Questioning Masculinity
This blog mirrors Paul’s film Shoulder to Shoulder, Men and Vulnerability which asks men about their experiences of being vulnerable and how this affects their emotional and relational health.
Behind the scenes here at Citizenshift I’ve been working with others to create a new blog about masculinity.
It’s called MascMag (short for magazine) because we want to one day publish a magazine. We’ve got a lot of work to do in order to build an audience, a dedicated group of contributors, and really — a community of people who want to talk and walk the line around gender justice and self-acceptance.
We’ve really started from scratch. Choosing webpage templates, contacting those we already knew interested in the topic, making connections with like-minded groups, and editing and sharing a dialogue about masculinity.
Beyond visiting the site and seeing for yourself (strongly encouraged) the best other way is to see what our mission offers:
masc magazine is a space for young men to explore how masculinity affects their lives.
masc is curious about how ideas of manhood are shaped by one’s experiences and environment.
masc encourages expression and connection on a range of men’s issues such as gender, stereotypes, sexuality and health.
masc helps men imagine their own ideals and ways to make them real.
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If you want to look at masculinity through film over the past 50 years, no other character than James Bond will do. After 22 films, Bond’s brand of masculinity is repeatedly re-launched to match the changing times. Yet some traits still stick to Bond. He is always tough, sexy, loyal (to his country), sophisticated, charming, well-dressed, independent, and plugged-in to the flashiest spy-geek gear available to the imagination.
The character was created by author Ian Flemming 55 years ago and has been played by a series of historically-suited actors: Sean Connery, Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton, Pierce Brosnan, and Daniel Craig. I’ve been curious about the last 2 Bond films played by Craig (Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace) because I (and may others) felt that the re-branding was in another cycle.
The DVD extras in Casino Royal has a documentary called Bond Girls are Forever which tracked how Bond girls have changed over the years (sadly not up to date on the last 2 films). It took a light approach to feminist critiques of the role, but it was clear that the women (girls?) were becoming tougher, smarter, and more active over the decades. Bitch Magazine’s blog details some the ways Camille (played by Olga Kurylenko) in Quantum of Solace is part of this trend. She has her own motives, enemies, strategies, wit, speed, and punch, and when needed – drives the car! No longer just sex objects for the audience’s and Bond’s pleasure, these female characters also reveal something about the new Bond and the changing audience assumptions about gender.
It was hard to ignore the buzz about the new Bond because not only was he blond, but buff. Brian D. Johnson interviews Craig and writes:
Craig is the most athletic Bond we’ve seen, but the bar has been raised since Connery idled through his later films with a marshmallow belly and a rug of chest hair. “You read Fleming,” says Craig, “and it’s like Bond gets up in the morning, has six scrambled eggs made with cream, eight rashers of bacon, four cups of espresso, does 20 press-ups and smokes 20 cigarettes, then has a shot of something. Attitudes have changed. We probably do live in a world of body-fascism now.”
In fact the only other person I could convince to watch Casino Royal with me was a gay friend excited about Bond’s new sexy looks. I thought we were watching a stylish action film but maybe it was some kind of Straight Guy for the Queer Eye? Johnson puts it this way: “Now Bond-sploitation had come full circle: in Casino Royale, the hottest sex object was not another Bond girl, but Bond himself.”
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For the past 5 years I’ve been doing media education work around the theme of masculinity. I work for a small alternative media non-profit doing workshops for youth in Toronto.
Out of all the workshops I offer, one called Who’s the Man? looking at pop culture and masculinity is the most requested by teachers and youth workers and the most rewarding one for me to facilitate and reflect on.
The best part of my job is going to youth conferences promoting social justice and ecological sustainability. My workshops are one small part of larger programs for education and action and it’s inspiring to participate in the diversity of projects and feel the positive energies for change.
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Over the winter holiday season I saw more movies than usual. 2 of these I wanted to reflect and comment on because they raise questions for me about masculinity.
Lars and the Real Girl is about a 27 year-old man who buys a silicone sex doll to work through the pains of his childhood and fears of becoming an unlovable man.
Better overviews of the film can be found on the web and I like this one by Grace McKeaney.
Into the Wild follows 22 year-old Chris for two years, while he escapes family and society in search of truth and freedom in the wild spaces between his mid-America home and Alaska.
