ipl-logo

Masculinity In Jackson Katz's Film Tough Guise Two

1432 Words6 Pages

Jackson Katz’s film Tough Guise 2 seeks to expose how the media promotes a toxic ideology behind what makes a man masculine and show that it is a social construct. For decades print, television, videogames, and film have presented masculinity in a way that makes men think the only way to be manly is to be emotionally unavailable, sexually aggressive, and violent. This ideology has been a curse on culture in America and many other countries around the world. “We're not living in the Wild West. We're not a Third World nation” (Katz). The days of warrior culture, where a man had to protect his family from being pillaged in the dead of night, are long past us. However, the media promotes an ideology that men must still be prepared to answer the …show more content…

Ideology as common sense is forcing people to operate with a system of traces that they have no inventory for. His theory is that perpetuating an ideology works best when the people you are trying to control do not know what they don’t know. The people know part of the story, but they do not know the whole story. This theory of ideology explains why the ideology of toxic masculinity was able to spread so far and so deeply into our culture. The media uses the now mythic symbols of masculinity to enforce their ideologies. What the general public does not know, in relation to the spread of the ideology enforcing toxic standards for masculinity, is the way. People do not know why men are expected to act in a violent way, they just assume that is has always been this way and as such they perpetuate the idea. People do not like to seem stupid, so even if someone does not know why something is the way it is, like why men should be violent, they still believe and understand it as a truth because they assume that is the way it has always been. Men in American culture have been using a system of values with no idea why for far too long. Their minds have been corrupted by an evil ideology that forces them to value themselves by how violent they can

Show More
Related
771 Words | 4 Pages

Response The documentaries Tough Guys and Killing us Softly, really brought to light the way masculinity and femininity are represented in our society. The characteristics and associations that are made when these words are thought of are bizarre and not natural. I strongly believe that both masculinity and femininity are learned characteristics from the human environment. I often wonder if people would even have these ideas and characteristics that are associated with gender in the beginning of time, or if people have slowly began to define and differentiate the genders throughout the evolution of time.

Read More
830 Words | 4 Pages

Society tends to ignore the struggle of masculine norms men face everyday. In the film, “The Mask You Live In”, various ages of men discuss what it is like to live in a society filled with sexism and masculine norms. In the film, it is shown the impact of these norms society puts forth for men is catastrophic and negatively impacts their mental health. A few masculine norms that are found within the film are, self-reliance, violence, power over women, winning and risk-taking. Self-reliance is a big topic to cover in regards to masculine norms.

Read More
671 Words | 3 Pages

Similar to Sapolsky, Katz argues that the media teaches men from a young age to be tough, aggressive, and not to show emotional vulnerability. This is what he calls the “tough guise” or the artificial definition of manhood that forces men to conform to society’s expectations by being “tough” and powerful and hiding their emotions. In the beginning of the film Katz shows interviews with various young males where he asks what it means to be a man, and all of them provide an answer referring to strength, such as “powerful,” “intimidating,” “strong,” and of course, “tough.” When asked what a male is called when they fail to live up to these expectations, the young men replied, “wuss,” “fag,” or “sissy.” Katz points out that this just one of numerous methods that society uses to contain young men in this “tough guise” box, using insults to drive them to perform the way they believe a man should.

Read More
894 Words | 4 Pages

Television series Friday Night Lights pioneers their accurate representation through the character of Jason Street. Authors Butterworth and Schuck identify how the series fails to align with culturally idealized, traditional representations of men. Foote, Justin Gus, et al break down how different authoritative figures affect how boys view their masculinity. Cherney and Lindemann explain the role that participating in sports have in reaffirming that conception. Building upon that notion, Kerr describes the role that the culture of football has had in forming idealizations of masculinity.

Read More
967 Words | 4 Pages

History has repeatedly given men privilege due to their physical advantages; yet it is these same advantages that have developed into “rules” or expectations that all men should conform to in order to prove their manhood. Michael Kimmel’s essay, “‘Bros Before Hos': The Guy Code” outlines the “rules” where men are expected to never show any emotions, be brave, act knowledgeable, be risk takers, be in control, act reliable, and be competitive, otherwise they would be showing weakness which is analogous to women. It is humiliating that men associate weakness with women; they should focus on the potential of the individual rather than their gender. Most insults toward men attack their masculinity because society finds it shameful for men to be

Read More
999 Words | 4 Pages

Robert Wood traveled to Uganda in search of how the AIDS crisis had effected the men and women in the town of Bwaise. In his book AIDS and Masculinity in the African City: Privilege, Inequality, and Modern Manhood, he found that this crisis along with growing women’s economic opportunities have posed a threat on men’s sense of masculinity. These men are experiencing an identity crisis within their life because ideals in their work, authority, and sexuality are beginning to shift. This threat to a man’s masculinity is not only in Bwaise, but also in America. Gender equality and feminism have been on the rise and some men have felt threated by it for the same reason the Bwaise men feel threatened; it takes away their power and masculinity.

