In the text, Masculinity, Kimmel states, “Institutions accomplish the creation of gender difference and the reproduction of gender order through several gendered processes”. What he means by this is that the difference between gender’s is forked throughout a male or a female childhood. Male are subject and shown to distance themselves from their mothers to develop more masculine traits such as being emotionless, more assertive, and being physically strong. They are showed how they should act based on their sex. If you are a male you are encouraged to pursue a masculine career path such as engineering. Meanwhile, if you are a female, you are thought to follow a more feminine career such as being a nurse. Men are thought that to be more masculine they must be physically stronger than females, should have sexual conquests, and should like sports and cars. In the 4th episode of “Man enough”, fast cars and women are seen as objects. Men are taught to need to like sport cars and girls, and wanting to have them, therefore viewing them to be similar and view them as objects.

Later on in the text, Kimmel states,”Understanding how we do masculinities…opens up the unimaginable possibilities of social change”. He uses the plural term of masculinity, “masculinities”, since there is more than one definition of masculinity. To be masculine varies between different cultures, and countries. Being masculine in Germany is different than it is in a tribe in an African tribe in the Republic of Congo.

For generations men have been the majority worker, but women also have the same problem. Everyone been having difficulty and advantages on different things, but society see advantages by gender. Like a secretary being a feminine job. There are men out their who would enjoy being a secretary but the bias barrier of being judge or the reaction of different people.

Kimmel explains genders as institutions as like a practice, a law between genders. There’s a rule that is followed by everyone who wants to be comfortable. Comfortable in a way that people accepts your job as your gender and not comfortable to you. Women doing sports or being a business woman. These are just examples that surprise people who have lived through those rules.

After watching “Man Enough” Episode 4, that I’m still healing of it. These mental laws that no one said or done. Institutions that we follow are to live our best lifes and for us to be the top of society and in the economy. Rules that makes men to make the choices, hide their emotions and not able to understand women. These rule makes us as object and not just women. “Women have to watch over men and protect against men.” Said in the documentary. Also hiding the fact of listening and understanding one another.

I think what Michael Kimmel was trying to say, in his text “Masculinity” is that the society you live, and the people around you are the ones that tell you how to act based on your gender. Then, thanks to the information that the people around you have given you on how men and women should act, you will most likely tell other boys and girls how to act as well, therefore, reproducing the “gender order” (Kimmel at al 2000). In the movie, from a young age, boys have been socialized to be aggressive, and emotionless, but also to be the protector and the provider for their families. Then, when they grow up, they will probably pass that way of thinking on to their kid as well.

Kimmel uses “masculinities” because each culture’s definition of a man is different. Kimmel mentions it himself, adding that the definition is a model for people, mostly boys, to compare themselves against to grow and know what a man is in their culture (Kimmel at al 2000). In the documentary “Man Enough”, there were two types of men that I was able to pull; there was the violent and emotionless predators and the “Allies”. Most men act like the predators to be accepted in the group because as a human, we crave that sense of belonging. Therefore, whoever is the “Alpha” of the group is the model for the others. However, if young boys see their idols do something different than the Alpha’s acts, they might choose their idol instead of the Alpha, because of the platform that the idol has. That’s why, at the end of the documentary, they mention that people should “Grow, Share, and Encourage” so the people can learn to respect others.

Some gendered jobs are rooted in stereotypes and are linked to a persons behaviour or expected role. Michael Kimmel explains that, “Institutions accomplish the creation of gender difference and the reproduction of the gender order through several gender process”, meaning society only accepts what a man or woman “should” act like based on the characteristics of their gender, or in some cases, their ability to see who is more fit to work in that specific institution; whether it be at a public workplace or a job they hold at home. For example, some may think that a man should strive for jobs that are mostly dominated by males, or might have physical characteristics that suit the . Who says that a man can’t work as a nurse or a woman can’t work as a car mechanic? Interestingly enough, society continues to pressurize male and female dominated jobs with less credibility instead of influencing people to choose whichever domain they’d like to pursue in, no matter the gender. The 4th episode discusses how men feel victimized by the pressure of society’s stereotypes and how they feel like they must act a certain way to fit in and be a man.

Is their solely one true definition of masculinity? No, it differs from person to person. A man can be whatever he chooses to be. The same concept applies to women. A woman can choose not to act “feminine”, so does that mean she’s not a woman? When talking about masculinities, we refer to the different ways of being a man. Boys learn “appropriate gender roles” according to expectations of society and the influence of their peers. The documentary mentions how men feel trapped in a box. Inside the man box, their is a list of roles that demonstrate conventional masculinity, which makes them feel forced to be, act and behave exactly like the list of roles presented in the box. Women and men continue to struggle with feeling forced to act perfect. Someday, I hope that society realizes that being a perfect man or woman is just being yourself.