I did a long search for a review mixing description with some insightful reflection. I didn’t find any. If you have any suggestions, please post. One post I did find interesting was this one by Stephanie Zacharek.
But this is not a film critique. I prefer to meditate on movies to discover something new about myself and the world I live in. My MediaMindful site expands on this approach.
What I found most interesting in these movies is a connection between manhood, suffering, and forgiveness.
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On November 23rd and 24th I facilitated 2 workshops on men’s magazines and the representation of men, masculinity, and race.
It was organized by Youth Action Network and I had 2 co-facilitators to thank for sharing the load and keeping it real. Big thanks to Jerome Morgan and Courtenay Lazorka.
Looking through 5 different men’s magazines we talked about:
What do men look like?
What are men doing?
What are men thinking?
What are men desiring?
After discussions on stereotypes, racism, materialism, objectification, and uniformity, we tried to offer ideas and examples that could be used for a new magazine looking at the lives of young men… such as MASC (see blog archive)
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This morning I had a meaningful talk with a friend about men, masculinity, and mental health. She too was concerned about the need for more thoughtful discussion to understand and support men’s challenges.
So I got right on it. Plus I had a few web bookmarks I’ve been meaning to read and integrate.
First there was a study called Men’s Mental Illness: A Silent Crisis by the Canadian Mental Health Association. Part of it reads:
The ‘code’ governing men’s behaviour is one of the prime barriers preventing men from seeking help. According to UK-based MaleHealth.com, men may feel it’s “weak and unmanly to admit to feelings of despair.” Because it’s easier for men to acknowledge physical symptoms, rather than emotional ones, their mental health problems can go undiagnosed.
Beliefs about masculinity also encourage men’s general lack of interest in health issues; many men simply don’t believe they are susceptible to depression, so why bother learning about it? Similarly, risky behaviour, seen especially in younger men - including abuse of alcohol and/or drugs and violence - can mask their emotional problems, both from themselves and their physicians.
Another example of how traditional notions of masculinity are a barrier to men’s health is Cynthia Daniels’ book Exposing Men: The Science and Politics of Male Reproduction.
Two Reviews
“Exposing Men presents a gripping account of how men’s reproductive systems are just as harmed by environmental and industrial factors as are women’s, ranging from low sperm counts to birth defects to sexual health. Arguing that men’s position of social privilege often obscures the dangers to which they are subjected, Daniels makes a powerful case for rethinking how we see men’s role in reproduction, sexuality, and masculinity. Everybody, male and female alike, who thinks that feminism is just about women-or just for women-should read this book.” — Nancy Hirschmann, Professor of Political Science, University of Pennsylvania
“Exposing Men considers how prevailing ideals of masculinity have produced a skewed societal and scientific understanding of men’s reproductive health.” — Contemporary Sociology
Meghan’s Blaaaah has a blog entry linking the discussion to popular culture. She posts a fantastic video called “Bill Murray is Sad”. Fans of Wes Anderson movies should definitely watch this and it also helps explain her point. Part of which is:
It’s not that I don’t love Bill Murray. I do. And I like these characters. And with a few caveats, I like these movies. But it’s been fascinating to watch some men I know propel Bill Murray into hero status in ways that women do not. And the more I think and write about it, I think this hero status is available to men in ways that women cannot access. Picture each of these characters as a woman. Might she still attain some kind of cult following? Sure. But I don’t think that she could tap into something in the way that Bill Murray does. And that something, I am coming to believe, has a lot to do with contemporary masculinity, and it increasingly seems, some good old-fashioned resentment.
Of course men’s emotional pain is not just something to watch on the big screen or theorize about. It has real consequences – such as men’s violence. Pat McGann wrote for the Men Can Stop Rape blog on the tragic school shootings by young men. In part, he writes:
I knew that after tragic incidents like those named earlier, the media wants to present the public with answers, and it seemed probable that none of the answers would clearly identify traditional masculinity as a culprit. But I didn’t want to just stay on the surface of manhood; I wanted to burrow underneath to get at its muscle and bone. I wanted to write about how men’s pain gets transformed into men’s anger, because it seemed to me that some deep-seated anguish was underlying all the bullets, the ropes, the knives. We men typically aren’t socialized to handle pain in healthy, constructive ways. Instead we’re taught to “suck it up” and “get over it,” which might be useful strategies some of the time but not as everyday practices – especially when it comes to violence.
