{"id":816,"date":"2015-12-23T12:00:10","date_gmt":"2015-12-23T12:00:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/trot\/?p=816"},"modified":"2016-09-14T10:25:46","modified_gmt":"2016-09-14T15:25:46","slug":"masculinity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/trot\/2015\/12\/23\/masculinity\/","title":{"rendered":"Best of 2015: Is #MasculinitySoFragile?"},"content":{"rendered":"<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" lang=\"en\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Let&#8217;s do this, Twitterers! RT if you want to see me fight <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/MechofJusticeWZ\">@MechofJusticeWZ<\/a> per his request <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/MasculinitySoFragile?src=hash\">#MasculinitySoFragile<\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/t.co\/uBihFlcA3P\">pic.twitter.com\/uBihFlcA3P<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Pia Glenn (@PiaGlenn) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/PiaGlenn\/status\/646679712736124928\">September 23, 2015<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script src=\"\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" async=\"\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>In September 2015, the hashtag <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/search?q=%23masculintysofragile&amp;src=typd\">#masculinitysofragile<\/a> first swept across the greater twitter community&#8212;even gaining its own <a href=\"http:\/\/www.twitter.com\/masculinitysofragile\">twitter account<\/a>. Tweeters use the hashtag to point out how masculinity and expectations for men to be \u201cmanly\u201d are not only unattainable, but also harmful to both men and women. Some posts called out the gendered marketing of men\u2019s products like <a href=\"http:\/\/www.buzzfeed.com\/lukebailey\/masculinity-is-strong-and-powerful#.rm5nnk6Xe\">man-sized <\/a>soap bars, and others the need to qualify affection between two men with \u201c<a href=\"http:\/\/www.themarysue.com\/masculinity-so-fragile-hashtag\/\">no homo<\/a>\u201d and the way boys are taught to reserve, rather than express, <a href=\"http:\/\/mashable.com\/2015\/09\/24\/masculinity-so-fragile\/?utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=rss&amp;utm_source=twitterfeed&amp;utm_medium=twitter#HGC4zQ..Agqa\">emotions<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>So, is #masculinitysofragile? Luckily for all of us, there\u2019s research on that!<\/p>\n<h5>Scholars define masculinity as more than just an individual trait. It involves social practices that privilege men over women and some men over other men. Traits associated with the \u201cideal\u201d man&#8212;what scholars refer to as \u201chegemonic masculinity\u201d&#8212;include sexual aggression, violent behavior, and lack of outward emotion, as well as whiteness, middle-class status, and heterosexual desire for women. Men actively work to maintain a spot in the dominant gender group. Sometimes this involves demonstrating masculinity through behaviors like fighting discrediting women at work.<\/h5>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/coss.fsu.edu\/d6\/sociology\/content\/doug-schrock\">Douglas<\/a><u> Schrock<\/u> and <a href=\"http:\/\/socant.chass.ncsu.edu\/faculty_staff\/duckpond\">Michael Schwalbe<\/a>. 2009. \u201c<a href=\"http:\/\/coss.fsu.edu\/sociology\/sites\/coss.fsu.edu.sociology\/files\/2009_schrock_men_masculinity_and_manhood_acts.pdf\">Men, Masculinity, and Manhood Acts<\/a>,\u201d <em>Annual Review of Sociology<\/em> 35(1):277\u201395<\/li>\n<li>R.W. <u>Connell<\/u> and <a href=\"http:\/\/people.usm.maine.edu\/mschmidt\/\">James Messerschmidt<\/a>. 2005. \u201c<a href=\"http:\/\/gas.sagepub.com\/content\/19\/6\/829.abstract\">Hegemonic Masculinity: <\/a>Rethinking the Concept,\u201d <em>Gender &amp; Society<\/em> 19(6):829\u201359.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/cla.umn.edu\/about\/directory\/profile\/green894\">Kyle<u> Green<\/u><\/a>. 2015. \u201c<a href=\"http:\/\/jce.sagepub.com\/content\/early\/2015\/03\/26\/0891241615573786.abstract\">Tales from the Mat Narrating Men and Meaning Making in the Mixed Martial Arts Gym<\/a>,\u201d <em>Journal of Contemporary Ethnography<\/em>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h5>Masculinity faces crises when the dominant status of manhood is threatened. For instance, during periods when women\u2019s rights and freedoms expand&#8212;like during the three waves of American feminism&#8212;men felt their advantages as the more powerful group were threatened. Men also police other men by calling out their lack of toughness using homophobic language. In this case, one man is deemed feminine or weak, while the other\u2019s straightness and dominance is affirmed. Finally, parents may participate in constructing their sons\u2019 masculinity by limiting access to feminine toys and clothing. Men with privilege&#8212;those who are white, straight, and\/or middle- or upper-class&#8212;can afford to be more flexible with their masculinity.<\/h5>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.michaelkimmel.com\/\">Michael Kimmel<\/a>. 1996. <a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Manhood-America-A-Cultural-History\/dp\/0199781559\"><em>Manhood in America<\/em><\/a><em>: A Cultural History. <\/em>New York: The Free Press<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.cjpascoe.org\/\">C.J. Pascoe<\/a>. 2005. \u201c\u2018<a href=\"https:\/\/books.google.com\/books?hl=en&amp;lr=&amp;id=saPO42VK11kC&amp;oi=fnd&amp;pg=PA391&amp;dq=dude+you%27re+a+fag&amp;ots=mfNI3HGk1S&amp;sig=SVy8zLm5UsAHeHOuAN9_-ffvZr0#v=onepage&amp;q=dude%20you're%20a%20fag&amp;f=false\">Dude, You\u2019re a Fag<\/a>\u2019: Adolescent Masculinity and the Fag Discourse,\u201d <em>Sexualities<\/em> 8(3):329\u201346.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.brockport.edu\/sociology\/faculty\/bridges.html\">Tristan Bridges.<\/a> 2014. \u201c<a href=\"http:\/\/gas.sagepub.com\/content\/28\/1\/58.short\">A Very \u2018Gay\u2019 Straight? Hybrid Masculinities, Sexual Aesthetics, and the Changing Relationship between Masculinity and Homophobia<\/a>,\u201d <em>Gender &amp; Society<\/em> 28(1):58\u201382.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Let&#8217;s do this, Twitterers! RT if you want to see me fight @MechofJusticeWZ per his request #MasculinitySoFragile pic.twitter.com\/uBihFlcA3P \u2014 Pia Glenn (@PiaGlenn) September 23, 2015 In September 2015, the hashtag #masculinitysofragile first swept across the greater twitter community&#8212;even gaining its own twitter account. Tweeters use the hashtag to point out how masculinity and expectations for [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":495,"featured_media":817,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,55],"tags":[38543,38545,33639,2836,347,38541,140,1976,176,732],"class_list":["post-816","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-culture","category-gender","tag-culture","tag-gender","tag-gender-norms","tag-heterosexuality","tag-identity","tag-inequality","tag-internet","tag-masculinity","tag-sexuality","tag-social-media"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/trot\/files\/2015\/10\/Screen-Shot-2015-10-22-at-9.00.54-PM.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/trot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/816","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/trot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/trot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/trot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/495"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/trot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=816"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/trot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/816\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":856,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/trot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/816\/revisions\/856"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/trot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/817"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/trot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=816"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/trot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=816"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/trot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=816"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}