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 19th 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).
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