Mosqueda 1 Maximilian Mosqueda John Kubler English 114B 1 April 2014 Why Males Act the Way They

Do Where we live in today there are a lot of issues with people getting along with each other. Many fights break out in crowded places and there is a lot of violence between men but why is that? I believe this happens because men act and behave a certain way because they have to prove something and they are influenced by their surroundings. The way men act and the things they do are judged by society. Males act in a certain manner by the way society influences them to act. Many males act tough because that is the only way they can show their power. They dont have anything going for them so the way they show their power is by standing tall and proud and acting tough. For example wealthy business men dont need to put on a disguise and act like this because they show their power through the things they can afford and the things they can provide. As shown in the video Hamilton Scotts Sky Garage by ALS you can now park your car in your living room with the help of a parking device that elevates your car and places your vehicle where you desire it to be. This demonstrates that people can now demonstrate their power through this device. They can flash and brag about what they could afford and how powerful they are through this. These men who owns this vehicle device are showing their power through their wealth and what they can afford. Without these things mens last resort is to stand high and mighty and act like he dominates others with his posture and attitude.

Mosqueda 2 Men get judged by the things they do by their peers. For one men feel like they need to act tough in front of their friends. Why is that and why do men do this to other men? For example other men feel like they need to show that they are not weak by not showing their feminine side. Males need to show that they have power and they are not less of a man whatsoever. If they show any point of weakness in themselves they are seen as non-dominate by their friends therefore losing some of their respect. We live in a society where it is not ok for a man to show or express their emotions. Men arent allowed to cry or to act feminine at all. As Erving Goffman mentioned . . . our socialization consists of learning how to play our assigned roles from other people. We enact our roles in the company of others, who are in turn enacting their roles in interaction with us. He believed that whatever we do, we are playing out some role on the stage of life. meaning that we act in specific ways with the people we surround ourselves with. As Goffman mentions, we play a role and when men are around other men they play the role of acting tough and considering themselves powerful. This causes a great situation amongst other men because if all men want to act powerful and want to show their dominance therefore there will be greater acts of violence in these situations.

There are stereotypes of men that categorize them as something else, society is influenced by what they see and hear and men in many cases are portrayed as selfish beings. These stereotypes show the rest of society that men are cruel, rude, brainless and emotionless when that is not the case. In Persepolis 2 the main character Marjane goes out on a date and has to pay gas money in order to get home to her boyfriend. She states nothing surprised me anymore. Even paying for gas that my white knight could drive me home seemed completely normal showing that for her all men in her life are nothing but rude, brainless and cruel (65). She demonstrates to the reader that all men act this way. But not all men are the same they differ from each other. When society

Mosqueda 3 keeps viewing these illustrations of men they slowly develop and accept that stereotype, they are influenced by it. Mentioning that we are influenced by our surroundings we are also influenced a lot by music. In hip-hop music today there are lyrics that show males that they need to act a certain way in order to be more of a man and to stay cool and hip. The problem with these videos is that they demonstrate in order to be considered masculine young males need to become rich, kill people, have sex with women and become a menace to society. In the music video hustle in the house the music artist Nipsey Hustle has explicit lyrics like Big guns niggas turn rivals into rosaries Extended clips I give a fuck who you 'posed to be Straight off the block I sold dope to buy groceries Now it's rap money no advance it's all royalties You broke nigga you could follow me It's fuck bitches get money keep some hollow tips logically showing an example of what is in rap music these days, a perfect example in where males get influenced by this and decide that this type of attitude is the right way to act (0:26). They show that men need to have money, girls, etc. in order to be masculine and considered cool. Then society takes this and then are influenced by these videos causing them to act just how music portrays society to be. Doing this causes a big situation in our society. Another thing that influences men to act tough and be tough is television. The things that we see on television influence us in a big ways. Men are portrayed as strong aggressive and violent. Men take it upon themselves and believe this is the right way to act in society and amongst other people because thats how they influenced by the things they watch on television.

Mosqueda 4 I have experienced how men act many times. In my culture where I come from you need to act tough or else you will be considered less of a man and will be considered weak a punk a pussy. There was a situation where my friends masculinity was challenged. My friends and I went out to a party late on a Saturday night. We decided to leave because the party was soon ending. Before we left some guys were trying to start a fight with one of my friends. The guy took my friends phone and didnt want to give it back acting as if he didnt take it. What my friend Adrian did was tell the guy to give it back, once that happened a fight broke out. What I saw was that Adrian acted tough where he didnt need to, he could have solved that problem a different way. I thought to myself why would a person act the way he did, he isnt like that at all. Ive been knowing my friend Adrian for a while and he isnt the type of person to act tough. When I saw that I thought that was pretty stupid of him to do that because he ended up getting hurt. If he didnt act tough and resolved the problem without getting violent we would have left unharmed. Some might argue that not all men need to act tough in order to be accepted in society. Some might argue that there are gay men who are more feminine than masculine and do not categorize with other men. Yet that may be true the majority of gay men are still not accepted in society and are seen as outsiders and are not accepted for who they are. Take the movie To Wong Foo for example the men were cross dressers and didnt consider themselves men but the thing was that they werent accepted by everybody. This proves that if you want to fit in and not stand out men need to accept their stereotypes in order to be considered a normal male. So in all society sets certain rules for males in order to be considered as masculine as they can be. But what society has set, is rules that all men do not want to follow. If they do or dont their masculinity is on the line whether they are considered less of a man or they become the

Mosqueda 5 negative stereotypes that follow with being a man. If we can change what society believes a man to be there might be a bigger change in people where we all can benefit from, leading us to an equal society.

Mosqueda 6 Works Cited

Aloysius Chin.Hamilton Scotts Sky Garage by ALS Online video clip. YouTube. YouTube, 5 Sep. 2012. Web. 31 March 2014. Kidron, Beeban, dir. To Wong Foo Thanks For Everything, Julie Newmar. Universal Pictures, 1995. Film. NipseyHussleVEVO. Nipsey Hussle - Hussle In The House (Explicit Version) Online video clip. YouTube. Sony Music Entertainment, 25 Oct. 2009. Web. 31 March 2014. Satrapi, Marjane, and Marjane Satrapi. Persepolis ; Persepolis 2. New York: Pantheon, 2005. Print