attempts to prove masculinity...

In our society, men are expected to prove themselves to be masculine.  But who do we do this for?  How do we do it?  Does context matter?  These are just a few of the questions I will be attempting to answer in this week’s blog post.

Let’s look at the basics of proving masculinity in order to better understand this phenomenon.   Proving masculinity lies squarely on the shoulders of the person attempting to attain it.  It is not a status that is just “given away,” it is achieved by the individual.  Young boys in our culture are not thought to be born masculine.  This is achieved through various rites and passages put on us by society.  The only problem is that the idea of “masculinity” is twisted and turned into what fits society at that present time.  Boys grow up knowing they have to be “manly,” but with no clear path on how to do so.

This is why I believe context can heavily influence persons attempting to prove masculinity.  If we observe sports rituals, we can see the idea of context being played out.  On the field of competition, one is expected to outperform the others and lead their team to victory.  This is one way of assessing masculinity in contemporary society.  In cultures of past, it was going into battle with one’s enemies.  We still have this in the military, but more emphasis is placed on sports and performance.

Context has enormous effects on another part of masculinity: who the “show” is for.  Now, one would probably instantly think this performance is possibly for a future mate, which is how I initially viewed it.  But upon further investigation, it is clear that performances of masculinity are actually for the other males in the area.  We use this to assert dominance over one another and gain our own ranking on the “totem pole.”  To be “masculine” in the animal world can have huge consequences: anything from mate selection to food appropriation.  It seems as if we still feed off of this pack mentality today.  If I need to prove myself as masculine, I should target the male that all the others look up to, as this will assert my place on top.

Now the question lies in how we attain masculinity.  That is where it gets murky.  It seems we receive a lot of information on how to be masculine, but it comes from many sources.  To the younger brother, it could come from his elder.  To the boy spending hours watching TV, it could come from advertising agencies.  To the religious child, it could come from his church or place of worship.  To the child ignored by parents, it can come from friends.  Herein lays the problem: none of these ways is directly from some “source” that holds the definition on masculinity.  Instead, it is all via second-hand knowledge.  Because of this, unintended consequences persist.  These include homophobia, sexism, ableism, racism and a general devaluation of segments of the populace. 

So what does this truly say about our performances of masculinity?  Well, to quote Professor Williams, we are merely “imitating a copy of a copy of a copy of a copy with no original.”  And it is when we are no longer allowed to be “originals” ourselves that lead to this need to prove our own masculinity; typically at the expense of others.