Tuesday 8 February 2011

American masculinity's split personality

http://articles.baltimoresun.com/2010-07-15/news/bs-ed-masculinity-yarrow-20100715_1_masculinity-gender-roles-inequality (please scroll down and onto following page for whole article.)

The page relating to masculinity issues I've found is an article from the Baltimore Sun newspaper discussing how the challenging economic times of the last few years have contributed drastically to the vast separation of archetypal masculine personalities. It cites current films as cultural proof of massive divide between the 'atop the world, well dressed, well paid, slickly sophisticated,' metrosexual types, who are made up largely of the upper middle and rich classes, and the 'unemployed factory workers and strapped, often bedraggled middle-class men in modest, if not foreclosed, homes, whose wives and children chide them for what they don't have'.

The article talks about how changes in gender roles both in employment and on a domestic level have influenced the development of multiple masculine identities. It seems that the adaptable 'corporate' male who is able to incorporate elements of femininity into his identity is far more prosperous than the blue collar lower class male, who in an increasingly female influenced world is regarded as archaic and unrefined.

Throughout, the article seems to be coming from a very male biased perspective attributing the male decline in schools and work to the increased proliferation of females in these areas. Even inferring that the same is related to the massive increase of male prison inmates since the 1970's. However towards the end suggests that methods for righting and balancing the socioeconomic inequality that has developed over the past forty years should not come at the detriment of the gains made by females in that time. So overall the question arising after reading this article is if the improved equality of women is not to blame for decreased employment, academic/career success with males, what is?

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