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Masculinity Vs Femininity

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People in every society have ideas about the ways men and women are supposed to act. Gender identity is then, instituted by performance. Gender is socially constructed rather than born with. In accordance with the gender binary theory, we live in society with the idea that there are only two types of individuals such as, a male-bodied person who are masculine and a female-bodied person who is feminine (Wade & Ferree, Chapter 2). By defining someone "masculine" or "feminine" we assume they're all the same. Individuals who embody a masculine or feminine identity can have cultural and social effects. By performing it can affect the ways individuals experience their bodies, their sense of self, and how they project themselves to others. By possessing masculinity or femininity, individuals move through and produce that gender …show more content…

In this way, masculinity or femininity is an identifiable set of practices that are easily identified across space and time. Through this recurring enactment, these practices produce a distribution of resources, power, whom to sexually desire, production of meaning and values. Therefore, being a woman or a man is something one is constantly readjusting and repeatedly performing to cultural norms. Gender is persistently regulated and policed by social norms. We live in a society that idealizes androcentrism, a gender-based prejudice granting higher status, respect, value, reward, and power to masculine compared to the feminine (Wade & Ferree, Chapter 6). The gender binary thus, leads to a gender hegemonic through the subordination of femininity to hegemonic masculinity, but also marginalizes men for not performing masculinity (Wade & Ferree, Chapter 6). Men and women are brought into a hierarchical relationship through gendered expectations. Placing females inferior to men and glorifying the hegemonic masculinity, the accepted domination position

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Gender roles influence every aspect of our lives from what we wear to the hobbies we keep to the way we behave every day. When a person steps out of the guidelines set forth by society for their gender there is often backlash of some sort, making it difficult for a person to escape the restraints of conformity. In today’s society we often mention the expectations and ideals for women to be and have but rarely do we touch on what is expected of men. They, like women, are required to act and appear a certain way. Men are thrown into roles that necessitate strength of character, body, and mind.

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Feminine. This suggests that a clear distinction exists between men and women, one that supersedes biological differences, allows the for division to creep in between them. This understanding of gender cascades into the concept of hegemonic masculinity, a reality in which man “sustains a leading position in social life”

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I learned that if a male happens to have a smaller body than most males he will face identity issue because he won't feel like like he has male characteristics. Ironically, their body type and behavior will slowly turn less masculine because they feel they are acting like a gender they look nothing like. For females its been concluded that it's more of a environmental factor and, even if they are as feminine as they can be its still possible they can feel attraction to male things. For example one of the common “male” activities is heavy fitness, there is women who are driven to the need to have overly sized muscles and a “ripped” body. This concept is usually seen on males but when a female does it her gender isn't question.

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Undeniably, women have been subjugated under men’s relentless, patriarchal control in both political and cultural spheres of society throughout history. Attributed to stubborn male social ideologies, patriarchal constructed superiority has advocated and maintained unequal and unfair sex and gender boundaries. According to Thomas Lacqueur, our social gender structures are based on “a continuum, with perfect maleness at one end and imperfect, defective, or defective maleness (what we might call “femaleness”) at the other” (What is Christian, 26). To break these evident, unequal boundaries between men and women Lacqueur suggest manipulating perceived patriarchal ideologies by exploring “sex differences and the gendered characteristics accompanying

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According to Prof. Clatterbaugh and Dr. Whitehead, male behaviors and masculinity are not just a simple product of biological predispositions or genetic coding. All societies around the world have the cultural concept of gender, but some of them do not have the idea of masculinity. The modern usage of masculinity usually describes the behaviors that result from the

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Gender is a label. It transpires with one’s cultural surroundings and experiences. Society dictates characteristics of genders, separating people's words, actions, and emotions into two classifications: feminine and masculine. Ultimately this creates cultural standards. For instance, society categorizes females as emotionally unstable, primarily spending most of their life raising children and preparing meals.

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Masculinity Introduction Since the early times, men have always been termed and see the best gender compared to women. Men are always given the best education, taken to the best school, does the best courses in the higher learning institution. In the society men are regarded to the head of the families, they have bestowed the responsibility of providing for their families and taking care of them. The society believes that men are the best leaders compared to women, they are elected and nominated in the best sits in the government, drives the best cars and lives in the best houses. Masculinity has always been given the best respect in the society; other men take advantage of this, and they mistreat the female in the society because they are termed to be weak.

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Expectations of roles within a culture may also support a sexist bigot; where generally males are expected to be masculine and females more feminine resulting in male possessing greater power and females being considered as the weaker sex. (Emerson Dobash, Russel P.Dobash ,1992) The distribution of power and role allocations allows men to be sexist and bigoted at the same time and impose these behavioral changes on women in the form of sexual and domestic

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In essence, gender is a social construct in which we chose to identify ourselves with in accordance to our culture, despite the assumption that it’s biological. Across different societies around the world, gender roles, identity, stratification; varies. What one society sees as “male” traits can be seen as “female” in another. Gender and its interpretation around the world is fluid.

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Sociology of masculinity seek to highlight the ways in which men’s powers come to be differentiated, naturalized and embedded across all cultures, political borders and organizational networks”. Femininity can be viewed as an advantage for the masculinity in the modern society; an indication to show the on-going predicament that men go through in the world or in their roles in

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“On an individual level, we may do gender to experience the rewards and privileges that come from acting in ways consistent with people’s gender expectations.” (pg.94) If a man does masculinity and fulfills the role of the bread-winner, he may expect to come home from a long day at work prop his feet; while his wife or female partner takes care of everything else. “In general, social costs of violating gender norms are not felt evenly by girls and boys, or by women and men.” (pg.94) Society is more accepting of a women who acts masculine than it is of a man who acts feminine.

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Andrei Manila Mrs. Rhine English 103 2 March 2016 Masculinity or Femininity: Which is Favored? Finding the exact definitions for masculinity and femininity has been an ongoing process for society. Societies in the past have generally agreed that masculinity can be defined as male characteristics that imply dominance and femininity can be defined as female characteristics that imply subordinance. Hundreds of years have been spent categorizing what is to be considered masculine and what is to be considered feminine. But even though society doesn’t admit to place one above the other, society seems to view masculinity more is a positive light rather than femininity.

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Masculinity refers to the qualities, personality traits and roles that are associated with the male gender. In the 21st century, there has been a movement, a drive in the more socially aware sections of the world to equalize or balance out masculinity and femininity. Feminism or, at least the main stream feminism aims to find equality for the females in social, political and economical fields. Even today, as we work forward to find a middle ground for the two genders, masculinity is seen as the superior quality that only men are privileged to have. Hence, main stream feminism is so focused on emancipating women by encouraging them to let go of the ‘weaker’ feminine qualities and roles and fit themselves in a Man’s world by embracing masculinity

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Dr Leullos (2014). Defines masculinity as a widely set of procedures which include gender relations gender practices between men and women and the belongings of these practices confidently experiences, personality and culture. He argues that it dictates ways of being masculine and “unmasculine.” He argues that there a several masculinities functioning within anyone cultural context, and some of these masculinities are hegemonic, subordinate, compliant and

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Masculinity (also called boyhood, manliness or manhood) is a set of attributes, behaviors and roles generally associated with boys and men. But the culture doesn’t end at the definition, it starts from there. The first thing to come to mind when the word masculinity is heard is usually a man flexing his gigantic muscles, as the word might sound to suggest, and that right there is the current culture of masculinity because sadly, in the world we live in, not everyone has a “muscular body”. So far we know the concept of masculinity, but the culture is what is truly hampering.

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