The Fight for Masculinity Essay

Introduction

Masculinity refers to the powerful nature of a man. Men of today are always working hard and reaching back to the ever-expanding array of threats so that they can preserve their traditional gender role in society and the aspect of identification among themselves. They always work to defend their masculinity so that they can maintain a proper sense of purpose in their occupations and personal lines. Men’s insecurity is caused by what is termed as modernization which is one of the public cultures that resist the traditional social construction of masculinity.

Modernization is the movement of the human approach towards social equality and ease of technology. The rapid development of relaxed modern living and gender equality has impacted men’s masculinity greatly. The two-work hand in hand whereby women are involved in aspects that were previously dominated by men. For instance, a woman can do jobs that were previously known to have been designed for men. These jobs may include leadership positions that can now be taken by women without any problem. It is this relaxed modern living and the rise of women’s participation in most aspects of society that has forced men to redefine their gender roles artificially. That is, they have created their artificial approaches where they can fully exercise and display masculine impulses (Barker, 2000 p.86 – 107).

Male identity

The newly upcoming male identity has been seen through the over the compensatory level of masculinity in the efforts to distinguish itself from modern feminity. This is depicted in the commercial film Fight Club. The main actor tries to exert his masculinity in the face of a feminine lifestyle. Marla emerges as a threat to the narrator’s masculinity. She emphasizes the similarities between them instead of talking about the differences that are common between a man and a woman (Beynon, 2002 p.98 ). These are the differences that are obvious to any human being such as the body structure where men and women differ in their shapes and constituents. The narrator is seen to be uncomfortable in between the modern, feminity of Marla and the extreme masculinity of Tyler. At the end of the film, a certain degree of resolution is exposed when Taylor is despised by the narrator. The final scene implies that the narrator succeeds in his attempts to adapt his personality, partly through the elimination of Tyler and assuming Taylor’s role as well.

These magical resolutions refer to the characteristics of individuals living in a world of illogical fantasies unfolding in our society. Therefore by the time they come to realize that they are in the dreamland, it is never easier for them to accept the reality. That is, women’s quest for power though drives men toward the more radical form of masculine behavior in efforts to ensure that they do not compare at all with them.

Exchange of the roles

The advancement of women encourages the genders to change to the extent that their roles are equal in form of sameness. As we have seen, women can comfortably do jobs that were usually known to de done by men. They even sometimes make more efforts and bring out better results than what the men would come up working under the same conditions with equitable resources. This has greatly impacted society in a very negative way. Men refuse to share a common identity with a woman and are working hard to use means that will differentiate them from women in the world of today. The main question is, is there a stand right? Women give birth to men, why do they want to be superior to their mothers? Women should be in a position to know the difference between their interests and their identity. Their interests include the desire for participation in society (Derne, 2002, p. 165 – 178). On the other hand, his identity is made of her unique psychological mindset that is always contrary to that of a man.

The plight of the man of today needs to be traced back to their youth and development in urban and suburban settings. It is after the urbanization that the elimination of hard labor on the family and restriction of the area available for youthful adventuresome practices took place. Therefore boys have been freed from obligations and deprived them the area in which they would play. They are therefore idle with a lot of energy but little to do. They, therefore, end up engaging in activities that would be illegal or are of no benefit to them and the society as a whole (Sara, 1995, p.56).

Therefore, the boys have much less area for recreation. The narrator of Fight Club acts in such a way that there is an implication of him trying to sustain his boyhood. This is an implication that he was not brought up in an environment where he would play with other young boys. Harry Jerkins, illustrates the trend of urbanization and the reoccurring land available to the young boys. In his discussion regarding the rise of video game culture, he pointed out the development of urban playgrounds as a solution to the problem of children’s diminishing access to space. This would engage the boys a great deal.

This implies that society has been making efforts to remedy the problematic condition using artificial means. The narrator of Club Fight engages in conscious and subconscious attempts as he exerts his masculinity by artificial means. He leads a feminine lifestyle, which is equivalent to an adult single man residing in an apartment in town.

The entire purpose of the fight club is to work towards the release of masculinity in a most primitive manner that will not be of any benefit. Girls are less affected by urban conditions since they are likely to look for commercially developed places than what is natural such as landscapes. Similarly, young girls are less likely to alter their play environment. Therefore, the gender disparities become more as one grows older,

Most men feel pressured to act masculine. They, therefore, have to prevail in situations that require physical strength and fitness. Appearing weak, emotional, or sexually ineffective is a major threat to their self-esteem. Men were conditioned to serve a societal dominator model and punished whenever they fail to conform. This model operated from within limited reductionist beliefs. But, the impact of this conditioning on men’s lives, the life of those they love, and in our precise environment have been disastrous. (Boon, 2005, p.24).

Power = masculinity

In our culture, power is associated with masculinity. That is manhood is associated with some sort of power. This is due to the presence of feminity that men fight to suppress. Therefore, men become dependent on their show of offensive power as a means of concealing the character traits, which were considered feminine.