What Michael Kimmel means by “Institutions accomplish the creation of gender difference and the reproduction of gender order through several gendered processes.” is that our society is separated into genders such as men, women and other genders which then creates a gender hierarchy which then gives birth to a gendered system in the society meaning that some processes, such as some teaching/education or jobs, are going be based off of or aimed at one main gender. Moreover, women are disadvantaged when it comes to finishing their studies at an early age compared to men because they have certain responsibilities such as taking care children after labor while the men provide for the family. This shows how women have less time to “live” their lives than men do.

One way this can relate to the “Man Enough” episode is through the different definitions or characteristics that society nowadays ties into masculinity, because nowadays basically we define men as the opposite of women and as people who dominate. Men are defined as the dominant gender of society, as superior to women and other genders which form the gender hierarchy. Moreover, an example of a gendered process that young boys go through is when making friends: they avoid making friends with girls because of the code that “boys and girls can’t be friends”.

Kimmel uses plural “masculinities” because there isn’t only one definition of masculinity. It differs in each culture or country. For example, what it means to be a man as an Italian doesn’t exactly mean the same as being a man in America. The term masculinity and its definitions in the episode is brought up a lot. They say to be a man today is to be strong, to not show emotion or to avoid anything feminine. That to be a man is to be sexually dominant, that you can’t just be “friends” with a girl. In the their discussion they say that all these definitions are what oppresses men and causes them to be less open about their emotions which then causes them to feel alone and helpless, because they feel like they would be judged and seen as weak by society.

When Kimmel states “Institutions accomplish the creation of gender difference and the reproduction of gender order through several gendered processes.” (Masculinity, p. 3), he means that our surroundings shape the mindset of people, wether it be school, our work or even our family. They are the ones who define to us what being “manly” or “feminine” is. Just like shown in the episode of “Man Enough”, men always have to be the one in charge, the dominant one as well as being emotionless to be perceived positively by our surroundings. It was also shown that as time passes, men act more and more violent in many ways without realising it, for example when it was said that young men were saying “I’d hit that”, one of the guys said that he was told that now it’s “I’d smash that”. Being more and more violent is being normalized.

By saying “Masculinities”, he means that masculinity doesn’t only have one definition, it has a lot. It all depends on many things like where we grew up, how we were taught. For example, being a “man” might have a different meaning here in North America than Africa or Asia. In the episode of “Man Enough”, they talk about how men have to do certain things to be viewed as a “man” or else they might be seen negatively, they called it the “man box”. In it were things that were considered to be masculine and men had to do those things to be viewed as a man, though this can vary from the place we come from.

“Institutions accomplish the creation of gender difference and the reproduction of the gender order through several gendered process.”

Michael Kimmmel

In this given statement, I believe that Michael Kimmel wanted to emphasis the fact that institutions plays a big role in “gender making”. Whether it is in a workplace, home, mall or any kind of of places where a group of person gathers, an act of a certain “masculine/manly” ways are expected from men. If they were to fail to fit in those manly criteria, they are either judged, and/or criticized by the public who follows the socially constructed view of masculinities. Men and women are expected to follow there respective roles in a workplace. Men are more on the heavy and handy jobs, where as the women are more on the organization. There is a sort of a discrimination towards them if they are found doing job that are not designated for there gender. For example, a man working as a cabin crew, commonly known as flight attendants. Until recently, women are mostly associated to do this and not men. If you are to work in this domain, you are regarded as gay. Why? It is because this job requires you to take care of the passengers and be a server/nurse on board. Given the requirement to take care, where this act is considered very feminine, you will rarely see men doing this sort of a career. A barrier is put in place by the social norms that requires you to follow a certain act of your sex. In correlation to the 4th episode of “Man Enough?”, it was mentioned during there discussion that they are obligated to fit in the safe box or else they will be judged and criticized.

By the term “masculinities”, the author meant all the definitions of what makes a man, a man. All the definitions that the society made up to put a certain standard of what is a man. He prefers using the term masculinity rather than male, because male is a term associated with biological sex and masculinity is a gender, what it meant to be a man on the social and cultural context and how you are molded to act the way you are. To fully understand what are masculinities, you need to know its meaning in an anthropological, historical, sociological and psychological dimensions. Just like they discussed in episode 4 of “man enough?”, in a historical dimension, since the ancient times, men are taught to be the predator hunting preys, where in this context meant the women. They do not respect women as equal since then and this are why the hierarchy is lead by men. The experiences of women that will never occur if you are a man such as walking alone at night and randomly grabbed off to be raped is an example of how men doesn’t see females as humans, but rather objects or preys.

In conclusion, I believe that vile acts doesn’t define masculinity, the way the society look at men are based on the acts of the minority, because the majority certainly do not stand out.

