Masculinity wasn’t initially a topic for gender studies, which might explain why such classes are connected mostly to women.
Over the years, the concept of masculinity has changed, but often it is assumed there is only one definition of masculinty.
It’s not that simple, Fort Lewis College Professor Michael Martin said recently at a presentation at the college that delved into the history and evolution of the concept of masculinity.
G.I. Joe action figures are one example of the evolving concept, said Martin, who taught an FLC class about masculinity last semester. In the 1960s, the action figures looked trim, but later they were designed to be much more muscular. The ancient Greeks considered two men who loved each other spiritually, emotionally and sexually as masculine, since women were thought to be unable to love. Today, gay men are mostly perceived as feminine, though they can be masculine.
The image of the brave male knight in the Middle Ages is actually a construct from the 18th century, ignoring that women were also fighting in the period.
“Masculinity tends to lead to the idea of power,” Martin said. “We tend to take femininity as not-masculine.”
The beard also represents the changes of masculinity: for the ancient Greeks, a beard was masculine. Later in ancient Rome, it wasn’t.
To show the masculine attributes recognized now, Martin showed a clip about men in 2015. The men were connected with such characteristics as strength, money and having a lot of sex. Much of that, and other stereotypes, are media images, including those that encourage men to objectify and disrespect women. Hollywood, he said, still portrays the image of hysteric women and violent men.
But there is progress, Martin said. The father figure has changed – from the working father seeing his children only after work for a short time to the stay-home dad who cares for his children.
Several times during his presentation, Martin emphasized that there is more than one masculinity. Though there are female and other masculinities, new terms for special forms of masculinity are being created. For example, men who use make-up are not called female masculine but metrosexual. An eyeliner for a man is not just an eyeliner for men – it’s called guyliner. “Guys need their own kind of make-up,” Martin said.
Martin emphasized that most people still connect gender studies to women, as if men didn’t have gender characteristics. Gender doesn’t mean the biological sex – it is more about social identity.
“They forget that men have genders, too,” Martin said. Also, a single person doesn’t have only one gender, but more – even several genders in one day.
“We change and shift daily,” Martin said.
Thomas Feiler is a student at the Catholic University Eichstaett-Ingolstadt, Germany, and an intern at The Durango Herald.