Respected violence prevention educator Paul Kivel proposes positive ways of looking anger and de-linking it with violence in an article Anger is not the Problem.
More responses to the issue of emotional awareness and masculinity include educators such as David Hatfield and even public education campaigns targeting men’s panic around self-esteem and penis size. This clip is called Speeding, No One Thinks Big of You.
Photographer Charlie White looks at male vulnerability through a fictional puppet named Joshua. He took a series of photos exploring self-image and self-loathing and 4 photos and an audio interview are featured on NPR’s program Understanding Joshua: Vulnerability on Film.
Mostly because I just love the song, I’d like to end with one my favorite dance songs, Boys Don’t Cry by The Cure:
How are you feeling about this post? Write a comment, ask a question, add a link……..let’s keep the conversation going.
Just for your events calendar and linking back to my first post in this Blog, my video Shoulder to Shoulder: men and vulnerability is showing at the Global Community Film Festival in Toronto September 28th.
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I spent last Saturday visiting 3 book stores and a public library to look at men’s magazines with my friend Tuval. Just thinking about ‘men’s magazines’ brings up shameful images of super-models, super-men and all the plugged in/out gear one can pile into a military-style Hummer.
We browsed dozens of general magazines on fitness, news, music, hobbies, style, video games, and sports but we didn’t find what we wanted. There’s now also a popular ‘lad’ style of magazine with a long list of titles such as Maxim, FHM, and Loaded featuring almost naked woman and guides to style, sex, and success.
I’m browsing with Tuval because he’s thinking of starting a new magazine for young men that sells and shares a different story of being a guy.
Rather than solidifying stereotypes, is there a magazine to crack open manhood’s complexities and contradictions?
…being sexual without being a pervert or player
…having the strength to express weakness
…being playful without put-downs or power-trips
Tuval would like to see a new magazine for young men wrestling with manhood – serious play indeed.
A cluster of women’s magazines have escaped the ego industry and speak to the spectrum of women’s lives. Titles such as Bitch, Ms., and Shameless rattle and jump over gender fences that limit women’s choices and voices. The current issue of Shameless reframes negative and passive body-image and self-defense experiences and reports on inspiring women artists, artisans, and athletes.
Starting in 1990, Sassy magazine (also a non-conformist) had a spin-off title for teen boys called Dirt. It published seven issues before ending in 1994 and helps raise the question is there an audience for a young men’s magazine that challenges the central monument of masculinity?
Perhaps what Dirt crumbled from (and what a new magazine could learn from) is how to get past the guarded discourse of masculinity itself. Feminism has unlocked a new world for looking at gender, power, and identity and successfully mapped gender’s social location. Unfortunately (keeping my geography metaphor going) men don’t like to use maps or ask for directions (so I’m told).
So how does one organize a male readership still forming it’s literacy around masculinity?
Perhaps it’s not what you don’t know, but what you know you don’t like.
For me, high school male identity was not only shaped by my music, sports, and style, but by an opposition to what my friends and I considered mainstream, macho, meat-headedness. Sometimes difference and exclusion can bring people together.
Affirming that not all young men are the same, a critical response to ‘men’s magazines’ could be met with some cheer.
Listen:
Tuval speaking about our magazine ‘research’.
http://www.mediamindful.ca/media/tuval_interviews.html
To get involved in the development of this magazine email: mascmagazine@gmail.com
Write:
I’d love to know what guys think of men’s magazines (especially if you’re between 15 and 25).
Any ideas on a cool name for a new magazine? Vote for one of these or submit your own:
MASC
BOND
PLAYER
?
Read:
http://www.mencanstoprape.blogspot.com/
http://blownglass.wordpress.com/2007/05/15/crisis-of-masculinity/
http://blogs.smh.com.au/lifestyle/allmenareliars//
http://www.colossiansthreesixteen.com/archives/1300
http://self-arrest.blogspot.com/2007/05/man-books.html
http://feministallies.blogspot.com/search/label/men%20and%20masculinity
http://otherbeyondrealmen.blogspot.com/2006/11/buy-this-book-for-every-man-you-care.html
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Tags: baines, book, lads, library, literacy, magazine, men, paul, Questioning Masculinity, store, Toronto, tuval
