On page 3 of “Masculinity” Kimmel states that “Institutions accomplish the creation of gender difference and the reproduction of gender order through several gendered processes.” In simpler terms the message he is trying to relay is that our environment breeds the inequalities in gender that we see around us today. To get a better understanding of this, we must first understand what a gendered process is. A process that is gendered is one in which the prerequisites of whatever it is you are trying to do, encourages one to adopt traits or characteristics that are normally used to describe either a man or a woman. An example of this is applying for a secretarial position in an office. When we think about a secretary we tend to think of a woman, and the fact that we make that connection without even thinking just goes to show how we have become blinded to the gendered processes that directly enforce gender norms and sexist ideas. An “ideal” secretary is one that is caring and easy to talk to, because part of the job is getting to know whoever it is you are a secretary for. These characteristics tend to describe the socially constructed ideal of a mother (and therefore woman). This seems to be a reoccurring theme, as seen in the fourth episode of “Man Enough”. In which, they push the message that the way everyone lives their day to day life makes a cycle of the behaviour that encourages the objectification of people (mainly women) as sexual beings and nothing more.
In the same text, Kimmel delves into the idea of plural masculinities rather than an ideal singular masculinity. What he means by this is that there are too many different kinds of men to fit into one box. By using plural masculinities to describe how every man is a man in his own sense, we can begin to understand the ” (…) unimaginable possibilities of social change.” that Kimmel speaks about in “Masculinity”. Once again, we see reoccurring themes in the fourth episode of ” Man Enough”, in which they speak about how every man is a man in their own way and all they need to do is take control. This very forward and freeing outlook on the situation at hand reinforces the idea that the possibilities of social change start with individuals (individual masculinities, if you will) and that we are only limited by the barriers that we set ourselves.
Lovers and Fighters | Section 22 