Rebecca Temerario
It’s A Guy Thing
Masculinity in males is based primarily on societal beliefs. For example, R. Brasch discovered that blue is considered a boys’ color because boys were believed to be born underneath blue European cabbages, while girls were believed to have been born inside pink roses (qtd. in Psychology and You 392). Also, ask most men why they prefer not to wear pink, and they evade the subject immediately, claiming, “Pink is just annoying.” When questioned as to why they do not like pink, they claim, “Girls wear pink, so I shouldn’t wear pink.” However, when you think outside the box, such a statement is illogical; shouldn’t everyone (male or female) be allowed to like the color pink? This thought process is better cemented in reason than the infant color theory; however, it is not acted upon because society does not readily accept such nonconformist views. In American culture, male masculinity is learned through society’s ideals and standards, which produce a negative affect on how men outwardly express themselves.
When we look at a person, gender is one of the first qualities that we notice. Considering that, the definitions of “masculinity” and femininity” shouldn’t be hard to describe. Today, however, men and women are becoming more androgynous, which helps to blur the line between gender differences. In the online source, Medline, JT Spence states,
Although the terms masculine and feminine and masculinity and femininity have rarely been defined, they appear to have two types of meaning both for psychologists and for the community at large. First, masculine and feminine have an empirical meaning, being used as labels to identify specific objects, events, or qualities that in a given culture are perceived as more closely associated with males or with females. Second, these adjectives and, even more exclusively the nouns masculinity and femininity, are used as theoretical constructs that refer to a fundamental property or aspect of the individual's self-concept that is not directly observable. Masculinity and femininity in this second sense are conceived as bipolar opposites, almost all men having a firm sense of their psychological masculinity and almost all women having a similar sense of their femininity. The implicit assumptions on which conventional theories of masculinity-femininity are predicated imply that all gender-related phenomena contribute to a bipolar femininity-masculinity factor so that assessment of an individual's masculine and feminine qualities (in the empirical sense of these terms) can be used to infer his or her position on the hypothetical masculinity-femininity continuum. Constructs such as sex-role identification and sex-role orientation are based on the same assumptions.
Conversely, dictionaries have established a common meaning of the term “masculinity.” According to the online source www.dictionary.com, “masculinity” can be defined as “having the qualities traditionally ascribed to men, such as strength and boldness.”
Fortunately, society has gradually become more lenient towards men who stray from the norm, such as men who choose to be stay-at-home dads. Gale Kaufman states,
Media images also distort the realities of gender roles for men. In television commercials, men appearing with children without a spouse present are more likely to be shown outside, less likely to be doing household chores, more likely to be shown with boys, and seldom shown with infants. Although such portrayals show men as involved in family life, they still project stereotypical norms of fatherhood (qtd. in Sociology 71).
Even where men are shown breaking out of traditional societal and familial roles, there are still restraints that allow men from fully realizing all of their capabilities.
There are also those who believe the qualities of “masculinity” and “femininity” are strictly biological. Sociobiologists claim that our tendency to be more male or more female is determined strictly by genetic code, and that there isn’t a sharp line between humans and animals. (Sociology and You 74). However, environmental factors always play a role in determining the outcome of a “normal” individual.
The difference between biological fact and societal creation lies in the definitions of “sex” and “gender.” “Sex” refers to the classification of people as male or female based on biological characteristics,” (Sociology and You 310). From the sociologist’s perspective, a person’s gender identity is “the social process of learning how to act as a boy or girl” (Sociology and You 311). According to Sociologist Margaret Andersen,
The terms sex and gender have particular definitions in sociological work. Sex refers to the biological identity of the person and is meant to signify the fact that one is either male or female…Gender refers to the socially learned behaviors and expectations that are associated with the two sexes. Thus, whereas “maleness” and “femaleness” are biological facts, becoming a woman or a man is a cultural process. Like race and class, gender is a social category that establishes, in large measure, our life chances and directs our social relations with others. Sociologists distinguish sex and gender to emphasize that gender is a cultural, not a biological, phenomenon (Sociology and You 311).
Hence, masculinity is far from being solely biologically inherited.
Biological determinism is another theory that bases masculinity and femininity on genetic inheritance. Biological determinism is based on the principle that behavioral differences are the result of inherited physical characteristics (Sociology and You 311). However, several sociologists, including Matt Ridley and Robert Sapolsky, disagree with that viewpoint, stressing that, “The theory of biological determinism lacks scientific proof. Significant behavioral differences between men and women have not been casually linked to biological characteristics. Although biology may create some behavioral tendencies in the sexes, such tendencies are so weak that they are easily overridden by cultural and societal influences” (Sociology and You 311).
