Daily Doses: Manhood

This is my first Daily Doses posting for 2012! I hope it serves as an ice breaker for the new year :)

 

Masculinity… A public health problem? Boys and men tend to be the majority when it comes to committing violent crimes against both men and women. Why is this? It could be because they were taught for an early age that showing aggression and violence is “rite of passage” so to speak, and that aggression is a definite trait of what it means to be a “man”.

            I agree that our cultural portrayal of masculinity is heavily defined by the media. Men are portrayed as unemotional, uncaring, independent, and aggressive beings that show their courage through dominance and control. The cool pose that was referred to, was a seeming a way to identify masculinity from a stoic demeanor, frowning or showing no emotion. Many men and women try to imitate this pose to gain respect. But this so called respect is just another name for fear. They really wanted to be feared, which gives them power.

            This goes into the point why abuse of women is so prevalent today. Men abuse women to feel powerful, dominate, and in control. They beat fear into the women who depend on them. The rate of sexual abuse is high as well. This can be linked to the degradation and objectification of women. If men don’t see woman as anything more that objects, how can they be willing to respect them? If they see women as weak creatures and men as strong, how can they respect them, without feeling entitled to dominate? What has to change is the overall portrayal of the sexes without some narrow minded view.

            Changing a mental view can mean changing an entire lifestyle. Some people have grown up to listen and following iconic gangster rappers. Some people came from abusive households or had abusive childhoods from peers and attributed the situations to being caused by their own weakness. To change how people think masculinity is focused would mean changing the media’s view. It can be done by showing more positive attributes to being a man, such a caring/providing for one’s household, show affection for wife and children, and protecting their family through positive mean rather than showing aggression and violence.

To change the mentality of students, we could teach through music or artistic means that positive human expression is required for all people to grow and develop. Love, peace, and unity are innate properties, which we can be taught to disregard rather than respect.