Read More
1037 Words | 5 Pages

The ability to understand male role models allows for a more intelligent understanding as to why boys act the way they do, and why our conceived notion on what being a boy changes. While examining the movie Boyhood, directed by Richard Linklater, and the entry “Boyhood” by Eric Tribunella, manhood is defined by “the ability to dominate, care for, or exercise power over others”, while “to be a boy means to be flawed, inchoate, or incomplete” (Tribunella). The movie and the entry both enlighten audiences with examples of boyhood and how it changes and shifts from each person. Linklater’s

Read More
1332 Words | 6 Pages

What constitutes “masculinity?” Sadly, the term has been defined so harshly that it is having detrimental effects on our society. The definitions of gender roles bombard us everywhere, from books, to advertisements, to movies, there is seemingly no place one can hide from these absurd standards. Canadian sociologist Aaron H. Devor points out in his article “Becoming Members of Society: Learning the Social Meanings of Gender,” that gender norms are learned early on in life, burdening children with these restrictions (388). This is what makes movies which clearly reject and mock gender roles, such as The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie, so refreshing.

Read More
743 Words | 3 Pages

The videos “Tough Guise 2” and Jackson Katz’s TEDTallk are both extremely similar in that they both discuss the masculinity of males and how it is being used negatively in society today. There are many reasons and theory’s for why men do what they do but one factor that always seems to occur is trying to prove one’s masculinity. Whether proving it through strength, gender norms, personality, and sometimes even violence, it seems to be prevalent among every male. Victim blaming then happens after these incidents occur and women or children are looked at for causing these actions to happen to them. Both these videos were very informational and eye opening to the issues of male masculinity and “women’s issues”.

Read More
1310 Words | 6 Pages

The contemporary representations of male masculinity are usually formed in electronic visual media, in particular, television, which promotes a certain image of a typical male. The history of the United States has left traces on the racial and cultural stereotypes. That is why mass media promote different views of how white and black men look and behave. In 2007 I joined the United States Army, and attended basic training at Fort Jackson, SC. As a young private in basic training I met fellow soldiers from all over the world, many with very different backgrounds than that of my own.

Read More
968 Words | 4 Pages

Juliana Horowitz published an article with the statistic” “23% of U.S. men believed that, if needed, men should use violence to get respect.” This is a scary percentage of men who believe that violence is used to earn respect and demonstrate the glorified idea of toxic masculinity. Throughout the novel, the reader will learn about the culture and traditions held closely by the Ibo tribe. They will also learn how the treatment differs between males and females. Lastly, Achebe expressed the value of masculinity that the Ibo tribe expects.

Read More
1492 Words | 6 Pages

There is a lot of pressure on men in society to be manly; however, what exactly does it mean to be manly? Though many people have different opinions, a lot of them conclude that a man has to be strong and somewhat emotionless to be considered a man. This assumption can lead to Toxic Masculinity, which is “A false idea that men are expected to be as manly as possible” (The Hard, Adrenaline-Soaked Truth About 'Toxic Masculinity, 2017). Men are forced to face these assumptions not only from those around him, but also from people he might see in Media. Media reinforces Toxic Masculinity which in turn causes men to belittle women.

Read More
279 Words | 2 Pages

The society in which we live in has taught us that men should have a certain role in society. The worldly view of a man’s role is that he should provide financially for his family, upholding strength and honor by being the provider and protecter of the home. That men should be strong and independent, show no emotions and provide heroism. I know that men face many types of oppressionmany issues due to how our Western/American society works. Male rape, child custody, likelihood of being accused as pedophiles, sometimes getting the short end of the stick of programs designed for women like The women 's resource center are all examples of the exploitation, oppression and alienation that men face.

Read More
818 Words | 4 Pages

In David Fincher’s, dramatic film “Fight Club”, Fincher develops satire to explain the masculinity of the main characters throughout the movie. Being masculine and or having masculinity, means qualities traditionally ascribed to men, as strength and boldness. Typically, men are seen to be strong, able to fight, have a large frame, and or be fearless. Men such as Arnold Schwarzenegger and Chuck Norris are seen to society as Masculine men. However, some develop their masculinity later than others.

Read More
1324 Words | 6 Pages

Throughout history, we tend to correlate toughness and aggression with men, but maybe it doesn 't always have to be like that? Maybe it doesn 't have to be a norm anymore to be aggressive. Another article titled Boy 's Emotional Needs by Sarah Glazer was published on June 18th, 1998. This article was published shortly after the tragedy most of us know to be the Columbine shootings. She related the issues we see in men nowadays to the issues the two men who shot their classmates were suffering with.

Read More

More about Masculinity In Jackson Katz's Film Tough Guise Two

Related Topics

Open Document