Tough Guise- Tina Seretta

The film “Tough Guise” accurately depicts the dominant culture of masculinity. The foundations of masculinity are shaped by society’s intuitions; these concepts are then perpetuated in all forms of media making it impossible for men to escape the pressure. As a culture we ignore the dominant group, thus the issues of that group become invisible and apart of the norm. Masculinity is the dominant gender; therefore we don’t see a lot of the serious issues pertaining to manhood. One of the biggest issues associated with masculinity is violence. Violence has become a cultural norm in our society. As a culture we have gendered violence as a masculine trait. This becomes very dangerous because men’s violence has become normalized and accepted as typical behavior. This violence can range from small fistfights to shootings. Since violence is so normal we also sexualize it, as we see in movies, TV, and in the porn industry. This sexualized violence is usually against women, thus reinforcing men’s dominance over women. It’s through these situations that women receive the message that they are “ deserving of being under the control of men”. The media teaches boys to be “real” men and never allow time for them to take down their “tough guise”. However this dominant heterosexual masculinity becomes threatened as our society becomes more progressive.