In Kimmel’s writting about Masculinity, he states that ” Institutions accomplish the creation of gender difference and the reproduction of gender order through several gendered processes.” From my interpretation, what he means by that is that not only we, human beings, contributes to the “gender difference and order” but also the institutions where we evolve. For example, In some schools, the dress code differs for you depending on your sex. Boys have less or restrictions compared to girls that have to follow a much stricter code. This show how even institutions that are supposed to demonstrate equality and integrity have biases and contributes to genders’ inequality. As the men said in the documentary, boys do not learns to break those gender codes and go beyond them in school and others institutions since those places creates gender differences themselves.
The author decides to use the word masculinity as a plural noun to put the emphasis on the fact that there is not only one way to be a man. Masculinity changes from a place around the world to another but also from a moment in your life to another. Some of the “manly” caracteristics at 20-25 years old becomes completely irrelevant when you grow up older and vice-versa. In the documentary “Man Enough”, it conveys the same message since every one of the six men had a different understanding of what being a man is and their views were decided by differents criteria each time depending on the job they had, the social status, their age and so much other things. Therefore, masculinity cannot be considered as something identical for everyone and this is why kimmel decides to make it plural.
Lovers and Fighters | Section 22 