The Mask You Live In: A Documentary About Hyper-Masculinity

In Partial fulfillment for

The requirements of

Submitted By:

Hinlog, Aila Kye B.

Magno, Keziah Marrie A.
Omboy, Ella Lorraine

Submitted To

March 26, 2019

INTRODUCTION (1-2pgs)

The documentary entitled, The Mask You Live In was directed by Jennifer Siebel
Newsom who incorporated with neuroscientists, therapists, analysts, ex-NFL stars, mentors,
educators, guardians, and young men all things considered through an interview. This
documentary is all about the boys and young men as they struggle to stay true to themselves
while negotiating America’s narrow definition of masculinity as depicted by various parts which
relays the different stages of masculinity that is manifested to young men while they are growing
up.
DISCUSSION (3-5pgs)

Children on the age of 10 tend to be on a development growth wherein they are afraid of
being punished by not following their parents and always expects for rewards of all the actions
that they take. These points was depicted as the documentary started with young boys, under the
age of 10, and discuses that harmful attributes that parents push upon them; “don’t cry”, “take it
like a man”, “don’t be a sissy”. Through these statements the production were encouraging
young boys to learn in hiding their emotions and not discuss them with those around them which
includes their family.

After family, there will always be a group a child must get along with and this leads to
people whom a child met in public. Getting exposed and adjusting well to fit in a certain society
or community pushes a child to be firm enough in not showing a weak side of personality to
these group of people surrounding them, this was shown in the film as it mentioned how, after
the age of 10, a boy is no longer expected to cry in public which we have found absurd and
extremely damaging to a young child’s emotional growth. However, on the other side, it’s at this
age where young boys start to play video games. In which they can deprived their weak
emotional side which will also allow them to be comfortable despite of the certain situations that
brings the joy away from them.

As the documentary started with how pre-teen boys are exposed to more violence, both
towards men and women, and how this shapes their mindset depicted how they grow up. It was
stated how the average boy spends about 40 hours watching TV, 15 hours playing video games,
and 2 hours watching porn per week. After which, they expose the negative effects that TV,
video games, and porn have on young boys. In TV shows and movies, then classified three main
“male types”: the strong, silent male, the superhero who achieves the goals through violence, and
the men who do not have lots of muscle and are portrayed as youthful. These three types of
males are dangerous for our young boys to idolize. These young boys tend to follow now
behaviors that they tend to see. This point of the documentary is truthful enough to prove that
what these young men sees tends to be a guide of what they want to see within themselves. The
characters that was used in movies or series tends to be that someone they want to perceived
which now makes them do certain actions that they think they can really fit well within.
 Furthermore, the strong, silent male does not disclose much emotion at all and when he
does, its anger that is shown. And then men who do not have muscle and are portrayed as
youthful and loud often achieve their version of masculinity through degradation of women,
drinking beer/doing drugs, and other high-risk activities. It then dove into discussing the negative
impacts of video games in young boys. The factual statistics shows that of 99% of boys play
video games, 31% feel addicted to video games, 90% of games rated for kids over 10 contain
violence, and 50% of parents don’t monitor ratings. As was listed in the Surgeon General report,
exposure to violent media leads boys to be less sensitive to pain and suffering of others, more
fearful of world, engage in more aggressive behaviors. It was very clear to state that video games
will not cause a child to become violent. However, it may increase their tendencies. With all
these data, we have realized that there are already great numbers of cases that has been
developing over the years that a teen is growing physically and emotionally in a whole wide of
differences on its ways. the documentary just have successfully shown the audience of how the
percentage has been drastically affected by each behavior of a certain man.

Digging deeper in regards to pornography, 93% of boys are exposed to Internet porn
while 68% of young men use porn weekly and 21% use it daily, with 34% of youth online
receive unwanted porn exposure. These shapes how they view sex, especially since, as the
documentary stated, pornography is often how young boys learn about sex as many states
enforce abstinence only policies or do not engage in teaching about sexual education. 83% of
boys have seen group sex online, 39% have seen bondage online, 18% have seen rape online. By
the age of 18, the average person has seen 200,000 acts of violence on screen including 40,000
murders. If throughout their childhood, they were exposed to extreme violence towards men and
women. People by this age tend to be so curious about so many things which include how they
think of sex. Together with these behaviors, we believe that it also comes with the diseases that
tend to be rampant among teenager starting from the age of 18. In which, a person wanted so
much for independence which leads them to make actions disregarding the thoughts and
suggestions from anyone. This point from the documentary is what made us look within
ourselves. As young professionals, our awareness was raised and we were alarmed of not
becoming a futuristic one when it comes to making decisions. We have found it very true that by
this stage we are really vulnerable of violence as witnessed on the reality wherein we are situated
today.
 The documentary film did not fail to show how growth and development go along with
so much factors coming from the environment together with the people, significant or
insignificant; really affect how a man behaves. As was shown in the documentary, it all started
with the child towards adolescence wherein differences on each stage was clearly stated. We all
agree on the points that were presented and how the documentary supported it. Overall, it has
brought us the chance to grasp from our past on being a child towards the current stage we are in
which is adolescence even though it mainly focused on men. Development does not come in
gender but all in behaviors.
CONCLUSION (1 page)

This documentary was extremely eye opening and informative. Towards the end, it also
listed resources for parents and how parents can prevent their child from facing this hyper-
masculinity force that society pushes on them.
REFERENCE

Stevve, C. [Tá Na Tv - Hipnose Reversa]. (2017, February 17). The Mask You Live In [video
file]. Retrieved on March 24, 209 from
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I1OI9B0VSlA&t=3460s