North American Cultural Masculinity
Masculinity refers to the social roles, behaviours, and meanings associated with men in a given society at any one time. As such, it emphasizes gender, not biological sex, and the diversity of identities among different groups of men. Although we experience gender to be an internal facet of identity, the concept of masculinity is produced within the institutions of society and through our daily interactions (Kimmel, 2000).[1]
In North America, most contemporary discussions of heteronormative masculinity emphasize the role of mental “toughness” and emotional reserve (Pleck, 1995).[2] Thus emotional suppression is stereotypically associated with views on masculinity. Men are therefore expected to be consistently tough, calm, rational, and in control. [2]
Origins
Pre-school
Parents of pre-school children, for example, tend to encourage the expression of sadness in their daughters, but not in their sons (Fivush, 1989; Fivush & Buckner, 2000).[2] Adams et al. (1995) found that, by 6 years of age, girls talked more about emotions than did boys. Thus gender differences in amount of emotion talk may emerge at the end of the preschool years.[3] A common saying emerges through the realization of adults that children are able to distinguish of what gender they belong to, it is a variation to say the following: "Big boys don't cry." In this simple saying, a message is implicitly given that tears are feminine and therefore discourages boys to display them when experiencing emotional circumstances such as pain or joy.[2]
High School
Subject to a status hierarchy, boys who exhibited "macho" behavioural patterns gained recognition from their peers for displaying traits relative to masculinity such as toughness.[4] In contrast, boys who displayed "effeminate" behavioural patterns were subject to derogatory terms such as "sissy" and "fag," and were placed among the least popular amongst their classmates.[2][4] From this, adolescents are inadvertently affected by toxic masculinity.
Representation
Emotionality in Sports
In sports, both victory and defeat appear to elicit high levels of emotional expression in men, including shedding tears.[5] It is speculated that men almost uniquely cry in response to feelings associated with their core identities.[5] Male tears are thus likely to express pride, bravery, loyalty, victory, and defeat.[5]
Athletes
Derek Loville is a former American football running back who cried on a regular basis before taking to the field on game days.[2] When his teammate was asked about this frequent behaviour, he associates it to his love of playing football.[6] In this regard, his crying was treated with respect from the media.[2]
Tim Tebow is a former American football quarterback who broke into tears after losing the Southeastern Conference (SEC) final to Alabama.[2] However, he received criticism and was labelled as a "crybaby" and "a little girl."[7] In this instance, spectators reacted negatively to his cries as "crying after a loss, of course, is unacceptable if that athlete is responsible for the loss."[8] This showing reactivates the narrative that there is a proper, accepted way to cry that still complies to that of masculinity.
References
- ↑ Masculinity. (2008). In W. A. Darity, Jr. (Ed.), International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences (2nd ed., Vol. 5, pp. 1-5). Detroit, MI: Macmillan Reference USA. Retrieved from http://link.galegroup.com.ezproxy.library.ubc.ca/apps/doc/CX3045301474/GVRL?u=ubcolumbia&sid=GVRL&xid=76840e78
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 MacArthur, H. J., & Shields, S. A. (2015). There’s No Crying in Baseball, or Is There? Male Athletes, Tears, and Masculinity in North America. Emotion Review, 7(1), 39–46. https://doi.org/10.1177/1754073914544476
- ↑ Fivush, R., Brotman, M. A., Buckner, J. P., & Goodman, S. H. (2000). Gender differences in parent-child emotion narratives. Sex Roles, 41(3), 233-253. Retrieved from http://ezproxy.library.ubc.ca/login?url=https://search-proquest-com.ezproxy.library.ubc.ca/docview/225371725?accountid=14656
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Adler, P., Kless, S., & Adler, P. (1992). Socialization to Gender Roles: Popularity among Elementary School Boys and Girls. Sociology of Education, 65(3), 169-187. doi:10.2307/2112807
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Fischer A. H., Bekker M. H., Vingerhoets A. J. J. M., Becht M., Manstead A. S. (2004). Femininity, masculinity, and the riddle of crying. In Nyklícek I., Temoshok L., Vingerhoets A. J. J. M. (Eds.), Emotional expression and health: Advances in theory, assessment and clinical applications (pp. 289–302). New York, NY: Brunner-Routledge.
- ↑ Lutz T. (1999). Crying: The natural and cultural history of tears. New York, NY: Norton.
- ↑ Wong Y. J., Steinfeldt J. A., LaFollette J. R., Tsao S. C. (2011). Men’s tears: Football players’ evaluations of crying behavior. Psychology of Men & Masculinity, 12, 297–310. doi:10.1037/a0020576
- ↑ Schottey M. A. (2013). The rules for crying in sports. Retrieved from http://www.askmen.com/sports/fanatic_250/273_the-rules-for-crying-in-sports.html