Masculinity

Affects of Masculinity on Adolescent Males

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At first, like, I thought about when he said that. I felt bad in the beginning. But, as a couple minutes went by, when I was just like holding myself up there, I was like, “You know what? He’s right. Just toughen up. Suck it up. Basically just toughen up if you’re cold. Suck it up. If you get a cut, I don’t go to the nurse. I’m not going to complain for any little thing.

A boy describes how the policing of masculinity completely altered his behavior after being called a girl by his drill sergeant in ROTC

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Hegemonic Masculinity

There is an idea that men have to act a certain way in order to be considered “acceptably male” and according to this idea masculinity is “associated with heterosexuality, toughness, power and authority, competitiveness and the subordination of gay men.” This idea is known as hegemonic masculinity.  This idea of masculinity is very unrealistic and can be a factor contributing to dangerous behaviors in adolescent males.

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Keeping Your Students Involved

One way to keep students involved is to give them more responsibility. One Chemistry Teacher divided his class into groups of three and had one of the students be the leader, letting them be in charge of the labs and such. He would rotate the leaders within the groups to make sure everyone got to be a leader and be more involved. The only problem the chemistry teacher had was when more people wanted to be leaders than was allotted!

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Affects of the Boy Code

The “rules” in the Boy Code (mentioned earlier in this blog) are very harmful because they push boys away from expressing their emotions which can result in “a constant state of elevated stress hormones that the body is not meant to sustain for long periods of time.” Holding in your emotions can result in a general lack of self-worth, anxiety, and/or depression; it can also manifest itself in physical ways, such as back pain and the like. Because boys are expected to avoid their emotions, the consequences can affect their school work.

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Sixty-one point four percent of students reported frequently hearing negative remarks about gender expression such as boys not acting 'masculine enough,' and as a result of this nonconformity, many boys were bullied or called homophobic slurs by their peers.

Joshua Palkki; “Gender Trouble: Males, Adolescence, And Masculinity in the Choral Context” 

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Policing Masculinity

The pressure to be masculine can lead to the bullying and degrading of those who aren’t projecting the masculine stereotype. These types of behaviors in which people “prevent or punish behavior perceived as insufficiently masculine based on contextually situated gender norms” is called the “policing of masculinity

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Dangers of Being “Manly”

Boys spend an amazing amount of time trying to embody what it means to be masculine.They do this by learning to “walk with their shoulders and chest puffed out, practice the virile strut, develop power in their upper bodies… and learning to look mean” (Salisbury 189). Boys can do a lot of damage to themselves by trying to pursue this idealized body type.

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Optimal learning takes place when a student is able to stretch just beyond his current level of understanding or proficiency.

Lev Vygotsky

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One way to gauge the interests of your students, to be sure you aren’t leaving anyone out, is to have tem do “All About Me” type projects and implement what you learn about them in your teaching anecdotes!

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In the past, I would often share stories about my two sons’ athletic experiences (and successes), thinking that all my boys would relate to sports. I gradually noticed that the more I talked about sports, the more withdrawn some of my boys became

In this quote from a 4th Grade teacher in Kathleen Palmer Cleveland’ s book Teaching Boys Who Struggle in School, a 4th grade teacher discusses a mistake she made when teaching her class.

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The Boy Code

In the book “Teaching Boys Who Struggle in School : Strategies That Turn Underachievers into Successful Learners”, Kathleen Palmer Cleveland writes about “the boy code” which consists of seven rules about how to be considered masculine according to societies expectations of gender roles.

1. Do not cry (no sissy stuff) 2. Do not cower, tremble, or shrink from danger 3. Do not ask for help when you are unsure of yourself (observe the code of silence) 4. Do not reach for comfort or reassurance 5.  Do not sing or cry for joy 6. Do not hug your dearest friends 7. Do not use word to show tenderness and love.