Kimmel states that, “Institutions accomplish the creation of gender difference and the reproduction of gender order through several gendered processes.” This quote indicates that males and females’ roles in the workplace or educational institutions are constructed by their gender. He mentions the example of studying medicine and becoming a doctor and how it takes several years to complete their studies. “Such a program is designed for a male doctor.” (Kimmel 3) To summarize his words, men have more biological time to spare because they are not expected to have children. Women who wish to be doctors would have to postpone having and taking care of children or not have children at all. The number of female medical students makes up for half of the equation, meaning this affects a lot of people who probably want to have children, but cannot.
Kimmel prefers to take multiple ‘masculinities’ into account because he is aware that masculinity means different things to different people (different ages, nationalities, etc) and it is constantly changing. This is a respectable term that takes different people’s points of view into consideration. In the fourth episode of ‘Man Enough’, there were a handful of men who each identified ‘masculinity’ as something different from the last. This supports and relates to how Kimmel does not refer to masculinity as a singular definition, but as a multiple and plural definitions.
Lovers and Fighters | Section 22 