In this way men are genetically programmed to buy technological gadgets and fight wars. Gender practice, both in performance and representation, is socially and culturally constituted through bonds that connect people together. In the words of Connell:. However, Butler's notion of performance also opens the possibility of playing with the norm, so that one is not bound to the values that certain media representations convey.
With the popularity of action movies in the s a new crossover genre developed combining action and homosocial relationships producing such film franchises as 48 Hrs 40 and Lethal Weapon , 41 where idealized images of the male hero are offset by expressions of a masculinity in crisis.
Online communities have moved the concept of societies from the local to the global allowing for an unprecedented upscaling of potential affinities. In both cases, however, the collaborative nature of Web 2. Here, masculinities appear to be performed knowingly, as if the passing of time has afforded these male artists the distance necessary for social reflexivity. The conference was part of the two-year transdisciplinary research project Performing Straight White Masculinities , sponsored by the Sorbonne Nouvelle's research council.
Butler, Judith. Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity. London: Routledge, De Lauretis, Teresa. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, Dudink, Stefan. In European Journal of Cultural Studies 1 : Grant, C. Literary Communication from Consensus to Rupture. Theory and Practice. Translated by John Viertel. Boston, MA: Beacon Press, Legitimation Crisis. Translated by Thomas McCarthy.
London: Heinemann, Halberstam, Judith. Female Masculinity. Durham: Duke University Press, Hall, Donald E. Abingdon: Routledge, Men and Masculinities.
Buckingham: Open University Press, Kimmel, Michel S. Society 30, no. McLuhan, Marshall. Meet the Parents. Jay Roach. United States: Universal, Pease, Bob.
Recreating Men: Postmodern Masculinity Politics. London: Sage, Reynolds, Simon. London: Faber, Rotundo, E. New York: Basic Books, Schaper, Eva. The Philosophical Quarterly 16, no. Kimmel suggests that the "problem with men isn't that they have not separated enough from mother, but that they have separated too much " p.
Proving manhood becomes equated with repudiating the feminine and abandonment of the emotional skills of nurturance, sensitivity, caring, and responsiveness. Kimmel makes a plea for men to reconnect by developing emotional resources in shared parenting that would "allow their sons to experience nurturance and care as something that all adults do" p.
In an epilogue titled "Toward Democratic Manhood," Kimmel asserts that at the close of the twentieth century the model of Self-made manhood, the only marker that men have of their success as men, "leads more than ever to chronic anxiety and insecurity" p. As a remedy, he urges that men abandon the failed quest that stretches back over nearly two centuries to prove their masculinity through self-control, exclusion, and escape.
Kimmel insists that "we need a new definition of masculinity for a new century" and that it should be "democratic manhood" which "means a gender politics of inclusion, of standing up against injustice based on difference" p.
His recommendation is to change the "meaning of manhood" from an identity based on competition, domination, and power to one based on accountability, responsibility, and hope. Kimmel stresses that he is not calling for androgyny, i. This change will not come about through a revolutionary upheaval but as "the result of countless quiet daily struggles by American men to free themselves from the burdens of proof. Kimmel concludes: "the battle to prove manhood is a battle that can never be won.
Only by renouncing the battle itself Thus far in my review, I've tried to lay out the basic arguments that Kimmel develops in his survey of the history of manhood in America over the past two centuries. The reader will want to consult the work itself to see how richly Kimmel clothes these arguments with illustrations drawn from the rhetoric of experts and politicians as well as from theatrical productions, films, music, and the literature of the times.
Kimmel constructs a compelling panorama of the changing meaning of manhood in America and of how, in the past one-hundred years at least, it has been defined in large measure in opposition to, or in repudiation of, everything considered "feminine. I wish that I could be as sanguine as Kimmel about the possibility of redefining manhood to incorporate these traditionally feminine qualities while downplaying the traditionally masculine traits of competition, aggression, and domination.
The solution that Kimmel offers strikes me as too easy and too simple, i. I will briefly discuss two reasons for my scepticism about the viability of Kimmel's plan for enlisting men in the cause of democratic manhood. The first has to do with the limits of rational appeal as a means of bringing about profound psychological change.
Kimmel himself frequently resorts to psychodynamic interpretations in explaining the course of events in the history of American manhood. And, a basic conviction in this approach is that irrational, unconscious forces play a significant role in human relations. It therefore strikes me as inconsistent, if not contradictory, for Kimmel to suggest that men will be able simply to put aside such things as, for example, striving for power in response to an appeal to rationality.
My second cause for doubt grows from Kimmel's portrayal of feminism and his belief that feminist women will rise to the challenge of helping American men transform the meaning of manhood. Kimmel represents feminism as monolithic, whereas, it is anything but.
Christie Farnham, editor of the Journal of Women's History , recently commented on the problem of knowing exactly what it means to be a feminist considering how many varieties there are "domestic feminism, socialist feminism, radical feminism, cultural feminism, and even power feminism, to name a few" p. In this context, it is exceedingly difficult to imagine that "feminists" will miraculously unite to help American men achieve the democratic manhood that Kimmel envisions.
On the contrary, Farnham warns that feminists of all stripes are currently losing the media war wherein feminism has been defined as and which is currently the common meaning of the term on the street "male bashing. Farnham believes that feminists need somehow to regain the initiative in the media seized by leaders of second wave feminism in the s.
These "masters of media," as Farnham describes them, "captured the imagination of the nation and changed the way we understand the world" p. Scholarship in men's studies comes from a variety of disciplines including history and psychology. Carnes and Clyde Griffen, eds. For examples of the latter see R. William Betcher and William S. Copyright c by H-Net, all rights reserved. This work may be copied for non-profit educational use if proper credit is given to the author and the list.
For other permission, please contact hbooks mail. Citation: Laurel Furumota. If you look at the countries that are the happiest in the world, they also have a strong safety net. So for example, men who believe as men have always believed throughout American history, that what makes a man a man, is his ability to be a provider and a protector. And as the ability to be a provider has become more and more unstable, more and more threatened, men have been buying guns to be better protectors.
I think they also see that as a way to compensate for their inability to be providers. Those ideas about being providers and protectors are the ideas that we have carried with us for centuries. And now what a relief it is when you look at countries that have strong safety nets, that have greater gender equality than we do, what a relief it is to be able to share that burden.
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