Lovers and Fighters | Section 22

The Text ‘’Masculinity’’ by Kimmel brings up many issues regarding gender and how differently we view them in our society. “Institutions accomplish the creation of gender difference and the reproduction of gender order through several gendered processes.”(Kimmel 3) Through this statement Kimmel makes us realised that, often, institutions do not only display falsely jobs as genderless but also that our system  is often mistakenly considering genderless jobs as jobs only achievable my men, men who are not interested or fully involved in parenting. As Kimmel explains on page 3 of his article, the field of medicine, even if half its applicants are women, does not really succeed in accommodating women wishing to start a family. ‘’ Many doctors complete college by age twenty-one or twenty-two, and medical school by age twenty-five to twenty-seven, and then face three more years of internship and residency, during which time they are occasionally on call for long stretches of time, sometimes for even two or three days straight. They thus complete their residencies by their late twenties or early thirties. Such a program is designed for a male doctor’’ (Kimmel 3) they don’t allow any time for pregnancy, childbirth and early motherhood. Therefore, we can study Gender as an Institution in the case of medicine and in many other fields just as education at the university level, that are falsely genderless.

In this text it is also question, just as the title indicates, of masculinity but even more than that, it is question of masculinities. Just as stated in the following: ‘’Understanding how we do masculinities…opens up the unimaginable possibilities of social change’’. (Kimmel 4) Kimmel does not only talk of masculinity, but of masculinities. He does so because there is no such thing as a singular masculinity in the world, we live in. He argues in his text that there is multiple factor to define masculinities. His factors include data as basic as our culture and religion but also the period of our life, because we are beings constantly moving forward, our sense of gender should be evolving as well. Just as the men are discussing around the table of Man Enough, we hear them talking about the way they saw themselves going through situations making their sense of gender grow. Talking how about men belittle women way to often just because of the fact that they are afraid that the simple act of caring for them is going to hurt their sense of masculinity. Talking about how men are to afraid to step out of the man box because that is the definition of a man that they are told is perfect, but a perfect masculinity does not exist. There is as much masculinities as there is people considering themselves as men on this planet. After all that’s the beauty of it.

Micheal Kimmel means that institutions such as a workplace or educational institute play a large role in gender identity, namely using the gendered jobs to reinforce the already established gender identity. For example, a job such as a secretary is usually performed by a woman, while the boss she serves is usually a male. The different characteristics of the jobs and the different experiences which the man and woman will have contribute to structured gender differences. I can relate this information to the fourth episode of “Man Enough” because one of the discussions in the film was how men could support female survivors of sexual abuse. Since much of the abuse takes place in the workplace, and since men predominantly have positions of power over women in the workplace, breaking the gendered institutions may result in less sexual assaults taking place.

Kimmel means that there is no singular ‘masculinity’; masculinity can vary based on different countries, cultures, time periods, and throughout the duration of someone’s life, but also in different individuals living in the same place at the same time. He prefers to use the plural term instead of the singular because it is ever-changing and the singular form cannot encompass all the meaning which the word holds. This information can be related to the discussion in the fourth episode of “Man Enough” because the hosts of the show are talking about breaking the traditional male stereotypes for a healthier self and relation with the world. For example, the thought of male predation on females is discussed as happening only because these males have the ‘consent’ of other males, who will not call out their behavior because of the ‘bro-code’. However, it is discussed that these thoughts need to be banished and it is important to stand up for the women and change this damaging stereotype.

1. I think that he means that institutions have a big role in the gender problems. Institutions create our society, so their rules create out society and how it works in there. How men are supposed to behave, to dress, how women are supposed to talk, it all reflects on the gender problems. When I was in highschool, we had uniforms. These uniforms were strict. Girls had to wear skirts and boys had to wear ties, etc. This has an impact on how the boys feel, and how « masculine » they should be.

2. I think the author says masculinities because just like je explains in his text, mascilinity has a different definition in every culture, everywhere in the world. Some things may be seen masculine in Africa while in America, it doesn’t make sense at all. In the fourth episode of Man Enough, the author explains all the types and definitions of masculinity. The quote given means that if we understand gender problems, it can change the world, for the better. That’s what he means by social change.

