The school, especially its middle and high stages, is a unique and paradoxical setting for the social upbringing of young people. It is the stage where one makes critical socialization decisions, many of which are almost impossible to reverse psychologically in adulthood. Yet it is also a demo version of many social interactions and processes, the full version of which one will face fully in their later years. Either way, the school’s sociological properties make it a diverse setting for observation and research by psychologists and gender studies experts. Risman and Seale are among the researchers who decided to investigate the gender aspect of societal upbringing in boys and girls at the American middle school (570). Their central conclusion is that “boys need a kind of “feminist revolution” of their own” (Risman and Seale 590). I think one way to achieve this is to deconstruct traditional boy behavior or conventional young masculinity. It would make conventional forms of boyish behavior and so-called ones socially equal and culturally neutral and free the usually teased young males from peers’ judgment and ridicule.
From my perspective, the needed deconstruction of boys’ masculinity can be done in the same way that feminist revolutions have been carried out. Here I mean a two-pronged approach that includes internal promotion and education of a given male subpopulation about the forms of male behaviors and ways of expressing them, and external activism about contemporary male needs and issues of traditional masculinity. It would require the support and cooperation of influential male figures such as fathers, teachers, and male celebrities.
Boys would experience the most significant impact from a hypothetical revolution in the culture of masculinity. Global gender change would not eliminate traditional masculinity, hyper-masculinity, and “toughness” (Risman and Seale 573). Instead, I believe it would make them not the only forms of publicly accepted and proper male behavior. I see it as boys and men adopting some feminine societal mannerisms and traits. They would start to compete with girls and women in their exclusive fields. According to Risman and Seale, these are looks and bodies now (589). The masculinity revolution would be a cultural driver for further gender emancipation for girls.
Work Cited
Risman, Barbara J., and Elizabeth Seale. “Betwixt and Be Tween: Gender Contradictions among Middle Schoolers.” Families as They Really are, edited by Barbara J. Risman and Virginia Rutter, W. W. Norton, 2015, pp. 570-592.