Masculinity In Guyland

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The novel Guyland talks about middle white males and how they become a part of this Guyland. This is a state of extended period for young males throughout their college years and after before reaching adulthood. The novel defines this state as, “guyland is the world in which young men live. It in both a state of live, a liminal undefined time spend between adolescence and adulthood that can often stretch for a decade or more (Kimmel 2008:4) Men in this environment are affected by masculinity in the form that they have to conform to what society sees as masculine. These ideas can be seen in college life in the forms of binge drinking and Greek Organizations. College culture is very much around drinking, with many college students binge drinking and fraternities, in the form of hazing.
Starting Thursday nights, many college students decide in the cultural ritual of drinking, going out, and attending fraternity parties. This cultural norm continues throughout the weekend in the form of darties (Day parties), mixers, and open parties. For some school that are in the middle of nowhere, like Gettysburg, Greek life is the ‘only’ source of entertainment for students. I use …show more content…

The novel talks about one of the hazing incidents that a member of Guyland had to survive through to becomes a brother of the fraternity. His experience is described as, “Push-ups, then chugging some beers. Sit-ups, and more chugging. Most of the pledges are ready to puke,” (Kimmel 2008:96). They have to do the elephant walk. this form of hazing is similar to the movie Goat, which is based off a real-life experience. I was in actually pain when the book talked about hazing, and do not understand why people want to be a part of the group so badly that they would suffer through this. I am proud to say that my sorority did not haze, and if it did I would have quite because it is