Gender by Studies of Masculinity

                                                                        So, what is masculinity? …

Definition- The possession of the qualities traditionally associated with men.

Gilmore describes masculinity as “The approved way of being an adult male in any given society”.

In society ideas of masculinity are defined by having tough attitudes and physical strength. This encourages men to make a specific body image and set of mannerisms that maybe different from other societies.

Hegemonic Masculinity

Hegemonic  refers to the concept of hegemony, which has a meaning of the social dominance of a certain group. This is a form of masculinity that tries to maintain a dominant figure over social life in a society. These are the so called “Real Men” i.e. film star Arnold Schwarzenegger, rappers such as 50 Cent and current President of America / Entrepreneur Donald Trump. According to research carried out by Connell, hegemonic masculinity is associated primarily with heterosexuality and marriage, but also with authority, strength, and physical toughness. Many critics have argued that, although hegemonic masculinity appears to be obvious, Connell doesn’t present satisfactory account of it. This is because she does not specify what would be a counter-hegemonic. For example, more men are now involved in childcare and parenting, is this part of a trend against hegemonic masculinity and if so how can we know what actions constitute hegemonic masculinity in the first place.

Complicit masculinity

Although hegemonic masculinity is held up as the most prestige form of masculinity, only a few men can actually live up to it. A high number of men however, still gain advantage from its dominance. Connell refers to this as the “Patriarchal dividend” and to those who benefit from it as embodying complicit masculinity. Some social psychologists wonder how men become embodied complicit masculine’s if they don’t live up to the hegemonic masculine heights themselves. Connell says “marriage, fatherhood and community life often involved extensive compromises with women rather than domination or an uncontested display of authority.” So, that explains why many men aren’t subordinate to hegemonic masculinity but engage in relationships of complicity, this means that they go along with certain aspects of hegemonic masculinity’s power over women and subordinated masculinities. However, they are unwilling to live up to the ideals of masculinities.  

      Subordinated       masculinity

Among subordinated masculinities the most important is homosexual masculinity. The homosexual is seen

as the total opposite of “The Real Man”, he does not measure up to the hegemonic masculine ideal and often embodies many of its cast offs traits. Homosexual ranks at the bottom of the gender hierarchy of men.

The typical features of masculinity

Gilmore suggests …

Man, the Impregnator-  Males are expected to impregnate females. To do this they are normally required to initiate sexual encounters. They are expected to compete with other men for the woman of their choice. I.E.- In Sicily, Masculine honour is always bound up with aggression and potency. A “Real Man” in Sicily is a man with big testicles.

Man, the Provider- Once the female is impregnated, in most societies men are then expected to provide for them and their child (or children). In the Mediterranean “the emphasis on male honour as a domestic duty is widespread”. Traditionally in Greek peasant villages, the honour of the father’s rests upon their ability to provide their daughters with large dowries. Men in New Guinea have their manhood measured partly through their competence in hunting. Women are not allowed to hunt, and men who fail in hunting are subject to ridicule and will find it difficult to get a wife.

Man, the Protector- The third way in which most cultures define masculinity is in men’s roles as protectors. Men must protect their children and women from other men and any other threats that may appear. I.E- The East African Samburu tribe males must demonstrate bravery starting from the age of 14. This could go on for 12 years. Firstly, they must have a circumcision (that is performed without anaesthetic) if he flinches then he shall be shamed forever. And then the male must then prove himself by rustling cattle from other tribes, risking himself a beating or even death if he is caught. However, success confirms he is manly, and this makes him attractive to females and shows that he capable of protecting and caring for his future family.    

Reference list

Connell, R.W. (1987) Gender and Power : Society, the Person and Sexual Politics (Cambridge : Polity).

Connell, R.W. (2001) The Men and the Boys (Berkeley and Los Angeles : Allen & Unwin).

Connell, R.W. (2005) Masculinities (2^nd edn , Cambridge : Polity).

Gilmore, D. (1990) Manhood in the Making: Cultural Concepts of masculinity, Yale University Press, New Haven, CT.

Gilmore, D. (1990) Manhood in the Making: Cultural Concepts of masculinity, Yale University Press, New Haven, CT.

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Gender Inequality

Gender Inequality.

What is Gender equality.

Feminists have studied unequal gender relations in domestic situations and other “private” spheres of life. Gender inequality as an example is if there are insufficient resources to satisfy everybody, humans then compete to obtain access to the resources. For example, if there are insufficient food or housing for everybody then equality can develop between the people who are more successful and those who are less successful in gaining the resources. In recent years new forms of feminism have emerged which cut across the earlier strands Barker (1997).   

FEMINIST EXPLANATION ON LANGUAGE.

fEMINISTS OVER TIME have carried out research into stereo-types in gender and language, some interactions are pointing out and challenging many malestream assumptions which are taken for granted (favouring men over women). these are built into the structure of how we describe, see and think about the world. we see this in various everyday words such as mankind (to discuss humanity), chairman and man-made.

