, distant, and powerful to be considered masculine and non weak or effeminate ( Gwartney, 24 ) . Is this all that society ( and adult females ) want in work forces? Do they desire simple-minded hunks of musculus that are tough. IT is no longer sufficient for work forces to merely be tough physically. They must besides show competency intellectually, spiritually and emotionally ( Gwartney, 25 ) . This statement is non to state that being physically fit and healthy is a negative feature, but instead it is merely seeking to indicate out that what society is specifying as the ideal is subsequently revoked by that same society, or at the really least cast-off and seen as secondary to the truly of import mental art, sensitiveness and intelligence. This is where the dual criterion becomes apparent.

Is there a dual criterion in maleness? It is evident through my statements that sociey expects work forces to be both tough and soft while some might reason that genetic sciences, inherent aptitudes and their animalistic nature for work forces to move more tough than soft. The paradox is apparent, the beginning equivocal. Regardless, maleness is an unrealistic outlook of work forces. Who or what are they supposed to be?

Plants Cited

Bowker, Lee H. Masculinities and Violence. Thousand Oaks, CA. Sage Publications Inc. , 1998.

Buss, David. The Development of Desire. New York, NY. St. Martin & # 8217 ; s Press, 1994.

Gwartney, Debra. & # 8220 ; Double bind of male childs concerns psychologists. & # 8221 ; Oregon Times, October 17, 1998.

Katz, Jackson. & # 8220 ; Advertising and the building of violent white masculinity. & # 8221 ; Newsweek,

February, 1998.

Stearns, Peter N. Be a Man! Males in Modern Society. New York, NY. Holmes & A ; Meier Publishers, Inc. 1990.

Witt, Susan D. & # 8220 ; Parental influence on kids & # 8217 ; s socialisation to gender roles. & # 8221 ; Adolescence. 1997.

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