Activity #7

Kimmel argues that understanding masculinity to be socially constructed and historically shifting is very valuable because it gives us the capacity to act. Kimmel means that because of our culture and how it has developed, we can create our own identities. Men no longer have to look or act like men, they can be whoever they want to be.
Kimmel believes that other men are constantly judging you. You have to be accepted by other men in order to join manhood. Kimmel explains that people show off their manhood so that other men can approve of them. Homophobia is a central organizing principle of our cultural definition of manhood. Men are not really afraid of gay men, they are more scared of the idea that they might come off as gay. Men are afraid that they are not real men, and the idea that they fear for another man to discover that they are not real men, shows that they are not very manly.
I agree with Kimmel’s discussion about the fear of being a sissy for a couple of reasons. I believe that the pressure to be a real man starts at an early age because of our culture. Boys do not want to be called a sissy because it shows that they are weak and that is not one of the words to describe manhood. I think that Kimmel was right in his example of walking into a playground and asking who was a sissy. I think that this would provoke a boy to accuse another boy, who would then accuse someone else because of his fear of being a sissy.
Jackson Katz explains that the “tough guise” persona is showing the world only certain parts of you that are identified as manly in the dominate culture. This has to do with masculinity because violence is an accepted part of masculinity. He believes that we have to start examining this system and offering alternatives because there has been a growing connection made in our society between being a man and being violent. Katz thinks that women should show that they are looking for more in men than being a “bad boy”. We also need to break the monopoly of the media system showing only rich white men. We need to hear men’s stories to learn from them if we want our sons to be better men.
I thought that this activity was very interesting because it was very different talking about men and their troubles. We have mostly been talking about women, feminists, and lesbians although we have touched base on homosexuals. I agreed with everything that Kimmel and Katz had to say about masculinity, homophobia, fear of being a sissy, and the “tough guise” persona.