With this phrase, Kimmel is explaining how different scenarios and specific places in our society form differences between both genders and how these differences shape our perspective of what a man really is. For example, in a team project or a social event, usually people in the group will turn towards the male to direct the group and divide the tasks needed to be done. This gives an image and sense of power to the male which in turn creates a division and ultimately a hierarchy. This is in fact what divides our society and creates stereotypes on men which could pressure some to fit in this particular image created by these stereotypes. In the fourth episode, the pressure of the stereotypes can be understood when the males discuss how they too have been victim of the pressure by adopting this mentality. Subconsciously, they participate in the division of our society because it’s the only thing that they have learned, they don’t know any better.

I think that Kimmel used the term “masculinities” to describe how there are many things that could define a male and that it’s not solely one or a few characteristic that decide what a man is. Also, that these things do not have to be common to each person, that every male can have different characteristics. In “Man Enough”, it can be clearly understood what “masculinity” is. The men explain how there’s this way of life that men are “supposed” to be like, to act in a certain way, to talk a certain way, to do specific things that maybe they don’t necessarily want to do, but they know that if they don’t, they won’t be considered “Man Enough”.

In the text “Masculinity” by Micheal kimmel, he stated “Institution accomplish the creation of gender difference and the reproduction of gender order through several gendered processes.” He wanted to express that institution like school, workplace, family have a large impact on how men and females should act. The meaning of masculinity will always change dependent on what king of people you surround yourself with. An example in the episode of “Man enough”, they talked at some point on how they were influents to act different away just to fit in or didn’t want to get bully. Have to be strong or good in sport to be part of the “men club”.

Kimmel wrote also “understanding how we do masculinities…open up the unimaginable possibilities of social change” Kimmel prefers using the term “masculinities” instead of “masculinity”, because he thinks that different society have different meaning how to be a man.  Not everyone sees being similarly. We don’t have just one meaning for this term but many. During the episode of “ Man enough” the men said depend on how you were disciple and raise is how you will think how a men should be.

What makes a man? A man is seen to have to be strong but emotionless during hard times, to keep to themselves and assert power over the opposite sex. A man can also be seen to cry, show their emotions and even confide how they are feeling to others. The definition of masculinity varies from one place to another. The characteristics and personality of a man can be accepted in one area and then be rejected in another part of the world. A man should not have to feel as though they need to be man enough. Men should just be able to live a comfortable life without being compared to and measured with another man.

Institutions play a great role in identifying what makes a man. Institutions such as, educational facilities, family, religion, and work highlight what a man should be like. As stated on page 3 of “Masculinity” by Michael Kimmel: “Institutions accomplish the creation of gender differences and the reproduction of gender order through several generated processes.” I believe that Kimmel is trying to say that men and women who take part or visit these institutions must act a certain way in order to not be criticized or judged and so doing so can advance in the hierarchy that is presented. Since men and women are already genetically born different it leads to the conclusion that the sexes themselves must be different when dealing with different situations. This allows for the production of gender differences among men and women. For example, a beer company may hire only men because they assume that men are stronger and faster than women when in reality women can also work for them. A man and a woman should be seen as equal and should be judged on the work they accomplish rather then their identity. The idea that women have less power making men think they have to dominate them all the time was discussed in the fourth episode of “Man Enough.” In saying this you can notice how men are seen to be stronger and more powerful where women are seen to be more fragile and helpless. These characteristics are miscomputations seeing as women can also be powerful and men can also be fragile. This ties into Kimmel’s “Masculinity” because men and women are too often criticized for being a man or a woman and not enough for what they actually bring to the table.

The way a man or a woman acts and is should not be criticized for who they are because they are not living up to their society’s standards. Women do not need to always act “feminine” and men do not always need to act “masculine.” Michael Kimmel uses the word “masculinities” instead of using the term “masculinity” in the conclusion of his article on page four. I believe he uses the word masculinities because Kimmel does not see one definition of masculinity, he sees multiple. Masculinities refer to a variation of different definitions of what makes a man. There may be certain contradictions from one society to another about what men should be like but Kimmel wants to accept all men no matter their personality or characteristics. Masculinities will change over time and in todays society different types of masculinities have been accepted. What can be defined as a man today, was not accepted back then. The word masculinities is very broad whereas the word masculinity only defines what is acceptable of a man in their society. Kimmel is trying to be accepting of all men no matter the society. The symbol of a box was brought up in the fourth episode of “Man Enough.” The men referred to the box as if you stay in the box you are accepted and if you step out you will be rejected by society. The idea that men must hide their true identity in order to be accepted. This relates to “Masculinity” by Michael Kimmel because Michael wants to promote acceptance just as the man in the fourth episode of “Man Enough.” No one wants to be trapped in a box. They want to be free.

To conclude, what is man enough? In my eyes there is nothing that makes someone more of a man than another. Men and women need to stop trying to hide who they are or do things they don’t even like because it is seen to be what is accepted. Everyone should just be accepted for who they are.