First, the presentations done yesterday for the last day of classes were all great and informative. What I found interesting is that a lot of people in the class did research on masculinity in various ways, either through advertisements or in sports. I appreciated the presentation on masculinity of homosexual men because, as mentioned, our class discussions around masculinity revolved around heterosexual masculinity. Aside from that, the topic of homosexual men acting heterosexual is very interesting in general because the stereotypes and characteristics society attributes to homosexual men are considered to be threats to heterosexual masculinity, so it although it may not seem to make sense for gay men to act like in line with heterosexual masculinity, in a way it does, because it gives gay men away to escape the amount of ridicule flamboyant gay men receive. All the other presentations were really interesting as well, but I just found this particular topic stood out to me the most.
As for the semester overall, I found the topics we discussed to be very engaging. When talking about gender and sexuality, what usually comes to mind first is women and our problems in terms of that. However, this class material has opened up the conversation in order to realize how much men have it bad as well. It seems to me that despite how oppressed women are in society as a gender, men are so much more boxed in than women are, making life a little more difficult. It's also interesting to view these conversations in terms of people who identify as members of the LGBTQ community and how what applies to homosexual people shifts in these cases.
These conversations are both helpful and depressing. It absolutely sucks to find out screwed up society is and how everyone has somehow been manipulated by the "hidden curriculum" in life. However, it's important to have these conversations to so that we can be educated on these topics and make changes in out own lives accordingly in terms of what we don't like.
Melissa, I really liked how you talked about how the class material made you realize more about men's position in our society. Before this class, I definitely paid a lot more attention to how women were portrayed in the media and didn't really notice how men were being portrayed. However, this class taught me that men also have a lot of pressure on them to conform to societal ideals of masculinity that are constantly portrayed in our society's media. Reading Michael Kimmel's "Guyland" really opened my eyes and made me more aware about the pressures that men face. I think it's often all too easy to overlook how these pressures and media images affect men because men are taught not be emotional or to show if they're feeling pressured to achieve unattainable masculine ideals.
ReplyDeleteJosephine Bingler
ReplyDeleteMelissa, I fully agree with your post and Meg's comment. I had never really realized how hard men have it in society. I was so surprised by the article "The Rise of the Adonis Complex" which explored male body image issues. It stated how men are forced to suffer in silence. As women, while we face many pressure to have nice and slim bodies, we also have so many campaigns out there like Dove's beauty campaign. For men, there is no such thing. I can't shake the statistic that 43% of men said they were dissatisfied with their bodies. I think we really ignore the societal pressures that men face and the expectation of men to be dominant and powerful. Media creates impossible standards for both men and women.
Jenn - I also think that homosexuals acting in heterosexual ways would be a fun topic to delve into and discuss. Also, just the fact that there ARE homosexuals that don't wear skinny jeans, or tight t-shirts. Some DO like football, and "masculine" hobbies/activities. It's just overlooked and immediately assumed that if you like tight close, you must be gay.
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