Micheal Kimmel talks of the notion of “Institutions accomplish[ing] the creation of gender difference and the reproduction of gender order through several gendered processes” in his work Masculinity. He establishes the basis that in our society gender is expressed differently depending on context and relations to the others in said context. In a social situation, acting in a certain way or viewing a similar behavior over time, it will be perceived increasingly as normal and one is more likely to then adapt and propagate this behavior. Since gender affects how a person is viewed, tasks are separated by who would be more theoretically able to do it. If a task demanded a nurturing approach or of a servile nature, a woman would be the “correct” candidate, even if she might be ill suited to do so on an individual level. In the documentary Man Enough, they discuss how being socialized they too adopted some of the behaviors that ultimately create a rift between genders, one spoke of when women would denounce men for sexual assault, they would always lean towards believing men and not believing women, a certain “allegiance to men”.

Kimmel uses the term “Masculinities” as opposed to the singular “Masculinity” because there are different ways that one may perform masculinity and many ways to interpret it depending on culture, stage of life, from individual to individual, etc. People change how they assume their identity through interactions with others and within the society they live in. Most Eurocentric theories about gender derive from biology and also characterize women as weak compared to men. The latter was discussed in episode four of Man Enough where they spoke of, from a male perspective, how they were encouraged to devalue women. They were supposed to dominate them and take up more space than them in a conversation, effectively lacking any respect that they would give to the person had they been male.

1. I think when Kimmel wrote “Institutions accomplish the creation of gender difference and the reproduction of gender order through several gendered processes”, he meant that all the workplace, media, religion, family and school tries to define our traits in how we are suppose to act. For example, in the documentary “Man Enough”, men are thought to hide their emotions because they’re suppose to be strong and dominant. Society considers them weak if men get sad or cry. Also, there is this concept called “bro code”, where it’s popular in high school, where young men are thought among themselves that your “bros” are very important, where theirs this code. If you break it, you are out of the group and you’re considered as an “enemy”.
2. Kimmel writes, “Understanding how we do masculinities…opens up the unimaginable possibilities of social change ” instead of masculinity because everyone has their own definition of “masculinity” depending on what they are thought and how they are raised. For example, a man from the 21^st century might probably not have the same definition of masculinity compared to a man from the early 90” s.

In the text “Masculinity” by Michael Kimmel, ” institutions accomplish the creation of gender order through several gendered process” means that jobs were initially created for men and not for women. In the text, he used medical school as an example and he talked about the process until actually becoming a doctor. By that time you become a doctor, you’re either in your late 20’s or early 30’s. Some women would probably already have kids by then and would find it hard to juggle being a mom and going through the process of becoming a doctor. Even in the institution for promotions, there’s a gender difference. At this moment, I don’t relate to it I can understand. What I’ve learn is that you have to think like a man in these institutions to get what you want and not be a push over.

In the article”masculinities” means that masculinity has a different definition is almost every county and almost every culture. Kimmel prefers the term masculinity because there’s just one definition of it.

Question 1

I think Kimmel means that gendered institutions such as schools and corporate businesses create these sort of rules and expectations of genders and that we abide by these rules.We are the ones that have created these norms and that we are the reason we still follow them. For example, we associate certain roles to a specific gender, like how women are supposed to be more caring and gentle while the men are supposed to be tough and fearless. The reason we still follow theses norms are because of how we have been taught into this system. Furthermore, in these institutions women and men occupy certain positions based on their gender because of how people tend to believe in the norms that men should occupy the socially high job because of their characteristic and performance.

Question 2

Masculinity for Kimmel is something very broad and very different from person to person because a man cannot be defined by a couple characteristic and that if they do not fit in these criteria, they can’t be considered a man. The term masculinity in a sense puts a sort of box around men and force them into acting in a certain way. In fact, in the episode we watched in class, one of the guys admitted to put on a mask and not be his true self because of how people would view him. Another example would be the bro code, where the guys put their guy friends above everyone else even if they now its wrong, this shows how men are afraid of being ostracized and seen in a non masculine way because a man would never break the bro code.

In the text, Micheal 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 depending on the situation you’re in your character will change. That’s why what is known as being “masculine” will always change whether you’re at home, school or at work. As well as, in the fourth episode of “Man Enough” what was spoken about a lot was that a man is portrayed as being strong, athletic, cool, tough depending on the situation you’re in whether it’s with your popular friends at school, with a girl or at home with your family.

Kimmel also writes in the text “Understanding how we do masculinities…opens up the unimaginable possibilities of social change” what he means by using “masculinities” other than “masculinity” is that everyone sees being “a man” differently. Some people may think being affectionate and loving is being a real man, whereas some people may think being tough and not showing emotion is actually being a real man. Just like in the documentary “Man enough” the group of men said depending on how you were raised is how you depict “a man” is supposed to be.

 I think he means that institutions like school, workplace, and society in general, play a big role in how we conceive what women should do, and what men should do. Since those institutions don’t really change their way to process throughout the years, the same dilemma between gender difference happens from generation to generation. Those environments affect in a way how we see women and how we treat them compare to men. For instance, in the text, they give us a clear example of how men easily access promotions in workplaces compared to women, proving that men have many more advantages in workplaces then women only because of their gender. Also, with the episode watched in class, it is possible to make a link with how friendship at school as an influence in the gender difference. As discussed in the episode, it is really bad seen for a man to rub his friend’s shoulder in high school, it is considered as a “gay movement”, and they could be threatened only because of that. However, for a woman to hold her friend in her arms is seen as a normal thing. This shows us how much of gender difference we are unconsciously in and that we don’t realize how big the discrimination between men and women is.

