Issues with gender are not as much about the equality of women and men, but instead the roles they are portrayed to play in media. I am glad we analyzed a lot of the problems with male stereotyping through our gender studies, because previously i have always related gender to feminism. Gender is not about equality, it is about roles and ways we see men and women. Studying gender through media really helps me to see how there are such distinctions and problems with the portrayal of men and women in media. I am focusing this post a lot on the portrayals of men, because I feel like it is a new topic that unlike the restriction of women, I had yet to be faced with.
In the Jackson Katz piece "Advertising and the Construction of Violent White Masculinity" and in his movie Tough Guise Katz analyses the common roles for males to play, especially in advertising: "The angry aggressive, white working-class male as antiauthority rebel; violence as genetically programmed male behavior; the yes of military and sports symbolism to enhance the masculine identification appeal of products; the association of muscularity with ideal masculinity"(352). With the exception of the military man, General Hospital involves men who portray all of these roles. The soap opera is about the fictional town of Port Charles centered around warring mobs and the police who are trying to arrest them. The main character Sonny, is the head of a mob organization. He uses violence when ever he can to get what he wants as a daily use of protection and profit. His second in command is Jason, an extremely built and violence driven mobster, who loves his family, but refuses to give up his life in the mob. Both men are adored on the show, always having a different wife or girlfriend and always being appreciated by their families for the work they do to keep them safe. These characters are plagued by violence, and the problem is these men are lovable. The show embodies Katz's points that men feel pressured to be "tough, strong, respected, and courageous" in life. Katz asks if women are complicit in creating these images of appreciated violent men, that completely rub off on men in real life. Watching General Hospital, I realize that yes we are. I love Sonny, every girl wants the bad boy that can defend her honor, and Sonny is exactly that. Though we know Sonny's actions are wrong, Sonny is anything but a monster to the viewers of General Hospital who are constantly routing for him and sympathizing with him. Women watch the roles of men in media, and as a result, they wish for a man of their own who in someways is as much of a dark knight as mobster Sonny. We create the pressure for men to play out these roles in real life.
Preview of Sonny Corinthos on General Hospital(Notice how he describes himself): General Hospital Clip
My all time favorite movie is I Love You, Man. The whole movie centers around the male and female roles and pressures that are instilled in us since birth. Meyrowitz's piece "The Merging of Masculinity and Femininity" describes "The training of men and women for different roles depends on separate environments of socialization…the distinctions in behavior begin when little boys are thrust or pulled into the outside world of men"(202). He goes on to describe that "It is a liability because girls may develop self-doubt and a low self-image from identifying with their mothers who are weak figures, a devalued by the larger culture.'At the same time, they may enjoy a sense of ease, love, and acceptance in the process of becoming an adult." Boys, in contrast, find their status in life as much more difficult to achieve, that they must fight, compete, and struggle to 'be a man'"(204). In I Love You, Man, the main character Peter, is known as a gal pal. At the beginning of the film, he proposes to his girl friend, and as they plan the wedding everyone is concerned about his lack of male friends. Who will be his best man? Peter is not tough, we never see him exhibiting violence, and we do not see him being just "one of the guys" as Katz describes. Rather then being "thrust or pulled into the outside world of men" Peter's childhood best friend was his mother. For the rest of the film Peter goes on "man dates" that constantly ridicule his masculinity. He goes out for a guys night and throws up after chugging beer, he admits to his favorite movie being Chocolat, and he even invades one of his fiance's girls nights after making them all snacks. Peter exhibits everything opposite of Sonny Corinthos and rather then being respected he is forced to change his ways.
Peter from I Love You, Man bears many similarities to my own father, which I think is why I was never exposed to this particular side of gender before. My dad has zero regard for masculine stereotypes. He is six feet tall and about a 150 pounds, never going to the gym and caring very little about how strong he is. He has always had more best girl friends then guy friends, and is perfectly okay with crying during a movie. The closest I have seen him come to violence is yelling at the television during a baseball game. I am so thankful that my dad does not embody any of Katz's claims, but after reading the article I realize how much that pressure still exists in my dad's life. People are constantly, even at the age of fifty, making fun of how much he weighs. In the summer, he feels he has to go on his male friend's annual bonding fishing trip even, though he gets sea sick. Finally, people are always telling him he is too nice. I appreciate my dad, for creating a life without these masculine stereotypes, but he is not always respected for it. This unit showed me just how present male pressures are and how both women and men are constantly egging on those pressures.
Meyrowitz, Joshua. "The Merging of Masculinity and Femininity." No Sense of Place. Oxford: Oxford Univresity Press, 1985. 201-212. Print.
Katz, Jackson. "Advertising and the Construction of White Masculinity." Gender, Race, and Class in Media. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications, 2003. 349-358. Print.
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