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Lesson 17: Masculinity
Social Problems
Robert Wonser
What do We think about ourselves? Ask
Google
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Lesson 10: Men and
Masculinities
Masculinity as Opposite of Femininity
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Lesson 10: Men and
Masculinities
Masculinity, some notes
 Refer back to the lists we put on the board
 Masculinity is defined by what it is not, namely
femininity.
 Masculinity is primarily a homosocial activity.
 Girl watching
 Street harassment
 Gender policing
 Richie Incognito
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Masculinity in Context
 We come to know what it means to
be a man by setting our definitions
in opposition to a set of ‘others’—
racial minorities, sexual minorities,
and above all women.
 This is how masculinities are
stratified.
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Masculinity changes through time
 Firmly rooted in social context:
 Genteel patriarch – derived identity from land
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ownership (supervising his estate, he was
refined, elegant and given to casual
sensuousness)
 Heroic artisan – embodied the physical strength
and republican virtue that Jefferson observed in
the farmer, independent urban craftsman or
shopkeeper
 Marketplace masculinity – normative definition
of masculinity. Involves aggression, competition,
anxiety in the public sphere, marketplace
How do you Insult a Man?
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Homophobia; men are afraid of other
men
 We come to know what it means to be
a man by setting our definitions in
opposition to a set of ‘others’—racial
minorities, sexual minorities, and above
all women
 Hegemonic masculinity is the image of
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masculinity of those men in power,
which has become the standard for
evaluations for young men to become
‘real men’.
Manhood:
 “No Sissy Stuff!”
 Never do anything remotely feminine; ever.
 “Be a Big Wheel.”
 Masculinity is measured by power, success,
wealth and status
 “Be a Sturdy Oak.”
 Calm and reliable in crisis. Keep emotions in
check; always.
 “Give ‘em Hell.”
 Exude an aura of manly daring and
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aggression. Go for it. Take risks.
Sexuality
 Which explains the performative aspects of
Masculinity. Ultimately, we perform for other men.
 Heteronormativity
 And heterosexism
 Male gender policing often takes the form of
violence and sexuality questioning
 Hegemonic masculinity
 To always be ‘in control’
 Violence (use of, threat of and condoning of)
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The Betrayal of the American Man
 For some men it is hard to recognize
themselves as dominators when they feel
dominated
 According to Faludi, “women were able to
take action, paradoxically, by understanding
how they were acted upon. Men feel the
contours of a box, too, but they are told that
the box is of their own manufacture,
designed to their specifications.”
 WWII veterans, masculinity revolved around
providing rather than dominating
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Post WWII Affluence quickly Gave way to
Deindustrialization
 Old masculinity is unavailable
(was predicated on providing).
 Men are told to be masculine is
to consume and buy the right
products.
 And to look like this 
 Ultimately, leads to failure
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Man Up!
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJ
CosUEsUZI&list=PL161E77F6CA7C4FE0&in
dex=4
 What does that phrase even mean?
 What do we think about ourselves? Ask
advertisements!
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 Men have no clearly defined enemy
who is oppressing them. Who is it?
 Men have invented antagonists to
make their problems visible—scheming
feminists, affirmative-action proponents,
illegal aliens—have come to seem
increasingly unconvincing as
explanations for their situation.
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Masculinity in Crisis
 Where do men fit in in a culture
where we’ve focused on what it is
to be feminine but haven’t
updated our definitions of
masculinity to mesh with our
contemporary culture and
economic reality.
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 Our
expectations for
women have
changed, what
about what we
expect for men?
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Angry White Men
 Increasingly men have been turning
to new (some, not all or entirely)
methods to demonstrate masculinity.
 Can you think of any?
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