In Kimmel’s “Masculinity”, he talks about many problems with our society surrounding masculinity and gender. On page 3, he says: “Institutions accomplish the creation of gender difference and the reproduction of gender order through several gendered processes.” This means that institutions such as schools, hospitals, workplaces all have a heavy gender bias that is extremely hard to remove because it has been a part of our society since the beginning. An example that Kimmel gives is that the higher position jobs are easier to get by males because the education system for PhD’s are based upon the biological clocks of men. For medical school, between the ages of 22 and about 28, children a woman might want to have could greatly disrupt this goal. In “Man Enough” episode 4, the whole show revolves around stopping this behavior that is standardized in our whole society and changes the way we act and function so that men and women have equal chances in life.

In Kimmel’s conclusion, he uses masculinities instead of masculinity because, as he explained on page 1-2, there is not one way to define a man. Everyone sees masculinity differently, from culture to culture and class to class, so there is not one concrete definition of what makes a man a man. How I see this concept of plural masculinities in the show “Man Enough” is that even though the six people talking during the show were men, every single one of them had a very different story. We cannot just fit all of these life experiences in the same category of masculinity. Their views of masculinity have also evolved over time with these experiences.

Michael Kimmel wrote in the article: “Institutions accomplish the creation of gender difference and the reproduction of gender order through several gendered processes.” In the article, he cited several specific examples in the article about gender order being regulated Impact. He mentioned in the article that the system of employees seems to be equal, but work is still greatly affected by gender. Similar to the secretary is usually done by women, because loyalty is required. These prejudices inadvertently assign work to specific genders can affect creativity and gender order. As we saw in “Enough People”, they are discussing what specific molds men should have. According to the distinction of gender, to simulate what a man should be and what kind of person he should be. This has a great sense of system and oppression for men themselves. Men will obey and do more than they expect, and they have reached the point where they are truly noticed.

Masculinity refers to the social roles, behaviors and means prescribed for men in any particular society and at any particular time. It therefore emphasizes gender, not physical gender, and the diversity of identities between different male groups. Kimmel mentioned the word masculinity in his summary. This does not show that masculinity is the trait that men need to reserve, but it only increases the diversity of identities. Masculinity is not a distinction between genders. A person cannot be determined by his or her gender, but a person’s behavior.

Micheal Kimmel gave a lot of exampels for his readers to prove his point on how institutions are themselves gendered.He talked about the workplaces, the field of medicine, any typical academic career a scholar completes a PhD.he explained the problem when he said ‘’ genderless people are assumed to be able to devote themselves single-mindedly to their jobs, to have no children or family responsibility, and perhaps even to have familial supports for such single-minded workplace devotion.Thus,the ‘’genderless’’job holder turns out to be gendered as a man. In the fourth episode of man enough Karen Alston talked about what happened to her at her first job how her boss one night told her he wanted to date her and he told her what was the perks of dating him how he will give her perfect marks, days off and he will let her buy clothes and shoes and suits.i could really see how a lot of man thinks that women can’t get their job done without them.

Kimmel uses the term of masculinities Because it recognizes the dramatic variation in how different groups define masculinity even in the same society at the same time.Kimmel talked about how doing gender is a lifelong process of performances and how is gender an emergent property of interactions coerced from us by others. At the end of the documentry They explained why they are doing the documentary how they are helping to learn more about respecting women also to give the tools that they learned to the next generation so they don’t have to make the same mistakes they did.

On page 3 of “Masculinity” by Michael Kimmel, he explains and expresses that “Institutions accomplish the creation of gender difference and the reproduction of gender order through several gendered processes” (Kimmel 3). This is the idea that institutions (and their employers) such as schools or the workplace have automatic biases and expectations based on someone’s gender such as how men are better doctors because they don’t have to worry about pregnancy and can devote more time to there medical studies compared to the female doctors (Kimmel 3). These biases and assumptions towards the different genders go on to create inequality between them by separating and comparing them to each other. In the 4th episode of “Man Enough” one of the girls who came forth to share their story with us was a girl who had been employed at a wall street bank trying to make a career for herself but ended up quitting after her boss kept pushing the idea of engaging in a relationship with him would be “in her best interest” if she truly wanted a career at that workplace which I think from Kummels point of view only happened in the first place because of these gender imbalances in most institutions.

