Blog #4

The tough guise, described as the male depiction of only strong, powerful, independent, and promoting of violence in men, carries with is many heavy consequences. More consequences than benefits. In fact, the only benefits from it that I can see are maybe if a man encounters a situation that he does not know how to react to he can span his knowledge of how other men have dealt with it and adapt their response to be his own, almost like a guide for male reactions. But at that same time, this can be a very self-destructive and dangerous response to situations. In doing this, men can start to feel like they are only worth something if they fit that model of men. Or they can begin to react only in violence as many of the sources for the tough guise promote violence as an acceptable response to a situation (i.e. films like Fight Club or even in the scenes of romantic comedies when the women the male loves is insulted). Its almost as if the tough guise view takes the verse and saying from the Bible “eye for an eye and tooth for tooth” literally, to the point that there is no other response choice but to fight back, leaving the whole world to quickly become eye-less and tooth-less. It can also become a problem for the strong muscular image given to men because, much like with women, men can develop eating disorders or consider themselves as less than what they really are based only on their body alone. It is for this reason that men and women have issues with gender.
Many people today consider “gender issues” to apply only to the plight of women. Instead of looking at what different sexes have to deal with in their respective genders and daily lives, gender issues become what trouble do women face being a woman everyday. People assume that because men can go so far in this society and because the images for women are so strikingly different, that man must just not face many if any gender issues. What they fail to realize in that statement is that men face just as many stereotypes and problems as women; its just that men’s issues and stereotypes are different. Men still have the pressure to look certain ways, behave certain ways, and have those ways reflected in their lives by a certain age. Men are also pressured to fulfill certain roles that are often different that the pressured roles placed on women. But because each gender is so blinded by their own pressures and their ideas about the other sex, they rarely come to a point where they can communicate and understand where the other person is coming from, thereby leading both genders in a never-ending cycle of gender misconception and miscommunication.
Within the male portion of gender issues is where one can find the pressures men face to conform their bodies to the stereotype (that of strength and muscle). While in some cases, this pressure can lead men to eat right and exercise, most fall prey to the negative extremes. Some men can succumb to the pressure and work out so much they never do anything else. They seek only to build muscle at any cost, sometimes leading to the taking of steroids. Most men will not just start out with a jump to steroid usage. They begin gradually as they begin to feel less and less worth in themselves and how they look. Then they begin to eat differently and work out differently. Then when they begin to feel that these methods aren’t working, they begin the dangerous path of steroid use, which can ultimately lead to their breakdown of their bodies and health. The second extreme comes when men feel they have no hope to be like the media image. This can lead men to serious emotions and psychological depressions. And it can lead men to the opposite of being healthy, resulting in obese couch potatoes that gave us trying entirely. If only men were being told to be body outlaws like women. To take what they have and work it like there is no other option, can you even imagine how much different the media output and influence would be? Or can you imagine how much stronger in themselves men could be, if only the media would tell them to strive at being their best whatever that may be?
The way media depicts males seems to influence the society they are shown in. It is not that media reflects what society feels at that moment, media does the opposite dictating where society goes in the future. This is seen in how males have consistently been portrayed as strong, muscular, cold in feeling, and independent. Media controlling society can even easily be seen in the way people of both genders dress, with this year the return of 80s style clothing for women and fraternity style clothing (complete with the pastel colors and leather loafers) for men. People become susceptible to these media pressures for three reasons. Reason one, is that in today’s society there is a lack of guidance from the older generations (mentors, leaders, parents, etc) to resist being put in a box. Even in the messages from celebrities to be oneself, they say that but then turn around and conform to the stereotypes themselves. Second, there are so much of the stereotypes around us everyday, we just can’t ignore them. They are in every part of our lives, from music to magazines to TV/movies to textbook pictures. We can’t escape them. Third and most importantly, we can’t ignore the pressures and become susceptible to them because we as a society have a deep psychological desire to conform. We don’t want to appear different or stick out in any way. Of course there are exceptions to these reasons as some people are anti-conformist or have really strong mentors in their lives, but it comes down to these three reasons that the world today is so susceptible to the media.