He prefers to use masculinity to the plural because there is a lot of different type of masculinities. Masculinity varies and depends on the sociocultural elements a person grows in. For example, a person that has grown in 1900 won’t have the same perspective of masculinity than a person born in 2000. It’s the same thing from country to country and from culture to culture. Therefore, he wants to include all types of masculinity by saying masculinities instead. By opening up to the mentality that there is more than one type of masculinity could stop a lot of discrimination and could break many rules like the “bro code” as mentioned in the episode. The “bro code” kind of stuck guys in one type of masculinity and avoid them of being their own masculinity/person.

Question 1:

The text masculinity by kimmel talks about how society views both genders, Male and Female. when he mentions “Institutions accomplish the creation of gender order through several gendered processes.” what i think he means by this is that institutions being our families, daycare’s, elementary school all the way to university and work place. These institutions are what teach us from a very young age how women and men are suppose to act. An example is how the social construction of reality is that the color pink is represented for girls and the color blue is represented for boys. It can also be related to the documentary man enough because in the documentary the men all agree that at a young age they are taught how to be a man. They are taught about power dominance and how men must not show emotion instead they must show aggression and violence because that is how men fit in. Therefore it starts at from when we are born and is passed on from father to son generation after generation. Even at a very young age we see it on television, how both genders are treated differently.

Question 2:

Kimmel states “understanding how we do masculinities… opens up the unimaginable possibilities of social change.” He refers to masculinities and not masculinity because there is not one so called definition of masculinity. Masculinity is defined as qualities or attributes regarded as characteristic of men. But kimmel doesn’t use this term because he sees it as a more complex and diverse term. A term that a lot of men can be described as. Example emotional and caring not violent and aggressive. During the documentary a lot of the guys described how they sort of had to put a “fake act on” and not be “Feminine” because they had qualities such as caring and were emotional. But as society grows we start to grow out of the idea of what makes a man a man and we start to accept people for who they are and not who they are supposed to be.

1. When Micheal Kimmel writes “institutions accomplish the creation of gender difference and the reproduction of gender order through several gendered processes” by this i think he means that (schools, workplaces, religion , families) are what defines someones sexual identity. This is similar to the discussion in the fourth episode of “Man enough” that we watched in class where as the group of men spoke about how a man has to be tough, independent, cool, and be a leader in school in the workplace in a family etc. If they do not fit any of these categories they are bullied and abused.
2. When Micheal Kimmel states “Understanding how we do masculinities… opens up the unimaginable possibilities of social change” by using the word “masculinities” and not “masculinity” i think he is trying to say that in every religion/culture there is a different meaning to being a “man”. In the episode “Man enough” the men say that the boys are taught different ways of what it means to portray yourself as a man meaning depending on their religion and how they are raised in their families.

QUESTION 1 

Reading “Masculinity” by Kimmel was like reading informations I unconsciously knew about. Me, myself going to job interviews or socializing with the opposite sex, I tend to act a certain way and maybe sometimes change my look to please them and get accepted. Therefore, when Kimmel said, “Institutions accomplish the creation of gender difference and the reproduction of gender order through several gendered processes”, I think he is saying that institutions, especially any workplaces, shape our characteristics as individuals. As a result, gender differences and gender order are created. Like the paragraph suggested, if you ask a man in a frat party what’s masculinity and if you ask him again in an interview what’s masculinity, he will definitely say a different answer. Putting this into relation with the episode 4 of “Man Enough”, they themselves admitted that society/institutions shape their view and character as a man. They’ve all hidden their emotions, forced to put on a masked, not break the bro code, and “removed” their feminine side. Even Lewis Howes, when he was a football player, he was seen doing “gay” things like hugging guys. Hugging guys now was something that he needed to stop doing to be accepted in the institution of football he said. Therefore, with what he had said, we can see how football shaped his character. 

QUESTION 2

Kimmel uses masculinities rather than masculinity because there is no one definition. It is a subjective perspective. Therefore, what an Asian man think is masculine versus what a Canadian man think is masculine is totally different because their culture, experiences, feelings, values, etc are what defines their masculinity. That is why it is more accurate to say masculinities. Moreover, having the knowledge of how institutions form how we interpret masculinities will enable our society to reduce inequality and order. Like the text wrote, most career pathways are designed for men. So, relating this to the film, the actors said that if they knew better for example, breaking the bro code doesn’t disqualify you a man, maybe some assaults they have seen or abuse might have been stopped. Therefore, if all these informal social norms given to men and women are gone and if institutions were equal, maybe our society’s way of thinking and living will change for the better ❤

As stated on page five of Defining Men’s Studies, achievement and status is defined as “successful men who have achieved success through the fields of work, sports, and sexual conquest.” The one man who is the most obvious in accomplishing this definition is Hugh Hefner.

Hugh Hefner in the filed of sports has successfully published many articles where women posed for athletes. You may of seen Hugh on television for being admired for his success and for his sexy conquests. He was the founder and co-editor of the playboy magazine. He was also known for his playboy mansion where he has invited several celebrities and wealthy people to party and enjoy women. At his death it was publicly understood that he was worth around $50 million. Later, the market research firm Wealth-X released that Hugh Hefner was worth at least $110 million, with roughly $45 million in liquid assets. many men looked up to Hugh. Hugh was seen as The Man. Based on the definition of someone who has status and achievement,

Hugh Hefner’s accomplishments would suggest that he has achieved this. Some examples of his success that categorizes him as a man with status and achievement are is work, making him millions and being praised with sexy women. He was very much involved in the celebrity and athletic community and will never be forgotten.

By: Daniel Bohbot & Alexandra Morgan Arseneau