Big Muscles, Confident Statures and Unreasonable Expectations?

By: Mekenzie Enloe

While hanging out with one of my best friends and my boyfriend one day we got on the topic of what it means to be masculine in America. While my friend is male, he does not sitting around and watching sports and working out is not his cup of tea; my boyfriend, on the other hand, believes that if you are a guy and you aren’t in the gym pumping iron, playing on a sports team or chilling with the boys then something must be wrong with you. The sad reality is that the mindset that my boyfriend has is the same mindset of many other American citizens.  When was the stigma placed upon men that they must be strong, confident, muscular people?

            In the 1800s blue was seen as a female color and pink was seen as a male color, but for some reason this reversed.  It was around this same time that men were expected to be strong, without weaknesses or fears. In fact, in 1832, a gentleman by the name of Henry Clay stated that America was to be a nation of “self-made men” meaning that as a male you should continuously work at proving himself in virility.[1] Manhood was established through being the head of the household, leader in sexual activities and dominating in basically every other aspect of life.  A man named Michael Kimmel did extensive research and discovered that there were three different views of manliness in the 19^th century.  Two of the three groups involved the idea that power was through patriarchy and ownership of land and the other group believed masculinity came with being a strong businessman and member of the leading social class.[2] The history of masculinity may seem harsh and ancient.  People say we are in an evolving world, that men are no longer seen as dominant over women and while progress may be slowly occurring, America is certainly not free from these discriminatory views.

            The past has directly influenced the contemporary stereotype of a man. I agree, women are entering the workforce now more than ever and they make the same amount that a man does, on average, but does that really change how Americans sees a man’s role in society? I don’t think that it does. Most young men still feel as if they must be a soldier, businessman, politician, etc. to become what the world expects of him. While wanting to get a contemporary view as to what Americans see as synonymous to manliness I decided to look in the thesaurus. I typed in the word “manly” and some of the words that I received in return were bold, beefcake, jock, brave, macho, noble, and so on. What is even more repulsive is that along with these synonyms was a list of antonyms, which included description words such as weak, timid and impotent.[3] I shake my head at this response because men are not invincible and that is exactly what society expects of them.

            I think that the view that men have to be strong beings that are always in charge is unreasonable and degrading. Men and women, alike, should be able to become whatever they feel lead to be. It is time we learn from what the past has taught us and change what the future holds, the freedom of choice without a negative stigma attached.

---

[1] PT Staff, . Psychology Today, "Great Moments in American Psychology." Last modified January 01, 1996. Accessed February 28, 2014. http://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/199601/great-moments-in-american-masculinity.

[2] Furumota, Laurel. Humanities and Social Sciences Online, "Review of Kimmel, Michael, Manhood in America: A Cultural History." Last modified October 1996. Accessed February 28, 2014. http://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=656.

[3] manly. Thesaurus.com. Roget's 21st Century Thesaurus, Third Edition. Philip Lief Group 2009. http://thesaurus.com/browse/manly (accessed: February 28, 2014).

Was Abe Lincoln Gay?

By : Will Foster

When I think about the sixteenth president of the United States, I think of civil rights. I think of the Emancipation. I think about probably fifty things when Abe Lincoln is mentioned, but never has his sexuality crossed my mind. All I had ever known was that he was married to Mary Lincoln, and they had four kids. I have never heard of speculation about Lincoln’s sexuality until I began this class, and I must say that it interested me. It is very intriguing to think that after all of these years, people have begun to make this assumption. Was Abraham Lincoln actually gay?

            Suspicion of Abe Lincoln’s sexuality first came to light around the beginning of the twentieth century. Historians were weary of Lincoln’s sharing of the bed with his male friends. However, these claims were dismissed, because it was assumed that men sharing a bed was common.[1]

The subject was pretty much left alone after that, until 2005. An author by the name of C.A. Tripp wrote a book called The Intimate World of Abraham Lincoln. The book dug into the topic of Abraham Lincoln’s sexual life, and his relationships.[2]

The main idea that Lincoln was gay, stems from his relationship with friend Joshua Speed. Speed and Lincoln lived together for four years, and slept in the same bed. There are still people who believe that the situation is explainable by the lack of beds in this time period. However, there are more attributions to this assumption.[3]

Tripp’s book takes a unique approach into Abe Lincoln’s relationships. It turns out that (according to Tripp’s research) there were more relationships that Lincoln had with men , similar to his relationship with Speed. Lincoln had another friend by the name of David Derickson that was his bodyguard. It is described in the book, that whenever Mary Lincoln was not home, Derickson and Lincoln would supposedly sleep in the same bed. It is also a popular story that Abe Lincoln was awkward around women, and especially around single women.[4] According to blogger Sylvia Rhue, Abraham Lincoln was a “Kinsey 4.” Basically that means that he most likely had more homosexual activity than a person who is strictly heterosexual, or just has homosexual experiences on an accidental accord.

After fully getting into this issue that I had previously no know knowledge of, I think that it is really difficult to say whether Abe Lincoln was gay or not. It seems that people really want to say he was one hundred percent gay, or he was one hundred percent straight. As for me, I think that it honestly does not matter in the big scheme of things. People can do all of the research they want, but I feel that we should leave it alone. Lincoln is regaurded as one of the best presidents that we ever had. He may have done bizarre things in his personal life, but everyone has parts about them that are weird. We should let him rest in peace and focus on his accomplishments within our nation.

---

[1] Harris, Paul. Guardian Newspapers Ltd., "Common Dreams : Building Progressive Community." Last modified December 19, 2004. Accessed February 27, 2014.

[2] Harris, Paul. Guardian Newspapers Ltd., "Common Dreams : Building Progressive Community." Last modified December 19, 2004. Accessed February 27, 2014.

[3]Rhue, Sylvia. "A Family History Provides More Proof Lincoln Was Gay." Truth Wins Out (blog), November 13, 2012. http://www.truthwinsout.org/opinion/2012/11/31824/ (accessed February 28, 2014).

[4] Tripp, C.A. The Intimate World of Abraham Lincoln. New York, New York: Free Press, 2005