The "New" Masculinity

 For this post I will be talking about masculinity, and you may think its odd for a female to talk about masculinity, but living with a little brother, a military father, and taking this SUPA class I feel I know a lot. In my Writing 105 course we watched a documentary, Tough Guise 2. We also read two articles about masculinity, Not Your Father's Masculinity and The Boys Are Not Alright (very good reads to open your eyes about the world we live in right now)  

First I will dive into the documentary, Jackson Katz throws a lot of stats at you within the first 10 minutes of the documentary; stats about how 86% of armed robbery are committed by men, 77% of aggravated assaults happen by men, 87% of stalking cases happen from men, 86% of domestic violence happens from men, 99% of rape happens from men, and 90% of murders from men. To me that is mind blowing. 61 of 62 mass shootings happened from men. But when it is brought up into the media, the problem remains gender neutral. We hear the words "shooter" and "juvenile" instead of saying names. People then blame war games, movies, media and mental health as a reason as of why men are acting out the way they are. I can vouch that the war games and movies are insane, but they aren't the reason why men are acting out. My little brother every day is attached to his video games killing his friends to get wins or "gains" as he calls them. I don't know. Now does that mean because my brother plays war games that my brother will naturally act out in violence? I can tell you right now, no. My brother is one of the sweetest caring 15 year olds you can meet. 

After going into his room and pestering him with questions about if he feels he is more violent because of the games he plays, he sends me a picture of his duration of game time and record of kills hes completed within the past three days. Yes he is violent with his games to receive medals and achievements, but that doesn't make him lose his humanity and turn to violence to show his masculinity.

Then there is the aspect of females taking mens' jobs, about how school is more "feminized", and how men should reach out to their feminine side and not be afraid to embrace it. This brings me to the article, Not your Fathers Masculinity, where men are wearing dresses for the covers of magazines, male teachers are working in a "women's world", and "What the hell is face serum and do I need to use it?" (Not Your Father's Masculinity paragraph 2) Matt Labash wrote this article confused about what the world is becoming, with his ideas of how masculinity is being taken away with this feminized world we live in. His very first line beneath the title is "Meet the "new man": whatever others say he is". Later throughout the article he explains about how men are becoming more and more feminine, fashion is becoming womanized and more and more people are coming out as gay and transgender, when Labash explains at the end of his article "let men and women, be men and women". 

And lastly there is the idea of how "Americas boys are broken"(The Boys Are Not Alright paragraph 3) This article explains the violence that young men are turning to to express their masculinity and prove their "manliness" to the world. Author Micheal Ian Black expresses that women are told they can do anything with their life, and that they have absorbed the message and are finally acting on it and that men are being left behind. Black says "Too many boys are trapped in the same suffocating, outdated model of masculinity, where manhood is measured in strength, where there is no way to be vulnerable without being emasculated, where manliness is about having power over others."(The Boys Are Not Alright last paragraph).

We are living in a world where men don't know who to be and they are trying to regain it with violence, and becoming people who they aren't. But that's all that I have for you today, until my next post

                                                                                                  ~Sarah