Masculine

Masculine

The term “masculine” has never had a “unitary meaning” (Franklin, 4) and is “continuum-based” (Franklin, 131). It moves between “the identification of a person’s sex as male” and “norms of acceptable behavior for males” (Rowland, 7), so in many cases, “masculine” is defined by societal boundaries. Masculinity involves being born with male genitalia but also encompasses “manly” behavior, such as being strong, unemotional, and in control. In general, masculinity includes a “fear of showing any sort of femininity, including tenderness, passivity” and the “fear of being desired by a man” (Badinter, 47), which may indicate feminine qualities. Many times the “masculine ideal” sets up impossible standards, so that most men are “deviants from the mythical norm of success, power, control, and strength” (Badinter, 133). In her book, Badinter shows that men have feelings of insecurity which prompts “hypervirility and aggressivity against all those who threaten to cause the mask to fall” (Badinter, 133). It is an act that many must keep up to protect themselves and defend against their own fears. For example, in the film, American Beauty, a father is very “masculine,” in that he is a retired United States Marine Corps Coronel, hates homosexuals, and is a strong and very strict disciplinarian.  However, this man is actually homosexual himself, and he acts the way he does to defend against his feelings for other men, which the surrounding society shuns.

 

Works Cited

Badinter, Elisabeth. XY, on Masculine Identity. New York: Columbia University Press, 1995.

Print.

Franklin II, Clyde W. The Changing Definition of Masculinity. New York: Plenum, 1984. Print.

Rowland, Anthony. Signs of Masculinity: Men in Literature 1700 to the Present. Atlanta: Rodopi,

1998. Print.