Price of Society s Obsession with Masculinity
The Price of Society’s Obsession with Masculinity The old days when society’s ideal male character was one who asked a lady to dinner, surprised her with flowers, and, if all went right, gave her a kiss after walking her to the door is dead. ... Or at least they are in terms of what society defines and adorns as masculinity today. In today’s society, it is no longer the respectable gentleman who is idealized in the media or gushed over by females. Instead it is the aggressive, aloof but socially powerful, cocky, and sexually promiscuous male who, regardless of the moral, and in many cases, legal boundaries he oversteps, is glorified and often even rewarded by society as the ideal male. Very often, society’s rewards for the “hyper-masculine” male include legal flack as well as financial and sexual advances that would not be available even to the most law abiding citizens. Because of this, however, there are vast consequences that these society-termed masculine men, as well as “unmasculine” men and females face. Because of this, it is important to examine society’s obsession with (praise of? ... This then means that in order for a male to be considered masculine in today’s society, he must be ruthless, forceful with his body, and relentless when it comes to sex and women. Therefore, the artist, the ballet dancer, the poet, and by all means the homosexual, are excluded from the mass majority’s praises and are, in fact, the epitome of what society deems as “unmansculine”. It is this group of individuals who, although may benefit from many perks of which society offers, are not collectively seen as what is ideally masculine. Moreover, they appear as a collective unit as lacking the idealized characteristics that would make them more acceptable according to their gender in society’s terms. ... They are society’s aggressive, raw, and sexually driven men with bodies, attitudes, and more often than not, a legal record to prove it. And boy does society praise them for it. ... Whether or not it is due to the financial profits they produce for their services or simply the awe of their character, society rewards and makes exceptions for the masculine male in a myriad of ways that are refused to the average citizen, both male and female a like. In the case of our three examples of the “real male”; the athlete, the celebrity, and the rebel, society allows for unwarranted financial advances and excessive attention from both males and females alike.