Soci 314 Midterm 2 Flashcards
What did men’s platonic friendship look like historically?
- men kissing on the cheek to say hello
- taking photos very close and intimate
- hand holding as a sign of friendship and respect in middle eastern countries
Example of men’s romantic friendships in the west
In the Victorian era, many men could share love letters, express deep affection for one another, share beds, touch, and even cuddle or kiss without suspicion of being sexually deviant
Romance was practice for marriage and helped provided a need for emotional security, especially in high-stakes economic conditions
Conditions that allowed romantic friendships included:
Sex-segregation institutions like schools and lodges
Social prohibitions on friendships between men and women
The lack of a gay identity; understanding of gay “types” of people as sexually different were not widespread
The lack of a nationwide educational system through late adolescence
When romantic friendships end in the west and why
In the late 19th century men’s same-sex romantic friendships began to disappear (Emergence of sexual identification as a concept)
Before World War 2 “boys were not expected to express any romantic interest in girls at all” during middle or high school, and those who did were considered “infantile or effeminate” instead they were encouraged to form intimate passionate bonds with other boys or with men, that went above and beyond what today are considered best friend relationships.
After WW2 boys interests in women was seen as a sign of masculinity and normal sexuality
After WW2 boys interest in other boys or men was seen as feminine or homosexual
Contemporary friendship trends (Facebook photos)
Photos of two women together were far more common than photos of two men together
Photos of large same gender groups were more likely to be men rather than all women
Gender differences in friendships
Men are more likely than women to have friendships based on activities and especially group activities
Women are more likely than men to have emotionally intimate friends that meet one-on-one
Why are male friendships important?
Friendships are the first relationships we develop outside of our family. They are incredibly important developmentally and offer early lessons in empathy, compassion, and reciprocity.
Men’s Friendship Recession
20% of single men saying they have no close friends and men saying men are not satisfied with the size of their friend groups
Men are feeling more and more alone, lacking friendships and keeping them.
Women are better at building friendships
Men are 80% of suicides
Men are more likely to be isolated than women
How can men reverse the friendship epidemic?
Be intention about male friendship and fighting loneliness
Create spaces
Loneliness vs Social Isolation
Loneliness = feeling
Social isolation = more objective, amount a time people spend alone
Gender and Social Isolation in Older Adulthood
Although most older adults have at least one close confidant, women are more likely than men to have any close confidant and to have close confidants that are both family and friends
Among men in older adulthood higher endorsement of conservative masculinity attitudes is associated with a lower likelihood of having any confidant
Some young men in Hong Kong demonstrate interest in women, but not too much interest, because doing so evokes the image of “toxic men” who are lustful yet cannot satisfy desires with real women.
Same for Pascoe’s reading were boys who expressed interest in girls were seen as deviant.
Some adolescents and young men in Finland navigate the expectations to be “successfully” heterosexual by:
Approaching girls and women to flirt with them while being careful to pay attention to social cues and not come off as too aggressive
Not make advances in certain environments, such as school or the gym
Paring sexual success with romantic involvement
Not bragging about sexual experiences
Emphasizing consent
A variety of changes threatened men’s sex lives and, thus, how they perceived their masculinity:
Less sex with women partners as both aged
Separation from women partners
Age-related bodily changes
Erectile dysfunction
(When sex is an act of affirming manhood, and men can no longer have it in the way that mirrors dominant sexual scripts it is no surprise they feel not just sexually inadequate but inadequate as men”.)
Men and dieting?
Although people of all genders may diet, some men who diet masculinize their practices by describing their actions as involving strength and self discipline and using aggressive terms such as “shredded” and “ripped”
If cooking is often feminized, then what explains the demographic overrepresentation of men among chefs?
Work as chefs, including gourmet chefs, is masculinized because the work takes space in public (rather than at home) and is framed as involving considerable skill, innovation, creatively, competence, and hard work
Masculinity and Meat
Meat consumption varies considerably by culture, religion, and socioeconomic class
Within the Western world, there is an association between meat - especially red meat - and masculinity.
Among men, higher self-rated masculinity is associated with greater consumption of beef and chicken, but not pork or fish
Vegetarians?
