Being A Man

 

    After reading both pieces and watching the film I have been able to further develop my ideas on toxic musicality and what it means to be a man. In, Not Your Father's Masculinity, Matt Labash writes about the hardships of being a man and how masculinity is associated with violence. He talks about how there is a new meaning on what it means to be masculine. Being a man is not about having power over others and is not measured in strength. This idea of being a 6 foot tall, muscular, large, and violent man is not what masculinity is about. The reason that this is still even an idea is that this is something that is still being taught by fathers around the nation. Because of that, men believe they have to suppress their emotions and feelings to be masculine. Michael Ian Black warns his audience of the pressures on men to conform to the ideals of masculinity, in his piece, The Boys Are Not All Right. Michael wanted to express the importance for men to overcome societal issues regarding the definition of what it means to be a man. He does this by highlighting horrible events that were a result of men such as school shootings. In Tough Guise 2, Jackson Kratz ties all of these ideas together. He states that men aren’t born violent, their surrounding environment and culture is what turns them violent. He says how this idea of masculinity is taught. 

These three pieces left me with many thoughts. I will say that as a man, I did feel somewhat attacked after all of this. I understand the ideas and information and I even agree with lots of it. I also feel that it attacked men as a whole too much, but I am biased because I am a man. Why can't you be a man who is muscular but isn't classified as violent or harmful to society? Not all men have to become more feminine just so society doesn't look down on them. Most men will grow up to be nonviolent and will be great people. We should be able to accept all men and let each man define their definition of what it means to be a man. I agree there needs to be a change in the idea of masculinity. If we can combine some of the nonradical traditional views of masculinity and incorporate the new ideas then I think everyone would be happy.