On page 3 of “Masculinity” by Michael Kimmel, it is mentioned that “Institutions accomplish the creation of gender difference and the reproduction of gender order through several gendered processes”. Basically, he’s just saying that the institutions in our communities try to create a gender neutral environment but they end up creating traces of gender difference and it becomes a breeding ground for gender inequality: asking a boy over a girl to pick up something heavy, teachers are usually female and directors male, girl lines and boy lines, etc. I can relate this quote to the episode of “Man Enough” because there was a part where Justin Baldoni was talking about taking his cool guy friend’s side over the girl because of the “bro code” (learned in school) and that he was scared that they would single him out and he would lose his reputation.
On page 4 of “Masculinity” by Michael Kimmel, he writes that “Understanding how we do masculinities[…]opens up the unimaginable possibilities of social change”. The word masculinities simply means the different ways that different groups around the World define masculinity:”The use of the plural—masculinities—recognizes the dramatic variation in how different groups define masculinity, even in the same society at the same time, as well as individual differences” (Kimmel, 1). He prefers the use of this word because he understands that the singular version of the word means something different to groups and cultures all around the World and he is talking to all of them. I can relate this quote to the episode of “Man Enough” because of the discussion they had in the last 10 minutes where they said that if they all treat women better and teach others to do so than we can see more positive change in society.
Lovers and Fighters | Section 22 