User:Teek28/sandbox

History of Manhood
The history of masculinity definitely affects today’s modern masculinity. In the European Middle Ages, masculinity “took a distinctive form with respect to fatherhood” (Schwalbe, 1997). Patriarchy has always been important. In this era, women had fewer opportunities than men. Fathering a son is extremely important because males were a symbol of a healthy nation and society. Masculinity in the middle ages derived from the great athletes in Greece. The men were strong and everyone idealized the image of a strong, beautiful man. To them, men had all the power! In terms of sexuality, heterosexuality was not a requirement for fatherhood. In other words, men could be homosexual and it did not matter because the end result was that they could reproduce. Fatherhood meant giving the child a name and social identity. Paternal love was also extremely important in this era in terms of shaping one’s masculinity. As a result, the relationship between father and son was a huge influence on medieval manhood.

A Peek Into Today's Masculinity
Looking more into today’s masculinity, there has been research that men’s gender is a huge contribution to high-risk sexual behaviors, violence toward intimate partners, and alcohol abuse to name a few. Society has made men out to feel the need to be tough and aggressive. If they are not aggressive, it means that they are showing feminine qualities. Stereotypical feminine qualities have made men superior to women. If men showed any feminine traits, they are viewed as homosexual; and to be masculine means to stride away from those behaviors because homosexuality matters more to one’s masculinity than it did back in the European Middle Ages. Due to modern construction of masculinity, “the status from being male and are harmed by masculine socialization and the results of many stereotypical masculine behaviors” (Mankowski & Maton, 2010). Men are just hurting themselves by building more on masculine socialization. Characteristics that are associated with masculinity such as aggression and homophobia, are linked to cause intimate partner violence, heart disease, and even homicide (Krahe & Fenske, 2002, as cited by Mankowski & Maton, 2010). Men who are consumed by this social construction of masculinity are believed to be a result of hegemonic masculinity in today’s society. Elements of hegemonic masculinity have made society believe that if any action is not in hegemonic form, it is considered non-masculine.

Men like using their power to fulfill positive masculinity roles. Some men use their power to show dominance over other men and some enjoy being male due to empowerment efforts that are aimed toward women or youth, but not on men themselves. Along with power, there is powerlessness. Most men do not feel that they can express any emotions whether it is crying or a simple confusion toward any subjects due to their gendered empowerment. Because of this, women contribute to the determination of their life conditions. They are also known to abuse alcohol and substances more than women and that alone, has put their health and social behaviors at risk. Alcohol consumption among young men is understood to occur under their beliefs about masculinity. They believe that drinking is important to their masculinities, and this belief is one of the reasons why men start drinking at an early age. This is a negative effect of today’s masculinity due to several health problems and behavioral problems.

Teek28 (talk) 06:48, 8 November 2013 (UTC)

Schhuoy (talk) 04:00, 21 November 2013 (UTC) Hey Teek28: I thought your post was interesting to read! I think you should probably find an article about the research about how men are always seen as aggressive/violent and such. I like the part where you talk about if man don't conform to the masculinity, they are consider homosexual or or weak. Also my only suggestion is that you should talk alittle more about their physical appearance, about having power over the other men (being at the top), about crying, maybe a part about advertisments/video games? Overall, I really like what you have to say about masculinity.

MLA253 Your topic was great! I agree with the comment above that the references need to be fixed. Also, it would be interesting to look at the history of manhood up to today - it seems to be a huge gap between medieval times and current times - not sure if this is on purpose or not. Other than that the article looks great!

Footballgrl3 (talk) 06:24, 22 November 2013 (UTC) I really like this topic! I think that adding some sources and statistics may beef this page up a little. Maybe adding some information on alcoholism.

I agree that your references need to be fixed. It's super easy to do, I just googled it! Your addition seems to be lacking enough references. I find that it is easiest to really create a foundation with your annotated bibliography and then you can draw directly from it to make your points. I think that you should have a reference for every single point that you have in order to support the information that you are presenting. Julia63718 (talk) 17:12, 25 November 2013 (UTC)