The people who I chose to interview are none other than both of my coworkers. The reason why I chose to interview not one but two of them, is to get two different perspectives since both my coworkers are very different but somehow manage to perfectly fit society’s definition of perfect men.

The first man I interviewed goes by the name Eduardo. Eduardo as a person is caring and affectionate. He plays more of a “protector” role with everybody. His best friend happens to be his girlfriend of two years. He considers them to be very close because she’s the only person who never fails to make him smile. In addition to this, they have the capacity to communicate through the good and the bad. He even admitted that his girlfriend brings out the best version of him, even in times of sorrow. Together, they love to go on adventures around Montreal: whether it be discovering new places to eat or watching the latest movie with his lover. From what I hear, they tell each other that they love one another every single day and every single time after hearing those three words, his girl shows off that huge smile of hers. Eduardo relationship correlates with the strong bonds in “Man Enough”.

Arnold is the name of my other coworker. Describing him is the exact midpoint of both a pesky child and a wise Elder. One characteristic that both Eduardo and Arnold share in common is: they are both soft at heart but prefer to show their aggressive side, just like how any man is expected to behave. Arnold’s best friend is a man he met in daycare. They remained close for years because he is able to talk to him in a free manner. In his words, “he has the least amount of filters with this friend in particular”. Together, they like to call themselves the kings of ridiculing people for no reasons to be specific. However, even if their friendship has been strong for 12 years, he never once told him how much his best friend meant to him because it never crossed his mind. He correlates with the phrase from the reading “taking risks and getting in trouble” (p 161)

To briefly conclude the topic of friendships for both my coworkers, the thing that I observed is the admiration given to another half is different compared to one of a male best friend. The reasoning may be due to media portrayal and how society works in general. In books, movies, and even music videos, the relationship between a male and female generally happens to be shown filled with hugs and kisses. Whereas, two male friends tend to be depicted more verbally than physically.

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.

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.

It is mentioned on the third page of “Masculinity” by Michael Kimmel that “institutions accomplish the creation of gender difference and the reproduction of gender order through several gendered processes.” By stating this he is explaining that the various institutions in our society have expectations based on a persons gender. These differences vary from having boys and girls stand in different lines in elementary school to separating men and women in prisons and treating them differently. This statement relates to the fourth episode of “Man Enough” when they were discussing how boys are expected to enjoy and be good at sports which puts extra pressure on them should they not fit into that box.

On the fourth page of Kimmel’s article, he states that “understanding how we do masculinities…opens up the unimaginable possibilities of social change.” The use of the word “masculinities” in this quote describes the immeasurable multitude of possible definitions for male gender norms, per culture, and social standing within ones culture, etc. The use of this term is preferable as it encompasses all definitions of masculinity rather than just one. And, reminds the fact that masculinity is an arbitrary adjective withheld only by a culture’s respective construction of reality. In “Man Enough” they discuss how important it is for North American society to stop imposing limiting social norms ruled by gender. These limiting expectations cause many issues for all members of society as they enforce things such as rape culture, toxic masculinity and reinforce bad mental health practices amongst men and boys.

Institutions gender.

Michael Kimmel wrote  “Institutions accomplish the creation of gender difference and the reproduction of gender order through several gendered processes.”

This refers to the fact that we generaly give gender to jobs. For example elementary teacher is for woman and director is for man.

There will always be a visible minority that is dedicates by the view of society.

Masculinities

Kimmel prefer the use of “masculinities” over the use of “masculinity”,

It is do to the fact that there are many ways of showing masculinity. Which is why we use it at plurals.

In the discussion, every man had a different view on how a man should act and behavior.

With 7 billions humans on earth. There are 7 billions ways on being a man.

He means that institutions are creating gender difference because the positions within the institutions lead us to believe the people are a certain way because of their gender when actually it is the position that determines the way they act. In addition, usually the higher positions are created in such a way that it is geared towards a unique gender. For example: higher positions usually expect the person to be almost completely devoted to his work or role, but this clearly becomes a problem when women give birth and also need to take care of the children. They are also left alone to deal with that which doesn’t help. In the discussion, they talked about the inequalities between genders and how they are trying to change that by raising their kids along with their partner and teaching their children to respect and appreciate women. Another thing from the documentary that can be linked to what Kimmel said about gender being situational is how the men change their behaviours depending on the environment/situation (friends, family and workplace).

