Blog 6 - April 24

1a. Bergling, "Sissyphobia and Everything After", from Gendered Outcasts and Sexual Outlaws.
I wasn’t surprised about this article. I’ve heard this many times before when speaking with friends of mine. The generalization of the queer/gay environment being called ‘sissys’ was something that has always been told to me and I never did care for it. This generalization can be seen in different areas, such as women should be stay at home moms or that women are meant to be weaker than men. I know from experience that I have been looked at due to a cliché. For example, apparently, girls that are covered with tattoos are not very smart, are supposedly gang related or were in the past, and that we are hard edge girls who dominate. Not true for me. It’s just really sad to see these things.

1a. Heasley, "Queer Masculinities of Straight Men", from Men & Masculinities.
I understood this article easily because I know a lot of men who do and don’t follow the norms of men in society. Usually, the guys I take shopping with me are gay since they have great fashion ideas, but there are guys I know who enjoy shopping and spend a lot of money and they are straight. We do assume that men who love fashion or don’t act traditionally are usually gay. Its easy for us to stuff people into those boxes, just as easily as it is for others to stuff us into them. In this century, I think it is okay for men to choose they way they want to live, whether they choose to act like the traditional male, or to have a queering masculinity.

1b. Hennen, "Bear Bodies, Bear Masculinity", from Gender and Society.
I never thought about things in the way the article described. I was surprised personally to realize that I never saw that difference between hyper-masculine working class man, and the physically masculine appearance. I never looked at the idea that whatever job you do will define your body shape, especially if you are a man. This is probably because I know men in both desk and construction professions that do not match the ideal look of what society describes those two men should look like. What I wasn’t surprised about however is the example about the office job friend and the construction worker friend. I know a lot of people who feel pressured to bulk up because of their friends. This is going to sound horrible to some guys, but “it’s a guy thing” in my opinion. That’s how I grew up seeing it.

2b. Bear Bodies, Bear Masculinity
My father was one man that fit the idea of hyper-masculine worker. He was a body builder who worked as a bouncer in many clubs, but then, his real job surprised people. My dad was a computer geek who made them at a company that no longer exists. His coworkers were all skinny and lanky, wore glasses, never worked out, and played video games in their free time. My dad went to the gym, partied, went to the desert and river, and raised me with my mom. I don't think that every man in the world fits his profile of his job by the way he is built but there is a majority of men that do.

Blog 5 - April 10

Cooper Thompson reading: A New Vision of Masculinity (1a)
I really liked the tarot card part and how the picture depicted male and female interaction between the woman and the lion. Being one to collect tarot cards myself, I never thought to take the cards aside and stare at the pictures and see how they were depicted. I understand how this picture fails to be understood by the system of males values of masculinity. This is something completely foreign to what men see. Like the wrestlers, who “show” strength, this picture shows it in a different context.

bell hooks: Feminist Manhood (1a)
When hooks talks about how teachers do not give boys the same girls, I was surprised. I never thought to look at it that way. I always see teachers tell the girls that they don’t have to play rough or do anything that has to do with physical activity if they don’t want to, but I have never seen one tell a boy that he could stay and play with dolls instead of going out on the playground. I think that we have come to the point in our lives that it is automatic to tell the boys to go out and play on the jungle gym or go play tag and football with the other boys. In my whole life, I have never seen the latter. It makes you wonder if your son really wants to go out and play with the other boys or if they are being told to do so.

bell hooks: Loving Men (1b)
“The most vicious man-hating comments are always made by women who are with men and who plan to be with them for the rest of their lives.” Well, obviously. You are planning on living with a man forever and they never live up to your fairy tale expectations. So, you spend your whole time talking about who dumb and cruel they are to you. I especially like the ones that are like, “that asshole. He needs to die in a hole. He always leaves the seat up in the bathroom.” I hear that one a lot. Of course, there are worse complaints.

Katz: More Than A Few Good Men (1c)
Hmmm, men in today’s society going out of their way to help prevent women violence? Uh, I really don’t think so. I’m sorry but I know a lot of my guy friends would not do so because they would not want to be called ‘gay’ or ‘whipped’ or something along those lines. Our society labels men who favor women’s rights as weak. Its funny how men tell women to look inward and seek help. You think that we don’t know that or something? Man, some men sound like psychiatrists on their days off.

bell hooks: Loving Men (2b)
My father once told me that my grandmother never was happy with my grandfather, that she always complained that he didn’t love her enough. Ironically, my grandmother was not a feminist and she never accepted that part of my grandfather when he said that he was in love with her, even though she spent her whole life with him.