Blog 4 : Man Enough?

First, when Michael Kimmel says “Institutions accomplish the creation of gender difference and the reproduction of gender order through several gendered processes”, he means that our society enforce the difference between men and women. Indeed, we can conclude that certain institutions such as schools, our workplace as well as our home, privilege some groups of people over other. For example, it is more difficult for women to have promotions in their jobs since they will have babies at some point.

Second, Kimmel talks of masculinity in the plural since its interpretation is different in each society and depending on the period. This means that there are many types of masculinity and that it is perceived in different ways in each culture. Indeed, masculinities vary in several aspects. They vary according to different cultures and countries and its meaning also varies over time in the same country. For example, the definition of masculinity in England differs from that in the 1500s to that of today due to several social changes. Likewise, a person’s masculinity changes during their lifetime. An old 60-year-old man probably didn’t have the same definition of masculinity as he did when he was 18. Due to all these factors that change the definition of masculinity, Kimmel prefers to use the term “masculinities” instead of “masculinity”.