In today’s society some people blame feminism for the
weakening and feminization of men. We
heard that a lot in the video “Tough Guise 2”, especially in the part where
Rush Limbaugh and the other on air reporters are telling their largely male
audience that “those femi-nazis” are to blame for undermining maleness in our
society. Kimmel also mentions it when he
says, “Because of feminism, they say, America has been so focused on girls that
we’ve forgotten about the boys.” This is
absolutely absurd, and it definitely does more harm to society than good.
When men here messages like this in the media it makes some
of them overcompensate by being violent just to prove that they are still
masculine. It’s seen in mass shootings
where the shooter justifies what he did by saying he was made fun of and picked
on and even in the sexual violence against women. In the video they talk about the
Steubenville, Ohio case where two football players raped a girl a girl who was
drunk and unconscious. I have to say the
footage of them talking about raping the girl was absolutely appalling and it
was very difficult to watch, but it shows just how far some guys will go just
to show their friends how manly they are.
But, these messages aren’t always leading guys to hurt other
people; it can lead to them hurting themselves.
Kimmel says in his piece, “boys are four to five times more likely to
kill themselves than girls…” and in the video they talk about how almost
two-thirds of all gun deaths are do to male suicides. This is because boys are taught that they
aren’t supposed to be emotional and they need to keep all their emotions to
themselves, which can lead to depression, mental illness or physical outbursts.
This is why men need feminism too. Kimmel says, “Feminism encourages men - and
their sons – to be more emotionally open and expressive, to develop empathetic
skills, and to channel emotional outbursts away from violence. And feminism demands the kinds of societal
changes that make this growth possible.”
Boys and men need to learn that it is all right to be emotionally open
and that doing so doesn’t make you a girl, no matter what the media tells them.
I agree that men need feminism. It helps us become expressive in our emotion, which is so important. We show emotion living our lives, its not like men can physically avoid being sad. It is built in all of us to want to cry because we lost a friend or cry because their girlfriend dumped them. I remember when my dad cried at a close friend's funeral it was so empowering. I have never seen him cry and it was beautiful as he felt okay to cry. He knew it was not a bad thing to do.
ReplyDeleteGreat post! People always look for an excuse to explain the problems they have or that the society has. That is just a way of covering up and trying to avoid their own issues. As I mentioned in my other post, each person has feminine and masculine qualities. I think it is great when myself and other men are able to tap into their emotions and express them in a genuine and open way.
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