The person I chose is Tyler Gregory Okonma also known as Tyler, The Creator because he is the complete opposite of what Brannon’s definition of a man is in the textbook The Masculine Self.
Just like any other artist, he express his emotions and life situations throughout his music, but what makes him particularly special is the fact that he released an album called “Igor“, an album where he openly admits his love and heart breaks with a man. Every track on the album is a story about their love life, commencing from the start of their relationship to their break up. He is not someone who portrays emotional stoicism because in one of his songs he says “Don’t leave, it’s my fault” referring to the problems he had in the relationship with the man. Besides his music, he also doesn’t avoid any behaviours the might be construed as homosexual. For example, he dresses however he wants ranging from wearing wigs to wearing cheetah print clothings to wearing colourful bright shirts.
To conclude, Tyler, the Creator oppose to what Brannon’s definition of a man is because he doesn’t hide his emotions and doesn’t let the gender norms stop him from wearing what he likes.
For those who don’t know who Billy Porter is well, he is known for his acting roles in Broadway, New York and for his awards like the Tony Award for Best Lead Actor in a Musical.
However, he is more than what meets the eye.
Porter was raised in East Liberty, Pittsburgh. He lived with his sister, stepfather, and mother. His early years were unhappy because he was suffering for years at the hands of his abusive and homophobic stepfather that sexually assaulted him. Which made him ran away from home at the age of 15 and returned home for a brief time but eventually made his permanent escape at the age of 17 when he left for college. And in college he found his way into theatre where most of his self identity grew. Long story short, he is now a pop singer, LGBTQ activist, actor, vocal coach, and Broadway performer. BUT what made him famous as an actor was his appearance in the red carpet.
What a fashion icon!!! He is one of the first actors to wear those types of outfits to prove that labeling oneself is BAD.
To continue, based of the textbook The Masculine Self by Kilmartin and Smiler (Antifeminine), Billy Porter isn’t masculine enough. Or rather isn’t a man. They said that men aren’t supposed to show any girly emotions. To not be in any ‘female jobs’ such as being a secretary, elementary teacher, or in Porter’s case be a broadway actor and a LGBTQ activist. It is also mentioned that they should wear manly clothes like a suit or pants. Well, for Porter, as you can see in that picture, he mixed his outfit with a suit and a skirt. Lastly, it is mentioned that any homosexual behaviours are to be avoided by man. Well, once again, Billy Porter broke that ‘rule’ because he married a guy. All this to say that he doesn’t fit with the factors that the textbook mentioned. Porter is a gay man that breaks gender norms because he is allowed to. That is his way of expressing his identity to the world. Doing ‘sissy stuff’ is basically his way of life.
Among the four of Brannon’s definition of a man, Mike Tyson fitted the “Anti-Feminism”. As a man and a boxer he was known for being very aggressive, fast and had a very good reflex. Due to his boxing career since a very young age, he grew as a very tough and stoic type of man. Though, in 1992, he committed a crime where men are very known for, sexual aggression/rape. Given the fact that he committed this crime, we can clearly say that he behaved as a sexual predator like how men are generalized in the society. In addition, Mike Tyson’s physical traits are very muscular. He had tattoos, he was a bulky and his aura seems very intimidating. He have shown nothing feminine.
As for the assigned subject, mostly the status and achievement of men is seen as being the most successful in their work, sports or any other field they work in. They also get more admiration and recognition only if they are powerful. As a result, they start thinking they are superior to women. This leads to sexism, which is the discrimination of genders. In this case, ambition is one of the driving forces for men which drives them to work for being in a leadership role.
How Nelson Mandela contradicts the statement that men gain status and achievement by being superior? How does he NOT fit into the category?
Nelson Mandela was born on 18 July 1918 in South Africa. He grew up with a dream to make his own contribution for freedom struggle of his own people. He fought against so many racial injustice that was being done by the apartheid (a system of discrimination based on people’s race and cultures) government of South Africa.
The government in Africa was full of racism and hatred towards the non-whites in their country, and therefore they used to prefer white people more. They used to offer all the high class facilities to those people and for non-whites they didn’t provide much educational and employment opportunities. They even used to separate them from their families and friends. They in fact used to give them a harsh treatment. They were also beaten up brutally.
Nelson and his co-activists joined African National Congress (ANC) in 1943. He was a law student and along with his co-activists, advocated in the mass campaign against racial injustice. Nelson was often inspired by the writings by socialist thinkers against racism. He was also influenced by the non-violent strategies of Mahatma Gandhi who was a freedom fighter of India. Most of the work of ANC was focused on removing the racial injustice in their society, therefore it consisted of strikes, boycotts and other acts of civil disobedience.
Nelson had to spend more than 40 years in prison, out of which he spent 27 years as a central figure in the prison during the struggle against this apartheid. He served as an inspirational person who fought bravely for justice and equality. He fought for the transition of their government from apartheid to democratic. This was also the purpose of his life, to get their country to be democratic and where people live freely. He wanted to fight even till his last breath.
This shows that no matter how much struggles he went through, he never gave up. He was also devoted to democracy, equality and learning. No matter how much racism he faced, he never reacted back to it with racism.
He was the president of South Africa for five years (1994-1999). He was also awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace in 1993. This shows that he did not actually care about his superiority towards anyone else who were considered to be a minor. He always wanted to treat everyone equally and with respect. He wanted to end the process of racism.
The male that I chose to write about in this blog post is Christopher Gardner Jr., played by Jaden Smith in the movie “The Pursuit of Happyness”. He plays the son of the main character, Chris Gardner, played by his real life father Will Smith. In the movie, he plays someone who is expressive and dependent, therefore a counter-example for number 3 “inexpressiveness and independent”.
He is someone who is expressive. He isn’t sure what is happening at first when he and his father gets evicted from their home and isn’t afraid to express his concern of what is happening. Throughout the movie, we can see him displaying emotions time and time again, whereas his father is trying to hide his best to hide his emotions, especially from his son. He is sad when they had to find some weird places to live in, like in a bathroom.
He is dependent, because as a child, he has to rely on his parents to raise and care for him. Most of the things that were happening to his father reflected on him as well, like when his father got evicted, he had to follow his dad. He depended on his father to sell his machines for a living.
John Rambo (played by Sylvester Stallone) is a Vietnam War veteran soldier and a Special Forces Green Beret. He is a war hero with a Congressional Medal of Honor. He was recruited to be in the Baker Team (elite group), who were in Vietnam for three years. During his training, he was taught to kill and stay alive in the line of duty. Throughout the book/movie, Rambo is struggling to adjust to regular life, he can;t hold a job, he “rejection” social relationships, and is haunted by the memories of the war.
I think Rambo fits the description of an Anti-feminine person because, as a soldier, there is no room for female traits. You have to be strong, cold and be ready to die. As I said, Rambo struggles with social relationships, which is considered a “feminine quality”. Rambo is one of the most high ranked soldiers, if not the highest ranked soldier, the US army has (in the book of course), and has the respect of colonel Trautmen for sure (not sure about the Baker Team, because they are all dead). I don’t think Rambo cared much about his achievements, because he really wants to live like a normal person in society. Furthermore, Rambo is a man of very few words, but he makes up for it with his actions, for example, bringing a whole war against a whole police task-force. As for independence, Rambo is has been trained to survive in the wild all on his own. Finally, Rambo has an extremely short temper, he could lose his cool over anything that reminds him of what happened in Vietnam. I don’t I would qualify Rambo as an adventuress person because most of the place that he went was forced upon him.
Lovers an Fighters | Section 21 