SOCIALISATION.

There are many feminist views on socialization, all have a different degree of importance to socialization in the development of gender inequalities. The liberal feminists place most stress on socialization, but some writers from other feminist perspectives also highlight the way in which socialization can contribute to the creation of inequalities between men and women. Ann Oakley (1974) argued that there are distinctive gender roles for women and men, these derive from the culture instead of biology. Gender roles are all different from one society to another. They seem to maintain a male dominance and female subservience. These kinds of roles are learnt through socialization in childhood, and shape the behavior of adults. 

FEMINIST EXPLANATION ON BIOLOGY.

DURKHEIM BACK IN 1952 SUGGESTED THAT MEN ARE PRODUCTS OF SOCIETY BUT WOMEN ARE TO A FAR GREATER EXTENT PRODUCTS OF NATURE. THIS MEANING THAT WOMEN AND MEN LEAD TO DIFFERENT BASES OF IDENTITIES, INCLINATIONS, AND TASTES. SOCIOLOGISTS TODAY DO NOT HOWEVER ACCEPT THIS CONCLUSION. BIOLOGY IS THE NATURE ASPECTS OF LIFE AND WOMEN CAN CARRY CHILDREN BUT PREGNANCY…  A COMMON AND NATURAL PHENONMENON, IS TREATED IN SIMILAR WAYS TO AN “ILLNESS” , LADEN WITH RISKS AND DANGERS. FEMINISTS ARGUE THAT WOMEN HAVE LOST CONTROL OVER THE PROCESS AND THAT THEIR OPINIONS AND KNOWLEDGE ARE DEEMED IRRELEVANT BY MALE “EXPERTS” WHO OVERSEE REPRODUCTIVE PROCESSES. (OAKLEY 1984).

Oakley (1974) claims that processes like manipulation of a child’s self-image from parents or the canalization of boys and girls towards different objects and activities do contribute to the reproduction of differences in behavior between the females and males. Sociologists Glenys Lobban (1974) and Lesley Best (1993) claims that “sex role socialization continues in school through the stereotypical portrayal of girls and boys in reading schemes”. Other feminists have blamed the media in perpetuating gender equalities through the “norm” of how men and women should look.  

 REFERENCE PAGE

Barker, R, (1997) Political Ideas in Modern Britain (London and New York: Routledge).

Best, L. (1993) “Dragons, dinner, ladies and ferrets”: Sex roles in children’s books”, Sociology Review, February.

Brewer, R.M. (1993) “Theorizing Race, Class and Gender: The New Scholarship of Black Feminist Intellectuals and Black Women’s Labor’, in S.M. James and A.P.A. Busia (eds), Theorizing Black Feminisms: The Visionary Pragmatism of Black Women (New York: Routledge).

Durkheim, E. (1952[1897]) Suicide: A study in Sociology (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul).

Oakley, A. (1974a) Housewife (London: Allen Lane).

Oakley, A. (1984) The Captured Womb: A History of the Medical Care of Pregnant Women (Oxford: Blackwell).

Lobban, G. (1974) “Data report on British reading schemes”, Times Educational Supplement, 1 March.

IMAGES

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Onely.Org: Singles' rights and invisible chronic

The 7 terms

Gender roles- gender role

the role or behaviour learned by a person as appropriate to their gender, determined by the prevailing cultural norms: http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/

 In recent years, socialization and gender role theories have lost ground in sociology. Sex was biological determination and said that gender is learnt, this can now be argued that we should view sex and gender as socially constructed. The human body is subject to the individual’s choice also the social factors that can shape and change it in different ways. People can construct and reconstruct their bodies using piercing ‘s, dieting, breast enhancement, breast reduction, all the way to plastic surgery or sex change. Operations. This can be to make the person feel the “norm” or the same as airbrushed models, actors, or socialites. Gender roles and sex differences are inextricably linked to the individual’s human body. (Connell 1987; Scott and Morgan 1993; Butler 1990)      

                                               

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Masculinity-

possession of the qualities traditionally associated with men. http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/ There has been little analysis of how the media constructs, informs, and reinforces cultural expectations about men and masculinity. “For example Tunstall (2000) points out that the media rarely focuses on men`s marital and domestic roles. This is just how the male are perceived in society. However, Collier (1992) he notes that men`s magazines are often contradictory in their representations of masculinity. He notes that they continue to define success in traditional terms, this means in areas of work, salary, and materialism. It is a known fact that men are the higher earners and achieve higher in job roles. The male is known as the “patriarchy” of the household or head of the family, this gives the perception of a strong and forceful person.

