When we think of men, we often think of inexpressiveness and independence (Brannon, David, 1976). Once such movie character that embodies this idea is James Bond. He never needs or seeks help from others, but solves his problems all by himself. Also, when he is put under extreme pressure, he still manages to stay in control, without cracking or showing emotions.

One movie character that shows the opposite behavior of James Bond is Spencer from Jumanji. He is not confident and depends heavily on his friends to solve problems. In fact, when he is “sucked” into the video game, he soon realizes that he must find a way to get out of it. However, he panics and loses control of his emotions and relies on others to solve the problem. Only thanks to the help of his friends does he finally regain composure and confidence.

Ed Sheeran is a singer-songwriter born on February 17th 1991 in the United Kingdom and is known for songs such as “Shape of you” and “thinking out loud” Ed gained popularity on Youtube and released his debut album + in September 2011. His second album, x became the second best selling album worldwide in 2015. Ed is one of the world’s best selling music artists having sold over 150 million records and having two albums in the list of best-selling albums in UK chart history.

Ed is a good counter argument for men being adventurous and aggressive as he does not demonstrate typical aggressive characteristics and is a very kind and gentle person. Ed is from a catholic family and sang in his local church choir from the age of four. He keeps his personal life private and is completely inactive on social media when he is working on new music. He does not try to flaunt his fame and does not make aggressive music. His goal is just to spend time with the people he loves and play music that puts a smile on people faces while remaining humble.

The textbook describes masculinity as “a willingness to take (physical) risks and become violent if necessary”. Ed is the opposite of this as he has never been a violent person. He always stays humble and genuine during interviews and does not yell at paparazzi. His songs are most often calm and about love. He des not write about violence nor act in such a way. For these reasons I believe him to be a good example against aggressive and adventurous masculinity.

References

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ed_Sheeran

https://www.quora.com/How-is-Ed-Sheeran-in-person

A man who is a counter example of patriarchal masculinity in terms of status and success

Joseph f Gordon Levitt

Joseph Gordon Levitt is my favorite person in the world. He is one of the most well rounded actors and potentially people in all of Hollywood. He has starred in so many roles that he is literally a 180 to the stereotypical male celebrity. My favorite thing I think he’s ever done is his beautiful portrayal of Neil McCormick’gay hustler suffering from past of childhood sexual and violent abuse from “Mysterious Skin” or his role in “500 Days of Summer” as hopeless romantic Tom Hansen. His versatility in his career makes him a catch. Now I know what your saying, he’s an actor, he gets paid to act like that and it could have nothing to do with his real personality… but that’s where you’re wrong. The mere fact that he picked those roles shows that he has no shame being pinned as one them, not only that but it definitely gives us insight into his persona. He is definitely one of the most well rounded actors in Hollywood with his flamboyance and charm.

He has been active in the acting world since he was just a little bean; at the age of 4 he played the Scarecrow in a production of The Wizard of Oz. He also did commercial such an adorable pop tart, commercials for Sunny Jim peanut butter and more. His roles include 1992’s “Beethoven”,1998’s “Sweet Jane”,the notable 1999 “10 Things I Hate About You” as well as his role in “Manic” as Lyle, a young boy placed in a medical institution from his mental health issues. His later roles like Don Jon, a porn addict with a unsatisfying sex life. His ability to take on any role is the main reason why I believe he perfect fits the mold or in this case doesn’t fit the mold of patriarchal masculinity. He has played characters that represent the internal conflicts most men keep concealed. He’s dabbled with characters that deal with PTSD, mental health issues, child sexual abuse, the prejudices associated with homosexuality, cancer, rejection, pain, sadness, joy, you name it he’s done it. He really is a shoo in of it all. He is 🥺married to Tasha Mcauley and two beautiful boys.

Overall he’s just an amazing person… his effervescent aurora makes him oh so dreamy and on top that he’s kinda cute. Anywhosies… it’s important that we highlight and celebrate people who express themselves with so much openness and self respect that other people’s opinions don’t actually matter anymore. Not only has he inspired me to be more open and free about self, my personality, my sexuality, etc, he’s also shed a light in a topic that has been shunned in the past, the topic of, that I mentioned in my previous post, that masculinity and femininity are like two sides of the same coin… they are intertwined within each other… there is honestly no such thing as being a man or being a women…. that in the end their is simply being human… and that belongs to every individual who roams the earth.

He identifies as a feminist and thanks his mother for making him the fabulous man he is today. He uses his talent and kindness to achieve his status.

Now despite my overly obvious infatuation with the man I present to you today… he obviously has his shortcomings… but like… isn’t that so human.

Xoxo, Izy Ewart

Stay gorgeous 💋

Since the beginning of time till now, it is mostly known that men have always had the upper hand in most of life’s aspects, but is that always the case?

 In the documentary of “The mask you live in in” it focuses on the way we are portrayed as men in society and how it is much more difficult to be a man than expected. The movie showed a wide range of the troubles faced by boys and men as they try to navigate the realm of masculinity. For us, it should be within our knowledge that to be accepted and looked at in this society is to be a man who doesn’t cry, can’t show emotions, to always be angry and get in fights, to drink, to smoke and to be “attractive” and on top of all that be good looking. You don’t have the right to speak up if you’re sad, scared, or if someone hurt us because we should always know how to manage ourselves.

To add some spices, in the world of movies and series, they always idealize men in an extremely unrealistic manner, like they are always strong and always be successful and live the “thug life”. When in reality it is very rare to find men like these and maybe even impossible.

Throughout The film, we start to learn what is true definition of being a man in this unperfect world and what are the different elements that affect us to make us who we are. One of these stood out most to me which is the role of fathers in our lives and how they have a huge impact in our own personalities. It is they who teach us who we should be as man, yes our mothers have a role but not in the matter of masculinity and all that I have mentioned above.

For example, it is has been showed that most boys that have grew up without a father tend to be either very abusive and controlling or the other way round which is super soft and very insecure. And neither of those are good to someone’s life. But most that grew up with a healthy family and have a good relationship with their dad are more mature and have their life balanced. In conclusion, I think that there should be at least one father figure in your life like your older brother, your grandfather, your uncle, or even your older friend that you can at least talk with about your feelings and anything you want to talk about.

Another aspect they showed in the movie is the impact of videogames in our lives, and how most of them include a lot of violence in which may result in making us more aggressive and may result in getting addicted to them. In my personal opinion, the violence in these games don’t affect a person who has a normal healthy mind negatively nor positively, the only people who may get affected are the ones who already have something in their mind that isn’t right. Addiction to videogames is also true, but if you are just a regular gamer, I don’t see that it is necessarily bad because playing video games is a form of getting your energy out and get distracted from this world, which is way better than smoking or drinking in every way.

In the end I think that society is slowly opening up to the idea that no one is perfect and that we shouldn’t judge a book by its cover. It may take a long time, but it is nice seeing that the world is still fighting for everyone’s rights and hope is not over for such topics.