There are multiple institutions that encourage gender difference. For instance, in the workplace, gender difference has always been very common and present. There are so many cases of men and women having the same exact job, yet the women are still underpaid. Be that as it may, gender order is highly promoted by institutions, namely hospitals and schools. In hospitals men are expected and tend to be doctors with PhDs and women are expected not to be the healers, but in fact the nurses, the caregivers. Hospitals and many institutions are implementing characteristics and expectations towards men and women. In “Man Enough”, they spoke about this deep rooted issue to help understand. These men decided to speak of gender inequality in hopes of helping other people to understand this issue more and in efforts to make it stop.

In his conclusion, Kimmel used the term “masculinities” instead of the singular term “masculinity”. He decided on this term to imply that there is not a singular, specific definition of what makes a man. Gender is what you do, and say, not what you are. Kimmel used the term “masculinities” in hope of broadening what the idea of a man is, to help see that stoicism is not a must-have, but rather just as a simple trait. In the fourth episode of “Man Enough”, this quote summarizes the hope that the men at the table shared when their talk was coming to an end. It is amazing to think that such a deep mutual understanding of this present issue started with such a simple talk between friends. It is something that brings hope to any man.

Our definition for this assignment is adventurousness and aggressiveness. I have chose Howie Mandel as a counter example for this definition.

In the definition it describes masculinity to have characteristics of taking physical risks and acting out violently. I thought Howie Mandel was a good counter example because he does not have a violent history and is very open and accepting. When people think of a masculine man, they often think of a “tough” man who often does not show many emotions that might make him appear “soft” or “weak” in the eyes of other people. Luckily, it is starting to change but only because people like Howie Mandel (and many other men) who have started speaking up about mental health. He has recently started talking about his Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, OCD. This is something that is very important because it starts to break down the stereotype and expectations that a “masculine” man cannot show “weakness”. I find that Howie Mandel did take a risk but it was very different then the type of risk implied. Talking about his mental health was a risk he took because the stigma around masculinity and showing emotions is very strongly intertwined and for someone as popular as him to come out and say that showing emotions and dealing with mental illness does not make you weak or any lesser of a man it starts to break down that stigma. In the definition of Adventurousness and Aggressiveness to take physical risks. This is something Howie Mandel talks about and said : “We take care of our dental health, we don’t take care of our mental health.” and goes on to speak about how counselling should be in the picture just as much as going to the dentist and the doctors.