Kimmel writes on page 4 that “Understanding how we do masculinities… opens up the unimaginable possibilities for social change” (Kimmel 4). What Kimmel means by “masculinities” and why he pluralizes it is because of how many different views there are of what it means to be masculine all across the globe. I believe this was Kimmel’s attempt to open the doors of masculinity and show that no matter what kind of man you are you should be accepted. The men talking in the fourth episode of “Man Enough” demonstrated and showed us all how just by having a deep conversation about feelings and emotions with each other which the “ideal man” shouldn’t typically do opened up so many different possibilities and understandings for all of them as well as the comfort in knowing they aren’t alone.

In “Masculinity” by Michael Kimmel, he mentions in the third page that institutions create gender differences and have gender procedures. A really interesting point made by the author is that while acquiring a PhD, for example, the system is made around the biological clock of a man. It takes years for you to obtain this degree and its time frame coincides with the age women “should” be having kids. The system is catering to a person who would work uninterrupted for their education no matter what the age. It’s just automatically assumed that a woman would take the time in her late 20s or early 30s to be having a child and staying at home whereas a man would be capable to leave and continue working toward a higher degree in his education. Though this point is never specifically brought up in the episode of “Man Enough”, they do talk about how they were oblivious to these types of social issues before being more aware of the world around them. The men were discussing that to change the current inequalities between men and women, all people need to be aware of the disparities for a change to occur. This issue of institutions being gendered will not change until both men and women work together for there to actually be a difference and equality.

Kimmel uses the term “masculinities” versus the singular masculinity. He does this because he believes there is more than one definition of the word. Depending on where you are in the world and what society you live in, masculinity will be different. The author says that by acknowledging the box men are put in and understanding the imposed definitions of masculinities, we will be able to see change. The same is said with the men in the episode of “Man Enough”. The men all discuss how they are trying to point to the flaws in society’s impositions on men and try to teach their sons and the viewers differently. By having men start a healthy discussion on these issues, there will slowly but surely be change.

On page 3 of “Masculinity”,  Micheal Kimmel writes, “Institutions accomplish the creation of gender difference and the reproduction of gender order through several gendered processes.” he means that men are disproportionately represented in many institutions including law, in politics, in schools , and the economy. In politics, there are far fewer women than there are men. Also, there are jobs that women and men but the women are paid less because of their gender. However, Women have made great strides in increasing representation in many of these professions. In “Man Enough” men are expected to play sports or to be all tough. They are expected to be the main income of the family.

On page 4 of “Masculinity”, Michael Kimmel says,”Understanding how we do masculinities…opens up the unimaginable possibilities of social change.” Michael uses the word masculinities because since numerous gatherings in the public eye characterize masculinity in various ways, some characterize it as somebody who doesn’t communicate their feelings and battle them, who doesn’t need assistance from anyone.This person is more of an independent person. Many people characterize it as someone who has no disgrace in communicating feelings and demonstrating helplessness. This relates to “Man Enough” because every single person at the dinner table has different ways to define masculinity. This all depends on how they were brought up or where they came from.

There are many institutions that support gender difference. However, there are institutions that promote gender order such as hospitals and schools. In hospitals the men are supposed to be the doctors with PhDs and the women are supposed to be the nurses, the caregivers, not the healers. Institutions are implementing characteristics and expectations towards men and women. In the workplace, gender difference has always been present. There are plenty of women who have the same jobs as men but are underpaid. In “Man Enough” they understood this very present issue and spoke about it to understand it to its core. These men spoke about gender inequality to make others understand it better and to, hopefully, make it stop.

In his conclusion, Kimmel used the term “masculinities” instead of the singular term “masculinity”. He used this term implying that there not a specific definition that qualifies a man. Gender is not what you are but what you do and say. Kimmel used this term to broaden the idea of a man and to help see stoicism as a simple trait, rather than a must-have. In the fourth episode of “Man Enough”, this quote summarizes the hope that the men at the table shared when their talk was coming to an end. Such a simple talk between friends that led to a deep mutual understanding of this issue is truly amazing and can only bring all good men around the world hope.