Women don’t eat meat for environmental reasons and animal welfare concerns
How strong is gender connected to environmental attitudes today?
One study analyzed representative data from 32 countries (all continents) to analyze attitudes about environmental protection, awareness of environmental threats, and willingness to pay to protect the environment
Societal with higher gender equality, people have higher awareness of problems
Wealthy qualities have greater environmental concern and willingness to pay, poorer countries have lower pro-environmental attitudes
“In societies with higher levels of gender inequality, economic scarcity, power distance, and collective, people have higher levels of awareness of problems but lower levels of pro-environmental view and willingness to pay” (96)
“Gender differences in environmental concern are larger, rather than smaller in more gender-equal societies” Because men and women enjoy more freedom of self expression there are larger gender differences in environmental concern
Gender and Health - and Climate Change
Men are more interested in meat-based diets than women, on average and often to eating meat to their masculinity
This diet has consequences for their health. What consequences does raising animals for consumption have on the environment?
Raising animals for consumption contributes to climate change and freshwater depletion more than non-meat food production. Energy wasted, resources needed to raise the animal
Beef has the highest greenhouse gas emissions associated with their production, cow who produce dairy first emit less greenhouse gas
Animal products are response for in house gas emissions compared to crops and plants
Mens spending results in more emission than womens (Holidays, transport are the two biggest categories they differ from women)
Women in many countries surveyed more likely than men to consider climate change a major threat
How strongly is gender connected to climate change?
Gender is a small part of the story
Political affiliation and ideology are the biggest categories in climate change beliefs
Canadian attitudes towards climate
Masculinity and femininity were not significantly associated with attitudes in any subset
Gender polarization was associated with climate attitudes only among right-wing men (Higher gender polarization, less support for climate policy)
Right wing men there levels of dislike towards the left are the most important variant in support or not
Takeaways - Gender and Climate Attitudes
In some countries there is a relationship usually small between gender identity and attitudes about climate change
In canada gender identity and self-rated masculinity and femininity explain little variance in climate policy attitudes
Gender polarization is significantly associated with climate policy attitudes but only among men on the right, and the percent of variance it explains is moderate
key themes for historical changes in masculinity
Changes in masculinity often follow changes in femininity
Example Use of high heels, it was common for men to wear high heels and they were not worn by women. Marker of masculinity in upper classes. Associated with horse riders. Associated with status.Then changed to women wearing high heels. Associated with lower status
3 key concepts for historical analyses
Archetypes
- specific individual men or types of men who represent masculine ideals in a particular time and place
- Terry fox was a masculine archetype, he became a national symbol by overcoming strength
- Cowboys (United States)
Countertypes
- Men who exemplify what it means to be a failure of masculinity in a particular time and place
- Gay identities
- Jewish men
Entrepreneurs
- Men who help change what people understand as masculine
- Teddy roosevelt - strongly pair outdoors and masculinity
What is manhood
From the early 19th century onward, proving manhood became a central goal for American men
- Difficult because of rapid social and economic changes
Proving manhood meant men preventing others- especially other men- from exercising control over them
American manhood ideals shifted from investment in land ownership or economic independence as a farmer, artisan, or business owner to that of economic success in an uncertain industrial economy
Men proved manhood through…
Self-control: discipline to attain economic success and social status
Exclusion: marginalizing people of colour, immigrants, women ,and other groups
Escape: turning to the “frontier” or wilderness; outdoor activities; sports; man-only social organization
Manhood in the early 20th century
In the early 20th century, manhood - whose opposite was boyhood was replaced by masculinity - whose opposite was femininity - which needed to be continually demonstrated
Manliness referred to a subset of inequalities to which not all men had equal aspect, masculine was primarily used to distinguish things that defined men collectively from women. This new term of masculinity provided greater access than manliness and seems to have been created a moment when men’s collective power was in question
has terminology shifted over time?
Terminology has changed over time, shifting from manly and manliness to masculine and masculinity. Masculinity was what men did to distinguish themself from women.
