Over the years, men have defined themselves by their masculine status. Women, on the other hand, have hard to contend with the continued inequalities they have suffered while trying to change the status quo. However, Biblical narrative explains that God created Adam and Eve without any difference in their gender. Busenitz (1986) maintained that t he changing roles have no doubt been an on-going concept for many years. While men are engaged full time in their workplaces, women have hard to contend with balancing the delicate affair between domestic roles and their workplace. Stories have been fronted with the picture of a homely mother keeping tab with domestic issues while the man is living up with the typecast of male masculinity. Everything about the relationship between a woman and a man is stereotypical. Women have to express their desires, which are rarely met while men held their position with resolute decisions that are seldom questioned. The paper is going to look at teaching and learning about masculinity in the age of change in the gender dominant paradigm.
From the church, school, government, and social structures, systems have often perpetuated gender stereotype. For example, according to Jewkes et al., (2015) there is always the notion that buys are better than girls with the latter having to contend with the status quo in many social settings. Girls at the same time are often expected to remain passive with teachers drawing on the significant differences and biases in how they teach. Usually, the thinking is that there is a line of distinction between girl education and boy education ( Busenitz 1986) . For example, if the schooling system holds onto the gender bias, it never comes as a surprise. The common conception is that “real men” are above the conventional notions of ordinary culture. Pleck (1975) maintained that men have had to learn and express themselves per the traditional system of belief embedded in the society while trying to fit within the “men’s club.” The most prevalent masculinity-femininity paradigm within the social structure includes cross-sex identity and gender appropriate adjustment.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
With women having to cope with the status quo, men’s relationship in the “men’s club” go beyond the shaking of hands and holding sway the held culture. Masculine aspects such as playing football, bullying, and playing “rough” have maintained a great significance as far as masculinity is concerned. According to Busenitz (1986) l earning and growing within the concept has had a remarkable impact on social issues in addition to holding sway the common help perception of man’s dominant role in society. For example, the locker room has often been referred to as the “unsupervised space.” It has played a critical role in building a man’s masculinity where they exercise and compete in their domination, hold homophobic attitudes, and deride each other.
The disparaging never ends in the locker room; it is extended to the social sphere of everyday living where the pecking order spirals to life. According to Bejerano and Bartosh (2015) w omen thus have to face continued aggression, masculinity, and belittling in the face of making room for the dominant male. In the Biblical narrative, Eve is considered as inferior and gives glory to Adam while Adam is the image of God. For every man to fit within the established order, there have to be circles of competition ( Jewkes et al., 2015) . It is the women who suffer, become less confident and abstain from the hyper-masculine no-win environment. Such only makes the women feel disadvantaged and disparaged. It is woman’s desire for man as narrated in the Bible insinuates woman’s suffering, coupled with a continued yearning for affection with man ( Jewkes et al., 2015) . Learning through such a situation is not only challenging but also helps in sustaining the society’s status quo.
Within the gender dominant paradigm, treating men and women equally would yield to a cultural system that functions well in all aspects. Part of the aggressive change fronted to bring forth equality entails describing masculinity in a distinct impression. Bejerano and Bartosh (2015) contended that f or a positive change, evident in the paradigm shift in society, individuals have had to move away from the notion that the only way to being a man is by upholding the protracted status quo. Pleck (1975) argued that c ontinued shift and changes in the idea and place of gender in the society are, no doubt a reflection of features that include sexuality, economics, and race. For example, being a man has often been considered as an essential aspect of being ( Samulowitz, Gremyr, Eriksson, & Hensing, 2018) . However, Busenitz (1986) maintained that changing shift is bringing forth a different realization that there is an infinite profundity to masculinity. For example, in the recent past, men and women have gradually shifted their perception of femininities and masculinities in which men want to be authentic and honest ( Duncanson, 2015) . On the other hand, women want to assert their position and be more expressive. The urge to reveal their inner weaknesses and strengths without the society judging them has no doubt grown stronger.
While young men want to express their inner selves without being judged, women wish to reinstate their position without aggression. They want to formulate a safe place in which they can grow, express, and indulge. Bejerano and Bartosh (2015) argued that c ontinued changes of the society are gradually helping women to find comfort in the laxity that masculinity is experiencing. The suicide rate among men has recently increased. Plummer (2016) posited that i t is a clear indication that the struggle of masculinity is changing due to the rapid changes that men see in the traditional concept of masculinity and the inability to connect with others and their inner selves. For example, Duncanson (2015) claimed that continued exposure to a gender-balanced phenomenon has helped develop empathy amongst them and see the need to redefine masculinity in addition to changing the status quo. It is about thinking outside the standard masculine line and embrace acceptable attributes that include stoicism and dominance. Living within the social construct of manliness is real, but it is gradually strangling men.