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Gender identity- gender identity

A person's perception of having a particular gender, which may or may not correspond to the gender they were assigned at birth http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/

Marcel Mauss (1973) was among the first to argue that gestures and bodily movements do not come natural but linked to social context. People learn how to eat correctly and walk appropriately these “techniques of the body” are transmitted through all generations. Another gender difference in a non-verbal way men tend to sit relaxed with their legs apart, whereas women tend to have a closed body position.  A political philosopher Iris Marion Young (1949-2005) explored gendered bodily experience in a famous article, `Throwing Like A Girl’ (1980, 2005). Young argued that the distinctive movements from women like throwing a ball or a stone are not biologically determined, but the product of discourses. Also, linked with Gender identity is the fear of being born in to the wrong sex. Richard Jenkins (2008:5)” says that identity is ‘the human capacity – rooted in language – to know who`s who” (and hence “what’s what”) Jenkins (2008).  

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Sexuality-sexuality

capacity for sexual feelings:

"she began to understand the power of her sexuality"

synonyms: sensuality · sexiness · seductiveness · desirability · 

[more]

      a person's sexual orientation or preference:

"people with proscribed sexualities"

synonyms: sexual orientation · orientation · sexual preference · 

[more] sexual activity. "sexuality within holy matrimony was only justified as a necessary part of reproduction"

synonyms: sexual activity · reproductive activity http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/

It wasn’t until the late 1960`s that sex was studied as a form of interaction. In America, the gay community called the toilets (where these activities took place) “tearooms” yet in the UK the activity was known as “cottaging”. An American sociologist Laud Humphreys conducted research in to these `tearoom and wrote a book named Tearoom Trade (Humphreys1970) this was regarding people looking for anonymous rendezvous. This was a study of homosexual behaviour. Weeks et al.(2004) this point`s to three significant patterns within gay and lesbian partnerships. The first one is that there is more opportunities for equality as they are not guided by gendered cultural assumptions. The second is that homosexual partners negotiate the parameters and inner workings of the relationship. The final one is gay and lesbian partnerships demonstrate a form of commitment that lacks institutional backing. However, sexuality is just another person’s preference.

https://news.vanderbilt.edu/files/sex-wordle.jpg

Gender-   gender            

the state of being male or female (typically used with reference to social and cultural differences rather than biological ones):

"traditional concepts of gender"

(in languages such as Latin, French, and German) each of the classes (typically masculine, feminine, common, neuter) of nouns and pronouns distinguished by the different inflections which they have and which they require in words syntactically associated with them. Grammatical gender is only very loosely associated with natural distinctions of sex. http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/ socio-biology was first developed by E.O.Wilson (1975) and was applied to sex and gender by David Barash (1979). It is all based-on Charles Darwin`s theory of evolution, but it goes well beyond Darwin`s original theory. Like Darwin, sociobiologists believe that humans and other species develop and change through a process of natural selection.

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 Femininity- femininity

    the quality of being female; womanliness:

"she celebrates her femininity by wearing make-up and high heels"

synonyms: womanliness · feminineness · womanhood http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/  The culture of femininity involved a tendency to have a “best friend”- another girl. Although this might seem to exclude boys, in fact best friends were tied up with the desire to attract a man. The girls thought that it would be easier to go out in pairs looking for a man than as individuals. McRobbie (1978). Furthermore, within the friendship pair there was a strong emphasis on fashion and make up. McRobbie (1978).

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Sex-     sex

Either of the two main categories (male and female) into which humans and most other living things are divided on the basis of their reproductive functions:

‘adults of both sexes’

The distinction between sex and gender was the starting point for the development of alternative views. The first person to make this distinction was an American psychoanalysis Robert Stoller (1968). Stoller made the common-sense observation that the vast majority of the population can clearly be categorised as male and female according to characteristics, external genitalia, internal genitalia. In other words, it does not necessarily follow that being a woman means being `feminine`, nor being a man means that they are masculine.

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Bibliography-

Connell, R.W. (1987) Gender and power: Society, the person and sexual politics (Cambridge:polity).

Scott, S., and Morgan, D. (1993’Bodies in a social Landscape,) in S. Scott and D. Morgan (eds) body matters: Essays on the sociology of the body (London: Falmer press)  

Butler, J. (1990) Gender Trouble: Feminism and the subversion of identity (London: Routledge)

Tunstall, J. (2000) The media in Britain, constable, London.

Collier, R. (1992) ‘The new man: fact or fad?’, Achilles Heel, vol.14, Winter.

Jenkins, R. (2008) social identity (3rd edn, London: Routledge).

Humphreys, L. (1970) Tearoom Trade: A Study of Homosexual Encounters in public places (London: Duckworth).

Weeks, J., Heaphy, B., and Donovan, C. (2004) ‘The Lesbian and Gay Family’, in J. Scott, J. Treas and M. Richards (eds), The Blackwell Companion to the sociology of Families (Oxford: Blackwell)

Barash, D. (1979) The whispering within (New York: Harper & Row)

Wilson, E.O. (1975) Sociobiology: The New Synthesis, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA.

McRobbie, A. (1978) ‘working class girls and culture of femininity’ in centre for contemporary cultural studies (1978).

Stroller, R. (1968) Sex and Gender: On the Development of Masculinity and Femininity, Science House, New 

sociology micro teach woooooo

sex and gender