Society plays a large role in determining the gender of an individual. Parents, peers, and teachers all influence the way in which males are taught to act. In “Men Changing Men,” authors Robert Allen and Paul Kivel state that men get their ideas about their male identity and manhood from their parents. It is also known that children tend to imitate their parents.
Teachers also play a role in furthering a male’s perception of what is considered normal. “In fact, when families send their children to nontraditional nursery schools where fixed gender roles are not taught, the children do not show the usual tools-only-for-boys and teacups-only-for girls interests. So we can conclude that much of gender role behavior is the result of social training” (Psychology and You 393).
Peers also affect the way a human being views himself or herself. In “Trashing Teens,” psychologist Robert Epstein notes that this is not surprising since teenagers spend an average of 65 hours per week with their peers (Psychology Today 88).
Society sends the wrong message to America’s men. In other cultures, boys are encouraged to share their feelings openly, rather than oppress them inside for a lifetime. Anthropologist Margaret Mead observed different cultures, and the variations of gender roles within them.
Among the Arapesh, Mead found that both males and females were conditioned to be cooperative, unaggressive, and empathetic. Both men and women in this tribe behaved in a way that is consistent with the more traditional concept of the female gender role. Among the Mundugumor, in contrast, both men and women were trained to be “masculine”-they were aggressive, ruthless, and unresponsive to the needs of others. In the Tchambuli tribe, the gender roles were the opposite of those found in Western society. Women were dominant, impersonal, and aggressive, and men were dependent and submissive (Sociology and You 313-314).
Her findings prove that American men are engineered to behave in a certain way. In a study of the romantic lives’ of adolescent American males, psychologists Peggy Giordano, Wendy Manning, and Monica Longmore discovered,
We found support for hypotheses that differ significantly from traditional accounts of the role of gender as an influence on the relationship dynamics within these romantic liaisons. Results suggest a portrait of adolescent boys as relatively less confident and yet more emotionally engaged in romantic relationships than previous characterizations would lead us to expect (Giordano, Manning, and Longmore 23).
Their study shows that males experience just as much (if not more) emotion in engaging matters as females; however, men hide more of their emotion, potentially harming themselves and others.
Suicide and unlawful treatment of women are just two of the ways men negatively express themselves. Contrary to popular belief, “it is not the teenager but the elderly man who is at highest risk for killing himself” (Psychology and You 524). Men who are frustrated in their relationships sometimes chose to physically harm the women in their lives, leading to the many shelters created for battered women.
Clearly, gender is created by society. Hence, masculinity can only be defined as what we make of it. American society must realize that, through not allowing men to express their feelings, more harm could potentially be done to society than should they openly share their feelings with others. The definition of “masculinity” is not solidified in time- it has the power to be shaped and molded in new ways every day. With this knowledge in mind, America should allow boys to be boys; men sporting pink t-shirts should feel proud to claim, “It’s a guy thing!”
Works Cited
Allen, Robert L. and Kivel, Paul. “Men Changing Men” Ms. (1994): Gale-Opposing Viewpoints Research Center. EBSCO. Lorain County Community College Lib., Lorain County Community College 21 March 2007 <>
Andersen, Margaret L., and Howard F. Taylor, eds. Sociology: Understanding a Diverse Society. Belmont: Thompson Wadsworth, 2006.
Epstein, Robert. “Trashing Teens.” By Hara Estroff Marano. Psychology Today 30 April. 2006: 85-89.
Giordano, Peggy C., Manning, Wendy D., and Longmore, Monica A. “Gender and the Meanings of Adolescent Romantic Relationships: A Focus on Boys.” American Sociological Review (2006) 1-28.,
McMahon, Judith W., and Tony Romano, eds. Psychology and You. Chicago: National Textbook Company, 2000.
Shepard, Jon M., and Robert W. Greene, eds. Sociology and You. Chicago: National Textbook Company, 2001.
Spence, JT. “Gender Identity and its Implications for the Concepts of Masculinity and Femininity.” NBID Working Paper No. 6398859. Abstract. 1984 <>
Allen, Robert L, and Paul Kivel. "Society Teaches Men to Be Violent." Sexual Violence. Ed. Mary E. Williams and Tamara L. Roleff. Opposing Viewpoints®. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 1997. Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. Thomson Gale. Lorain County Community College. 14 Apr. 2007 <http://find.galegroup.com/ovrc/infomark.do?&contentSet=GSRC&type=retrieve&tabID=T010&prodId=OVRC&docId=EJ3010163218&source=gale&userGroupName=lor23879&version=1.0>.