However, getting men to step out of the conventional thinking line is challenging, but a great deal of progress has been achieved over the years. According to Bejerano and Bartosh (2015) t he challenging construct amidst men is the notion of losing out their status and power, losing out on the pecking order that is gradually changing due to the shift of thoughts in the society ( Duncanson, 2015) . The rising concept is about sharing the power instead of holding onto it tightly. The supremacy of masculinity embedded in traditional ideas is gradually giving way to more focused conversations regarding dominance, power, and strength between the sexes. More engagements are evolving even though dominant ideals are still being held by many ( Busenitz 1986) . At the apex of the social order, change is evident, but at the ground level, the reality is still struggling against the status quo. According to Ruether all aspects of social order are frightened by the gender-bias load. From political platforms, schools, churches, homes, and social places, the foundation of masculine prowess are gradually being shaken. According to Plummer (2016) d espite masculinity deeply entrenched within the social order of the various systems of the society, forces and gender dominant paradigm is slowing affecting. However, the entire process is slow and will remain so as the status quo is gradually coming to terms with reality.
Conclusion
Gender is taking on the part as a player instead of a biological-marker. It has slowly changed to taking an active role in expressing gender consciously creating and redefining the meaning. For example, over the years, men and women have had to take an active part of unpacking stereotypes behind the masculine world. The situation has primarily been seen in cultures that still hold these stereotypes as the true embodiment of reality. Through this, new champions of gender emerge, the deep-rooted meaning discovered and new stories behind subjects redefined. By actively pondering over the impact of traditional masculinity, the society and agents of the growing paradigm are providing step-wise move to moving outside the “manly box.” It has been about launching a new generation of men and women, ready to depart from the hyper-masculinity ideology. It has also been about establishing positive mentalities of young men and women who give a helping hand to those still trapped in the “manly box.” The labels stereotyping manliness and looking down upon women have been deeply rooted in the modern-day society. However, the depth is majorly attributed to commonly held notions and ideologies that are restrictive and narrow. The situation is common, especially those that bind one’s mentality on what it entails to be a man or a boy. Masculinity in the modern age of change has gradually been broken down with boys and girls accepting their unique differences progressively but fronting a united front.
References
Bejerano, A. R., & Bartosh, T. M. (2015). Learning masculinity: Unmasking the hidden curriculum in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics courses. Journal of Women and Minorities in Science and Engineering , 21 (2).
Busenitz, I. A. (1986). Woman's Desire for Man: Genesis 3: 16 Reconsidered. Grace Theological Journal , 7 (2), 203-12. https://s3.amazonaws.com/academia.edu.documents/31939110/Busenitz-Gen3-GTJ.pdf?response-content-disposition=inline%3B%20filename%3DWOMANS_DESIRE_FOR_MAN_GENESIS_3_16_RECON.pdf&X-Amz-Algorithm=AWS4-HMAC-SHA256&X-Amz-Credential=AKIAIWOWYYGZ2Y53UL3A%2F20190805%2Fus-east-1%2Fs3%2Faws4_request&X-Amz-Date=20190805T165308Z&X-Amz-Expires=3600&X-Amz-SignedHeaders=host&X-Amz-Signature=21f545e169df9c04fa13cb683a3de76b47c793c84362934b5cdddb7fd1bdb905
Duncanson, C. (2015). Hegemonic masculinity and the possibility of change in gender relations. Men and Masculinities , 18 (2), 231-248. http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.898.5038&rep=rep1&type=pdf
Jewkes, R., Morrell, R., Hearn, J., Lundqvist, E., Blackbeard, D., Lindegger, G., ... & Gottzén, L. (2015). Hegemonic masculinity: combining theory and practice in gender interventions. Culture, health & sexuality , 17 (sup2), 112-127. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13691058.2015.1085094
Pleck, J. H. (1975). Masculinity—Femininity. Sex roles , 1 (2), 161-178. https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/handle/2027.42/45567/11199_2004_Article_BF00288009.pdf?sequence=1
Plummer, D. (2016). One of the boys: Masculinity, homophobia, and modern manhood . Routledge.
Ruether, R. R. Women in Creation, Fall and Redemption: The Classical Paradigm. https://esr.earlham.edu/esr/sites/default/files/1Quaker.pdf
Samulowitz, A., Gremyr, I., Eriksson, E., & Hensing, G. (2018). “Brave men” and “emotional women”: a theory-guided literature review on gender bias in health care and gendered norms towards patients with chronic pain. Pain Research and Management , 2018 .
Walker, C., & Roberts, S. (Eds.). (2017). Masculinity, labour, and neoliberalism: Working-class men in international perspective . Springer.
