Hypermasculinity and the American Male.

This is a long, twisted way of getting to my point, but it made sense in my head.

So in my intro to international studies course a while back, we spent a week or two on studying gender roles in various cultures. We saw a video on it that was actually quite good. The first part showed these women in the back country of Albania called "sworn virgins," who take an oath to abandon all feminine practices and are then allowed to adopt the male's societal responsibilities and such. The practice has mostly died out, but there are still a few in the countryside, in the more traditional parts of Albania. It mostly occurs in families where, for example, there are two parents who are sick or unable to work or care for themselves, and no sons, just one or more daughters. It wasn't uncommon for one of these daughters to become a sworn virgin in order to care for the farm or take a job to support her parents and herself. But, she wasn't allowed to do this unless she became a sworn virgin, which also means she could never marry or have children.

The second part of the video showed an American man going to Thailand or some other southeast Asian country for a sex-change operation. He was completely changed into a woman. The only thing that changed, though, was the equipment - he had already altered his voice and appearance with hormones, and he dressed like a woman too. I believe he referred to himself as a "transgender."

The third part showed this caste of women in India, the "Untouchables," "pariahs." They're pretty much social outcasts. There is something with gender roles in that too, but I can't remember what at the moment.

In America, what do we have? Hypermasculinity. I read an article for 20th Century American Foreign Policy called "Techno-Muscularity and the Boy Eternal," in which the writer proposes that the failure of the Vietnam War prompted the veterans who returned to be condemned as losers, in part because of the lack of support for them from women and from their fathers who protested the war. This was the first generation of men to go to war and return without the luster of victory, but instead with the shadow of doubt, protest, and anger chasing them. Consequently, the writer of this article, says men in Hollywood films of the '80s were frequently "techno-muscular" symbols, like Arnold Schwarzenegger - adult male characters that either acted like children or acted like a child's idea of what it meant to be a man.

Now, 20 years later, it feels like - to me at least - that our society and culture have moved one step further to hypermasculinity. Google the term, and the definitions that result both call it "a psychological term for the exaggeration of male stereotypical behavior, such as an emphasis on strength, aggression, body hair, odor and virility." Somehow, we've started putting an unbelievable amount of importance in these qualities that are more superficial than they are anything else. I understand the desire in men to achieve a certain degree of masculinity - well, as far as I can possibly understand it, I guess - but in the grand scheme of things, isn't it irrelevant? It would be less frustrating, except countless images in American culture emphasize the appeal of hypermasculinity in today's male. It's become a tool of marketers and salespeople, and it's one of the many things I hate in mass media.

"What is most beautiful in virile men is something feminine; what is most beautiful in feminine women is something masculine."
- Susan Sontag

The true value of a man - of any person, really - is not in these characteristics so much as it is in their character and actions. I randomly just remembered a part in Little Men, a follow-up to Little Women, in which the father of one of the boys dies. His nephew, after his funeral, proclaims that their other two uncles are the wisest and jolliest of the three, but Uncle John was the best. After that, one of the uncles talks for a while about why he was such a great man. (This is long, so skip it if you want.)

"Let me tell you a little about John Brooke, and you will see why men honor him, and why he was satisfied to be good rather than rich or famous. He simply did his duty in all things, and did it so cheerfully, so faithfully, that it kept him patient and brave, and happy through poverty and loneliness and years of hard work. He was a good son, and gave up his own plans to stay and live with his mother while she needed him. He was a good friend, and taught Laurie much beside his Greek and Latin, did it unconsciously, perhaps, by showing him an example of an upright man. He was a faithful servant, and made himself so valuable to those who employed him that they will find it hard to fill his place. He was a good husband and father, so tender, wise, and thoughtful, that Laurie and I learned much of him, and only knew how well he loved his family, when we discovered all he had done for them, unsuspected and unassisted."

Mr. Bhaer stopped a minute, and the boys sat like statues in the moonlight until he went on again, in a subdued, but earnest voice: "As he lay dying, I said to him, `Have no care for Meg and the little ones; I will see that they never want.` Then he smiled and pressed my hand, and answered, in his cheerful way, `No need of that; I have cared for them.` And so he had, for when we looked among his papers, all was in order, not a debt remained; and safely put away was enough to keep Meg comfortable and independent. Then we knew why he had lived so plainly, denied himself so many pleasures, except that of charity, and worked so hard that I fear he shortened his good life. He never asked help for himself, though often for others, but bore his own burden and worked out his own task bravely and quietly. No one can say a word of complaint against him, so just and generous and kind was he; and now, when he is gone, all find so much to love and praise and honor, that I am proud to have been his friend, and would rather leave my children the legacy he leaves his than the largest fortune ever made. Yes! Simple, generous goodness is the best capital to found the business of this life upon. It lasts when fame and money fail, and is the only riches we can take out of this world with us. Remember that, my boys; and if you want to earn respect and confidence and love follow in the footsteps of John Brooke."

I was just reminded of that. Really, though, this is just stemming from my frustration with the way society impresses the false idea upon its boys that they need to be absurdly masculine in order to be "men," to the point that it affects who they really are.

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