Masculinity and Gender Policing

Masculinity.  The word masculine as defined by Webster’s dictionary means having qualities appropriate to or usually associated with a man. In fact, it’s easy to assume that when most people hear the word masculine, they think of men, or qualities that men have such as strength, boldness, and power. In an everyday general sense, this is the appropriate and most simple explanation. However, understanding and applying the concept of masculinity is much more complex. Masculinity for men is not just a word, it’s a system of rules and behaviors attributed to being “manly”. Masculinity establishes and restores manhood and provides a code to which boys and men can conform, or to some, must conform.

Some examples of this systematic socialization can be seen as early as childhood. I can vaguely remember incidents in elementary school where boys encouraged each other to act out or do risky

things such as pulling the fire alarm,

jumping from swing sets, prank calling 911 or avoiding girls because those were the cool things to do as boys. If a boy backed away from a dare or risky task, they were called babies or wimps by other boys. In the seventh grade, it was trendy and acceptable for a boy to lose his virginity as way of proving his masculinity, in fact, it was even cooler to date multiple girls within a week. Then, in high-school, masculinity became even more organized. Masculine boys channeled their energy into sports, fighting (not boxing or wrestling, actual physical fights),hurting small animals, dressing appropriately, cracking jokes and, of course, belonging to a pack of other boys.

Boys who were more artsy, had lots of friends who were girls but didn’t date any of them, boys who didn’t hunt or liked anime were called “fags”, “bitches” or the ultimate insult, “girls”.  

While there may have been different groups according to interest, codes of masculinity applied to each type. In the documentary “Tough Guise”, Katz discusses The Cool Pose,

in which white middle class men emulate poor urban black males to fit their ideas of masculinity and toughness.

This is something I often noticed at my high school. Boys who were white and sometimes native American would often listen to hip hop music or rap music by black artists and indulge in weed smoking because it was what cool black people did-because acting “black” was cool, too. It seems as though the duration from childhood through young adulthood which boys learn the ways of masculinity are the foundation for perpetuating masculinity in the adult world.  Messages of masculinity are constantly being thrown at young boys and men, not just from peers and family, but the media. Katz also discusses this topic by stating that video games, sports, advertising and politics contribute to the standards of masculinity. Most of these translate to boys and men that violence and sexual aggression are acceptable ways of channeling masculine energy.

To break it down even further, violence and aggression in the media are geared towards men as answers. As if men lead life full of questioning and need guidance on how to direct their testosterone fueled passions. As if men are destined to be physically incapable of controlling their masculinity without being aggressive. Not only are these ideas provided by the media considered by some to be harmful for all genders, they also happen to be a way of controlling and preserving masculinity out of fear.