Male Socialization Essays - Gender Studies, Gender,

Male Socialization While there are many competing theories surrounding the development of gender roles, this one fact is incontestable and unavoidable: men and women are socialized differently. There is not yet enough conclusive evidence to determine how large of a role biology plays in creating the gendered psyches, but, whilst scientists continue to explore the intricacies of neurology, we can draw conclusions about how social mores assist in instilling masculinity and femininity into our culture. The following pages will explore how U.S. culture affects the socialization of its males. The male infant born in the United States of America is born into a legacy of masculine expectations. From pre-industrial times until the 1960's, the ?good provider? role of fathers dominated family ideology. Although all family members contributed to subsistence activities during pre-industrial times, men provided the dominant source of authority within the household. When the economy of the U.S. moved outside of the household during the industrial revolution, men's family roles became primarily concerned with economic support. Due to the nature of this necessary absence of the father from his family, sons (and daughters) viewed their fathers' role within the family to be primarily that of the provider. While the mother's ?job? was to provide emotional support and nurturing, the father's ?job? was to provide security in the form of finances. During the 1960's, women began to elbow their way into the work force in larger numbers while men simultaneously began a retreat from their instrumental role in financial security. This retreat manifested itself in two ways: men either increased their activity in child rearing and household duties, or turned away from those roles entirely. Within a household that has a father present, a son identifies his father as being akin to himself. If, as is the pattern with most families living within the U.S., the father remains the primary breadwinner of the family, the son internalizes the idea that a man is someone who is depended upon for stability and practicality. If, as many men have noted of their childhoods, their father is emotionally unavailable, then boys are taught that the mysterious thing that is masculinity is about stoicism, silence, and a willingness to bear things out on one's own. When a boy is brought up apart from any real-life male role models, he is forced to turn to the men he sees in books, magazines, and film for guidance along the path to manhood. Even young men with father figures in their lives are beleaguered by these caricatures of masculinity. Often what boys encounter when turning on the television or flipping through pages of books and magazines is our society's love affair with ?the lone gun man.? He is romanticized in all forms of media. He is physically strong, stoic, quiet, aloof, and untouchable. He is John Wayne, Ernest Hemingway, and Indiana Jones. This, boys often infer, is what real manhood is all about, for these are the sort of men that women desire and other men emulate. When boys reach school age, they encounter further socialization in the form of peer groups, as well as difficulties within the learning environment. For every one girl that has ADD, there are six boys with the dysfunction. For better control of the class, teachers most often punish rowdy behavior while praising those students that possess the ability to sit quietly and listen. Boys have more difficulty with this ?quiet-time? mentality, as well as the language and reading skills that are focused on at an early age. As a result, they often feel inadequate or hostile to the learning environment. The need to ?prove? themself usually results in dominating behavior. Dominating behavior is linked to viewing others as a threat, and viewing others as a threat leads to emotional isolation. Herein lies the key to male depression. Ever since depression was labeled a disease, society has thought of it primarily as a woman's disease. The common visual symptoms of depression involve characteristics more often attributed to women, such as the displaying of emotions and letting one's emotions visibly affect one's life. These characteristics counteract our society's stereotypical definition of a man, so we often support the idea that a man shouldn't, or even can't become depressed.