Masculinity

                             Masculinity

Increasingly, gender is not just an issue for feminists who wish to understand the processes that have made women lower in status than men in Western societies.

The debate has broadened out. Masculinity has become part of the contemporary discussion about gender roles.

Modern industrial society has changed rapidly and the position of men has been altered more than at any other time in recent history.

·        The decline in working-class industrial jobs,

·        increased female participation in employment,

·        the rise in divorce and

·        increased unemployment

Have all had a significant effect on what it means to he a man and/or masculine. Advances in technology, male contraception and continuing female equality are all creating new challenges for men in the new millennium.

Consequently a number of areas of significance need to he looked at:

·  Masculinity varies from society to society and appears to exaggerate biological potential in different ways (Gilmore, 1990). The social construction approach supports this relative concept of masculinity, with male gender roles varying across time and place.

   

    For example, for the Semai tribe of Malaysia our idea of masculinity would be out of place, because aggressive and selfish behaviour is taboo.

    Carrigan Ct al. (19S5) identified hegemonic and subordinate masculinities, the former being white, middle class, heterosexuals and the latter black, working class or gay.

    Therefore it would seem that not only is masculinity relative historically and between cultures, it is relative to a man's position in the stratification system of his own society.

·  Gender behaviour can he seen as a point on a continuum of behaviours rather than as two opposite ends of a spectrum. Masculinity is subject to change in line with social expectations, changes and demands.

    Men have been encouraged to look at alternative forms of behaviour and there was much media talk of the New Man who was in touch with his feelings and able to explore his feminine side.

    This is probably more myth than reality. However, men are now able to express themselves openly in forms that would have been completely unacceptable to the mid-twentieth-century working-class male.

·  There is a cultural dimension to this debate. Masculinity in the early days of the cinema was often characterised by the myth of the cowboy. To be a man, it was necessary to be inarticulate, careful of the feelings and sensibilities of women and to he driven by a sense of duty.

    Problems could he solved by the application of brute force and the good' man would often resort to fist fighting to prove his masculinity and the right of his

case. Gilmore (1990) has summed up this type of masculinity as having three characteristics:

    1   Man the impregnator - men are expected to

         compete for the attention of women.

    2   Man the provider - women need looking after

         especially once they are pregnant.

    3   Man the protector - men should protect their

         women and children against danger.

·  Beverley Skeggs (1991) and Bea Camphell (1995) argued more recently that working-class masculinity has changed to the point where it is defined in two ways.

     In the first, a male is a man because he is different from females. This means that working ­class males in particular need to express their masculinity by being ‘other’ or 'not female'. This leads them to reject anything they view as female behaviour.

They also point to the media image of masculinity that is offered as a role model for young males in terms of Robocop and the Terminator films.

In these films, men are defined as masculine by their ability to exert power and control over others, rather than their ability to care for and to protect the weak, which was so much an element of cowboy films.

·  Postmodern writers have pointed out that gender is better described in terms of a point on a scale rather than as two opposites.

    The traditional social differences have blurred so that it is acceptable for females to wear male clothing.

    Some males have pioneered the wearing of skirts and sarongs by men. The degree to which men are willing to accept the roles of females is probably overstated in our society.

    However, it is clear the male role has become more uncertain or ambiguous over time, both in the workforce and in the family unit.

On scrap paper which you must throw away at the end of the lesson, collect a series of terms of abuse for the following:

·  a masculine female

·  a feminine female

·  a masculine male

·  a feminine male.

It is probable that you were able to come up with far more terms of abuse, some very unpleasant, for the feminine male. This shows something significant. To adopt the perceived behaviour of a female in our society implies a significant loss of status for a male. It is difficult to think of abusive terms to describe a masculine male which do not also imply some form of admiration - think of the expression 'a right bastard' which can be used to suggest admiration as well as dislike.a