CULTURE & COMMUNICATION

Assignment

The crisis of masculinity

Abhijit Mukherjee
Section B | 20130120082 | PGP-1
The very urgency of the need to examine an apparent Masculinity Crisis comes
as a result of not only feminist activism and the changing role of women
worldwide, but also on the back of drastic socio-economic and technological
changes occurring globally; which indeed led to a globalization of not only
ideologies but attitudes and beliefs as well. Men have traditionally been looked
at, and perhaps rightly, as the privileged sex but a spate of recent activities that
have meant everyone to take cognizance of women’s rights to be treated
equally before the law, in the workplace, and in the home essentially is to
balance the weighing scale.

While sex can only imply two dispositions-male and female, gender is a social
construct. And in this perhaps lies the biggest challenge that ‘men’ face today.
By virtue of bearing a certain anatomy, society world-over, and with little
exception, expect them to pursue a certain role and function in society that is
etched out by the majority.

Given the fact that men are usually considered as being responsible for the
oppression that women have faced, a compelling question thus arises is that are
they themselves prone to being marginalized by their own? For long men have
been uniformly classified by women as being of a certain characteristic by and
large and in an unequivocal voice been held responsible for every ill in society
that women in general face.

On the other hand, the constant battle that men have faced is that they have
to be strong, tough, well-built, angry, and aggressive among other machismo
characteristics, the failure to do which have made them marginalized in their
own gender as weak, fragile, delicate and for the uninitiated- a wuss or perhaps
a pussy.

A part of growing up for every boy is toughening up as a teen. In the more

popular sense, fathers encourage them to play sport, generally rough, to
‘prepare’ them for the real world. Boys are general not given the liberty to cry,
for it is considered as being too girly. This is where the crisis begins! (Boise, 2013)

In the race to achieve the image of being a man, adolescents end up

competing with one another to the extent that certain social roles are termed
desirable and others not. The tolerance level of what isn’t ‘manly’ goes to an all-
time low and the result is reduced scope for expression among men when they

If that weren’t enough, masculinity for long has been synonymous with
adjectives such as virile, macho, rugged, brawny, red blooded, powerful among
many more. (wikipedia, 2014)

That itself suggests a serious issue. Complicating matters further is everything that
masculinity isn’t, is what femininity is all about. And that is a serious complication.
In my opinion, this has made a clear divide in the professional front wherein lines
have been drawn on occupations suitable only for designated sexes. That
translates into clear role divisions in other spheres of life as well!

Today, the crisis per se is what we see in society as social constructs being well
defined and every possible practice, article or concept being colored with the
brush of gender specificity. For e.g. pink is for girls and blue is for boys. A man
wears pink and the natural sense of social distinction ushers in the tendency to
label him queer. It is for this very reason, a lot of men struggle to express
themselves freely and are forced to live in a shell without living up to what they
might have been able to accomplish. The more serious issue that comes into
question then is also that are these men aware of this? (Kim, 2014)

That is an answer that might be very difficult to get. I wonder how many would
actually go and admit being shy of trying out certain professions, hobbies or
following a way of life different from what they are doing presently.
The crisis of masculinity transcends borders and exists in most societies.
Unfortunately sexual orientations are often misconstrued and are abused in the
entire process. Terming a man ‘gay’ is common parlance in many a culture if he
is found to be indulging in certain ways not known for being very masculine.
Unfortunately even in progressing societies of the developed world, this is
prevalent.

The link between this sheer insecurity of masculinity and aggression can also be
evaluated closely. Does the insecurity of being termed too ‘soft’ raise the
aggression levels in men? Does it cause them to indulge in violent behavior,
especially against the opposite sex? Are the rising crimes against women a result
of masculine insecurity and in a way an act of claiming gender supremacy? Is it
also the same reason behind heterosexual men condemning homosexuality,
and often ridiculing it, in most cultures?

I believe the answers for these are a firm yes. Feminism has been trying to build
steam for decades in order to assert the role and importance of women in
society. A cause for greater concern is how did the situation ever arise? It is
perhaps the social tension that exists for the expected role of a man and his
subsequent fulfilling of it. Failure to do so has led to being ostracized. And this, in
a way, has come from what women too, have perceived what the ultimate
desirable man should be.

I still wouldn’t blame women for the crisis since they too have suffered and have
been on the receiving end one too many times. But what I certainly feel is that
social expectations world over to classify men and women as two very distinct
beings, mutually exclusive of interests, preferences and desires is a highly flawed
notion and the sooner that people realize that there is no clear divide and
humans are far more complex than too be limited to two conventional
predispositions, the better would the quality of social development be.
How would this take place, if ever? Well I’m an optimist and I believe that
change must start at a tender age at home. The crisis of masculine hegemony is
something that is more serious than what appears. Typifying a man and a
woman and limiting their horizons at a very early age in their lives is the real
problem. The day that popular media realizes this and takes drastic steps to
check the image of society that they portray in their broadcast, the feminist
movement and the crisis of masculinity will find common ground and truly
describe what they essentially have been symbolic of- flip sides of the same
coin!
References
Boise, S. d. (2013, October).
http://www.newleftproject.org/index.php/site/article_comments/patriarchy_and_the_crisis_of_
masculinity. Retrieved from http://www.newleftproject.org.

Kim, J. (2014). http://www.mindbodygreen.com/0-12537/4-qualities-that-make-a-real-man.html.

Retrieved from http://www.mindbodygreen.com.

wikipedia. (2014, March). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masculinity. Retrieved from

http://en.wikipedia.org.