Thursday, April 5, 2012
Macho Man!
Modern Family is a comedy that discusses masculinity. Although this show uses the lack of masculinity as a joke it is still obvious that these beliefs on how a man should act is still poignant to be a "real" man. On Modern Family the father in law believes that his daughters husband is too girly and is unable to take care of his family because of this aspect. The father in law believes that a "real" man goes fishing and doesn't complain about anything and overall no "real" man shows any type of emotion especially tears. On the other hand as discussed in the video this type of masculinity can cause individuals to act out in other ways such as violent. Where did this notion of a "real" man come from? Anything different from this is wrong and is viewed as weak and homosexual. Just because a man is willing to express his feelings doesn't make him a person who likes man or unable to take care of what they need to. Although I do believe this concept of masculinity is slowly changing where people don't view these traits as weak there are still people out there who will view this as a weakness.
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Thinking about your question “Where did this notion of a real man come from?” makes me think of a little research I did for a social science class. I went to a Hallmark store to analyze cards that have welcoming messages to new babies. Anyone can do this and the results probably will be the same. Baby girl cards are usually pink and sparkly. The messages are associated with girls having qualities of being beautiful, gentle, soft, quiet, and any other feminine adjective. Baby boy cards have pictures of sport or car related objects. The messages are associated with ideas that boys are strong and physical.
ReplyDeleteI would say that this notion of a “real” man comes from us conforming to the ideology of the dominant groups. If we cannot even be critical about newborn cards, this notion is probably not going to change anytime soon. If these cards are still out there, it is because people continue to buy them. The saddest thing is that by conforming to this notion of a “real” man, we are teaching our kids from the very beginning that this is the norm and narrows their possibilities. This is how they are expected to behave for the rest of their lives.