Any efforts made to make men more insecure about their masculinity would lead to them displaying more homophobic attitudes. Masculine overcompensation is the idea that these men who are insecure about their masculinity will have to behave in an extremely masculine way as a way of compensation. The threatened men feel more ashamed, guilty; upset thus leading them to behave in a hostile manner.

According to Kurten’s characteristics of masculinity, relocation of power from men to women affects this balance, therefore, forming painful emotions. As a result, men redouble their power expressing efforts; however, we live in a culture where men do not speak out. They instead conceal their wounds. A man would rather keep himself watching a game when he is free instead of acknowledging and confronting personal problems (Kaufman, 2004, p.293 – 299).

A man is manly if he can be able to felt in the family. That is, he has a strong voice that he can command or dictate what is to be done in the family. For instance, a man qualifies to be manly if he can be able to run the family affairs with the help of the wife effectively. A manly man will be able to make a budget on how to run the family affairs depending on the money that is available for the same.

He is the head of the family and therefore guides a counsels his children with the help of the wife. A manly man ensures that his children get the best education so that they would in the future lead a life that is better than what is available at the moment. Therefore, he should be a role model to the male child and even more possibly have some time with the boys and give them the necessary information (Dyer, 1992, p.265 – 275).

A man is a man because of what they practice in life. Their set roles and obligations in his society qualify them as men. For instant, a man has the role of looking for a wife and marrying. The man pays dowry to the family of the wife as a means of expression of gratefulness. In cases where the woman marries, the man has his roles set since he has to provide care and security to the wife and his family as a whole. He has the power to provide this care and protection reason why he is a man (Miller, 2002 p,339 – 345).

Stereotypically masculine traits are not highly valued in society. A stereotype believes that no human being can be able to explain the ideologies behind it. It is an ambiguous statement that if it is to be taken seriously would affect many things in society without making any meaning. They are statements maybe by the old people in the society but no one will be in a position to give a clear explanation of their origin or their aim in the society (Henry, 2004, 244 – 246).

Due to the new technologies that have come up, these stereotypes are never taken seriously as they were taken during the old days. Therefore, they hardly have any influence on the values, morals, and beliefs of the society currently. The masculine traits related to these stereotypes will therefore not be valued in society.

Conclusion

As the fight for masculinity continues to develop in the current world, the next philosophical argument is whether the implications of the campaign are of importance to the human race as a whole. With the struggle for this attribute, one would still wonder about the destiny of mankind.

At one point we may argue that this move is an important one but only if it is not overstated. Overstatement here would be taken to imply the extraordinary parameters which the men would take to be contained in their masculinity requirements.

However, at one point in their campaign, the fight for masculinity is a hypothetical statement that seeks to bring life back to its former glory. Globalization can be termed as self-motivating towards equality between men and women.

However, the same move can be attributed as a compliment to the conflict that currently exists in the current world. The same conflict radically arises when both the male and female gender are fighting for equality. In the short run, this equality can be attributed as the launching pad for restoration of the mankind to a better understanding. Perhaps, the plane of the improved state of life can be attributed to this conflict which has led to a final state of stability and continuity in the world.

However, the existing state of conflict can be attributed to the campaign for this state of equality. With could be termed as the response variable that develops in the struggle between the two genders.

Therefore, perhaps the world would be a better place to live in when the originality of masculinity is not compromised. To them, therefore, the campaign should correlate with functional parameters that help even to improve the life for both genders. However, this masculinity should not equal the fight for excessive powers that will only benefit them at the expense of the women.

References

Barker.C. 2000, ‘Sexed Subjects and Gendered Representations’, in Television, Globalization, and Cultural Identities. Buckingham; Philadelphia: Open University Press, pp.86-107.

Boon, K. 2005, Heroes, Metanarratives, and the Paradox of Masculinity in Contemporary Western Culture. Journal of Men’s Studies, Vol. 13. pp.24

Beynon, J. 2002, ‘What is Masculinity?’ in Masculinities and Culture. Buckingham and Philadelphia: Open University Press, pp.1-25.

Derne, S. 2002, ‘The Sociology of Audience Reception’, in Movies, Masculinity and Modernity: An Ethnography of Men’s Filmgoing in India. Westport CT; London: Greenwood Press, pp. 165-178.

Dyer, R. 1992, ‘Don’t look now: the Male Pin-up’ in Caughie, J and A. Kuhn eds The Sexual Subject. The Screen Reader in Sexuality London; New York: Routledge, pp. 265-276.

Miller, D. 2002, ‘Making love in Supermarkets’ [1998] in Highmore, B The Everyday Life Reader, London and New York: Routldedge, pp. 339-345.

Henry, J. 2004, “Complete Freedom of Movement” Crafting Cultural Rhetorics: Readings for University Writers. Ed. April Lidinsky, et al. Boston: Pearson Custom Publishing, pp. 244-246.

Kaufman, M. 2004 “Men, Feminism, and Men’s Contradictory Experiences of Power” Crafting Cultural Rhetorics: Readings for University Writers. Ed. April Lidinsky, et al. Boston: Pearson Custom Publishing, pp.293-299.

Sara, R. 1995, Maternal thinking: Toward a politics of peace: With a new preface. New York: Beacon Press, pp. 56.