THEORIES OF MASCULINITY AND ITS APPLICATION IN LITERATURE.The feminist movement that existed during the 1960s and 70s played an important role in highlighting the inequalities between men and women.
Introduction
The feminist movement that existed during the 1960s and 70s played an important role in highlighting the inequalities between men and women. In addition, the movement also raised public awareness regarding the definition of gender, sex and sexuality. An outcome of this process is that a number of scholars embarked on an exhaustive investigation regarding the definition of these terms and how they were constructed socially (Allwood 102). Despite the fact that a lot of information has been collected relating to the understanding of issues revolving around gender and sex, the realm of the social perspective of these concepts reveals that the meanings of gender, sex and sexuality are subject to change with the changes in the socio-cultural discourse. With the acknowledgement that the meaning of concepts such as gender and sex are subject to change, it is arguably evident that any attempt to explore the meaning of these concepts should be placed in a post modern context that takes into account the socio-cultural realities (Burke 105). This paper uses this as a theoretical basis for discussion of the theories of masculinity and its application to literature. This paper takes into account the evolutionary nature of masculinity theory and a review of its social construction. This makes it possible to expound on the role of the masculinity theory in the present day social context.
The origins of masculinity
According to the western culture, gender stereotypes classify men as being insistent, instrumental and competitive while women are usually considered as passive, submissive and expressive. Early thinking predisposed that the differences in between men and women were intrinsic. According to this viewpoint the measures of masculinity were deployed in the diagnosis of problems associated with gender identification. Current research has refuted this early thinking to assert femininity and masculinity are influenced by socio-cultural conditions. A study by the Anthropologist Margaret Mead aimed at resolving the differences in terms of temperaments that existed among the males and females (Choi 39). In her work Sex and Temperament in Three Primitive Societies concluded that there are no essential differences in terms of traits among the sexes and that the observed differences were not connected with the biological differences among men and women. Instead, they were an outcome of the socio-cultural expectations required of each sex. Mead’s study was influential in transforming the perceptive regarding the nature of masculinity in the sense that the dissimilar gender roles, traits and characteristics were no influenced by biological sex.
An overview of masculinity theory
In explore the concept of masculinity, it is important to have a historical overview of the evolution of the theory of masculinity. An analytical review of literature relating to the development of the theory of masculinity reveals that it has been placed in a wider continuum of sociological research has laid emphasis the concepts of gender and sex. When reviewing some of the most significant highlights of the developmental research in masculinity, Allwood (77) affirms that the sex role theory and the social construction of gender were crucial stages relating to the developmental research on masculinity. From a specific point of Allwood (77) affirms that the sex role theory was deployed by early feminists who had the main objective of seeking for explanations for the differences that existed between men and women. These feminists developed a number of ideas relating to the social construction of gender and the underlying differences between masculinity and femininity. Allwood (78) states that the feminist attempted to explain how individuals learned to act and behave in ways that are gender appropriate through the influences of the family and school. Allwood (79) goes ahead to affirm that the concept of gender served as a replacement for the sex role theory. The development of the concept of gender resulted to an extensive analysis of the development of the concept of femininity. In addition, the concept of gender served as a framework for having an in depth analysis of masculinity. According to Allwood (93), the main distinction between masculinity and femininity depends on the particular social context that the ideology is being studied. As a result, men have been subsequently constructed and viewed as objects of study who are not gendered and that their gender identity is available in cases that involve power relations among the sexes. With this regard, the perspective of masculinity and the manner of its definition is perceived as entailing more complexities when compared to femininity. In addition, Allwood (95) argues that this approach to assessing the male sex role has resulted to the establishment of two predispositions relating to maleness and the behavior of males, which includes the view that the power of masculinity is usually maintained and reproduced.
From Allwood’s viewpoint, it is arguably evident that the development and conceptualization of masculinity is determined by social construction and the understanding of the gender and sex roles. In addition, the complexity associated with masculinity is increased by the fact that it entails the differences in terms of power that exists between and men. Therefore, masculinity extends beyond the particular individual behaviors and actions to take into account the power structures that influence the manner in which men relate to women in a socio-cultural context (Edwards 105).
Theories of masculinity
There are number of models that are used in the conceptualization of masculinity, with the most widely consented approach for explaining masculinity being that it comprises of a group of collection of social practices that have been positioned in the larger gendered power. The following are some of the theoretical models that have been used in explaining masculinity (Edwards 102).
Biological masculinity
In relation to the biological masculinity theory, the meanings associated with masculinity are based on the outward expressions that are connected to the biological sex. This implies that gender identity significantly depends on biological sex. Masculinity is therefore perceived as an outcome of genetic evolutionary processes. This approach to masculinity is rare to come across due to the fact that it has been ascertained that masculinity is mostly socially constructed (Zachary 256).
Role theories of masculinity
Sociological and psychological perspectives have challenged the biological significance in influencing human behavior and gender identity. The role theory attempts to resolve the behavioral differences that exist between the different sexes. The predisposition of the role theory of masculinity is that the social expectations regarding the status of an individual serve to conform to a particular role and its associated social functions. The accomplishment of these roles is reinforced using inherent rewards and sanctions aimed at encouraging conformity. There are potential difficulties in cases whereby the specific social roles are not accomplished (Edwards 258). For instance, the society may require that a man play the role of the family breadwinner, this implies that there is a strong relationship between the masculine identities with paid employment in that society. If this view is incorporated into individual self meanings, and then that person becomes unemployed, the outcome will be what Connell (78) refers to as Male Gender Role Strain. This implies that higher levels of internalization of masculinity roles, the greater the amount of the gender role strain in cases whereby the cultural norms of masculinity cannot be accomplished.
The explanation of masculinity using the sex role theory has been subjected to a number of criticisms. The first criticism is that role theory is absolutely homogenizing. Haywood (100) asserts that the sex roles do not have adequate historical perspective; as a result, they do not have an accurate understanding of change. Haywood further notes that individuals are usually perceived as empty vessels during conception, which are then socialized according to specific manners associated with masculinity, which in turn results to men’s homogeneity.
The second critic directed at the sex role theory is that they do not take into consideration the issues associated with power. The emphasis on the differences in the roles contradicts the fine distinctions that are involved in regard to the gender relations that functions within the power systems. The complexities in the dynamics associated with gender identity at the social and individual level usually disappear in the sex-role theory. This is due to the fact that abstract viewpoints relating to the differences serve as a replacement for the changing power relations that exist between men and women.
The third criticism associated with the sex-role masculin
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