            When talking about masculinities Kimmel suggests that there are multiple definitions for what it means to be a man. He uses this term because he thinks the term “masculinity” doesn’t encompass all the different forms of masculinity that exists in our world. The quotation “Understanding how we do masculinities…opens up the unimaginable possibilities of social change.” means that we are constantly creating and changing gender with our actions. The documentary talks about breaking or changing the man box in order to stop and prevent violence against women this is an example of how understanding better gender and society we can change things for the better. 

Micheal Kimmel says “Foundations achieve the making of sexual orientation distinction and the multiplication of sex request through a few gendered forms.” Many institutions differentiate these groups of people bu their gender. The way society sees males is that they’re manly,strong and independent, as for females they’re seen to be weak,dependant and feminine. For example, the text mentions that Institutions accomplish the creation of gender differ- ence and the reproduction of the gender order through several gendered processes. Basically what he’s saying is that in every field you want to study in, there’s a number of females and males that will go in that course and it’s most likely that there will have more than the other gender. In the engendering field, it’s scientifically proven that there are more males than females that would study that. In the episode 4 of “Man Enough”, Justin talks about how if he walk down the streets he wouldn’t have to worry about someone harassing him or even rape him unlike females who go through that situation many times. Basically the relation between these two is that men are more advantaged since women are seen to be weak.

Kimmel prefers the use of term “masculinity” and pluralizes it because there are a lot of different views on the meaning “to be masculine” around the world. He says that a “consistent gender behavior is less a response to deeply internalized norms or personality characteristics and more a negotiated response to the con- sistency with which others demand that we act in a recog- nizable masculine or feminine way.” It’s more of a characteristic trait that others see’s the meaning of being masculine/feminine. At the end of the episode 4,these men we’re talking about the definition of masculinity the way they thought it was that’s why they call it “masculinities” since they’re are different meanings to it for each individual.

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.

When Michael Kimmel says “ institutions accomplish the creation of gender difference and the reproduction of gender order through several gendered processes” in my opinion, he is talking about the discrimination between man and women at work since a lot company owner’s will see men as superior compared to women and they will often give more benefits or a higher salary to men. In a workplace it should be gender-neutral since the person who hustles the most to get work done should get a better salary but like it says in the text when there is a male as the owner the norm becomes invisible. This is often because men think that women are not right in what they do or say. This brings me to relate to the scene in “Man Enough” when the old lady got abused and she asked for help from a group of men, they didn’t believe that she got abused.

The use of the word “Masculinities” recognizes the variation in how different groups define masculinity. Kimmel uses the plural since everyone has a different definition of the word masculinity which is why he wants to refer to all of them. I can relate “understanding how we do masculinities…opens up the unimaginable possibilities of social change” to the “Man Enough” episode when at the end they talk about how they will listen to other people’s problems so they can help them have a better perspective of life and treat women better which will make a social change in the future .

Gender neutral is what the institutions wants to achieve however, theres still traces of gender inequality. It’s a distinction between male and female, masculine and feminine. He means that female can’t take the role of a male, because there’s a disadvantage for female such as their emotion and action that can’t be like male, that men and women have different tasks, that they have different responsibilities, that women have difficulties to balance the lifestyle of a motherhood and have a hard time to commit to their professions. That can lead men to have the job considering their experiences in the workplace. Therefore, it’s an inequality of gender in institutions. Furthermore, in episode of Man Enough, a topic that men brought up was about domination over women. I can relate on that topic because in our society that is how men portray themselves. In any workplace, men are usually getting the job, the highest they could possibly get in compared to women because they’re capable of doing hard tasks. Also, I learned from them that it’s their job to dominate women and that’s being taught that women are of less value. And they also talked about the gender differences, basically how they learned from the society. To correlate the quotation and the episode of Man Enough, having inequality in gender and having a gendered institution are basically harming men. They got influenced by what the society wants them to be therefore, at the end, they tend to hurt women intentionally or unintentionally. With or without the institution, there should be an equality between men and women.

Masculinities have different definition depending what individual or group of people think of masculinity. He uses it because we, as an individual person, have our own opinion and values. Masculinity has different impact because the word refers to social roles, behaviors that emphasize gender. The quotation is referring to men who wants to change their lives, to have better lives. Leaving behind all the things that they did wrong to women and to be better men. Those men are the ones who are in Man Enough. I believe that they can change the society by encouraging others, by telling other men to just listen to women, support the person and respect them. If women get sexually assaulted, just listen and believe them and that way, women can have a strength to speak up.