Creating gender differences
Certain markers of gender differences became more pronounced
Very common for children to wear the same types of clothing
Clothing was not gendered, boys wore dresses
Not enough income to give children different clothes based on gender
Debates about whether boys should be pink or blue, pink was similar to blood which meant it was masculine
Major economic , social, and political changes changed masculinity around the turn of the 19/20 century:
Urbanization
Technological changes that eliminated many male dominated skilled industries
Lare business began to dominate the economy and employ more men in positions that came with few opportunities to rise in rank
Increasing numbers of immigrants and free black people competed with US born white men for jobs
Increased social, political, and economic inclusion of women
The “frontier” became more settled by white people, meaning it was no longer an established route to establishing manhood (e.g. settling land, starting over in new areas, or conquering the “wild”).
As a result of these changes, middle class men felt they were losing control
Political leaders took several steps to “restore” American masculinity and national pride
1) Imperialism
Wars and annexation (Hawaii, Philippines, Guam, Samoa, Puerto Rico)
Trump wants to make Canada the 51st state, annexation new territory for national pride and manliness
Greenland
Panama Canal
Russia invading ukraine to bolster nationalism, to “uplift russian men”
Government of china wanting to take back control over taiwan
Historical shifts through the 20th century
Sports, bodybuilding, and outdoor activities became key to constructing masculinity
- boy scouts
- So did efforts to segregate and differentiate children (clothing, toys)
Masculinity anxieties intensified in the devastation of the great depression
- In the post ww2 era men struggled to define a normal masculinity: succeeding as husbands and fathers, and being conformists but not too conformist
- White flight to the american suburbs
- Emphasis on conformity to prove american
Later a playboy masculinity embraced sexual prowess as central to masculinity
Social movements in the 1960s and 1970s critiqued prevailing understandings of masculinity and challenged exclusion
Why study the past?
Many of the shifts that occurred around the turn of the 19/20 century remain relevant today:
1) conditions that made many men feel insecure in their masculinity
E.g. structural economic conditions that make it more difficult to be a “self-made” man
2) an emphasis on distinguishing men and women as distinct “types” of people with different traits and abilities
3) Efforts to prove masculinity
Sports, physical conditioning
An enduring connection between hetero sexual identification and masculinity
Masculinity has changed but there are recognizable overlaps with prior periods
Economic conditions today
Economic restructuring, in particular off-shoring, deindustrialization, and downward mobility, make it more difficult for men to achieve masculine ideals
- Proliferation of part time or gig economy work
Many men believe the self made man but cannot make themselves one due to lack of equal economic opportunity and macro economic forces
Attitudes today
52% of men believe that the USA has “become too soft and feminine” compared to 40% of women
61% of men who perceive themselves as “very masculine”
48% of men who perceive themselves as “somewhat masculine”
34% of men who perceive themselves as “not too” or “not at all”
- More masculine view america as too soft
what are the three types of incels
Alpha: the best type of man, charismatic, successful, attractive, fit, desirable to women
Beta: the man no one wants to be. Introverted, not particularly successful, unfit, not confident, undesirable. No woman wants them.
Sigma: an alpha with “more of an edge to him” Someone who confidently takes risks.
incels?
Incels perceive themselves as subordinated due to their physical appearance, and “incels weaponize their perceive subordinate masculine status to legitimate misogyny and male supremacy” (824)
- Subordinated men respond to subordination in different ways - incels do not try to gain power over other men, but rather accept being dominated by other men in exchange for being able to disadvantage women
Incels, compared to non-incel men are more likely to:
Experience insecure attachment
Perceive themselves as having less to offer a potential partner
Have lower self-esteem
Underestimate the importance of traits such as kindness, intelligence, loyalty, emotional maturity, a sense of humour, and similar interest and political beliefs.
Incels Video
Blaming women for his loneliness
Women are not sexually attracted to me, that’s a problem
Mate hatred against women is raising
Incels = involuntary celibate
Women are evil
Incel community is welcoming and can talk to each other
Potential to carry out real acts of violence
Roger is idolized in the chat rooms, and supports violence in a joking way
Win for the incel community is making run and humiliating women
Most incels are not violent
