The Male Body Notes

The Double Bind of Masculinity

• Cultural Representations: Officially, our culture has moved beyond Victorian ideas of men as instinct-driven and women as guardians of civilization. However, popular science and media are re-establishing the notion that men are testosterone-driven and promiscuous.
• Evolutionary Explanations: Evolutionary science suggests men seek quantity in sexual partners while women seek quality (protection, resources).
• "Hot Man" Thesis: Versions appear throughout culture, reinforced by pop psychology and media.
• John Gray's Metaphors: Men are from Mars, women are from Venus. Men are like rubber bands, women are like waves.
• Critique of Sexual Difference: Gray seems to overemphasize sexual difference, suggesting men and women share no common ground.
• Male Sexuality: Likened to a blowtorch (heats up and cools down quickly), while women are like ovens (heat up and cool down slowly).
• Evolutionary Argument: Aggressive male sexuality is favored by natural selection.

"Boys Will Be Boys": The Cost to Girls and Boys

• Conflicting Messages: Culture sends mixed messages to men. They are encouraged to be aggressive and competitive, but also to respect women and yield to "no".
• Media Influence: TV shows often reinforce the idea that men are animals, and it's acceptable.
• Double Standard: The culture rewards aggression in sports, but expects young men to control their bodies and desires.
• Cultural Adoration of Athletes: The cultural obsession with male athletes leads to a sense of entitlement that doesn't mesh well with respecting rights or women.
• Double-Edged Sword: Belief in male aggression as natural can harm ordinary boys, who are then labeled as potentially "toxic."
• Homophobia: Boys who don't conform to macho standards are often taunted and labeled as gay.
• Mitchell's Dilemma: Thoughtful, caring boys may feel paralyzed between acting "like a man" and fear of offending.

The Double Bind of Masculinity

• Definition: A double bind is a situation with mutually incompatible instructions.
• Social Application: Boys are rewarded for aggression but also expected to control it.
• Fictional Heroes: Heroes often embody both untamed charisma and gentleness with women.
• Disney's Beauty and the Beast: The beast combines civility with animal rage, sexualized in a way that appeals to Beauty.
• Sexual Complementarity: The idea that men's hot sexuality is needed to ignite women can lead to men not taking "no" for an answer.
• Mixed Messages: Women receive mixed messages about flirting versus clearly indicating intentions.

Resolution

• Not all men are predators: as a species we have the capacity to produce non-demonic males.
• Not genetics or culture alone, both. The interplay betweem them determines the male archetypes developed.
• Need to address male and female roles: acting as if boys and girls are from the same can protect society from the negative outcomes of male violence.
• Need to detach males from exclusive cultures: when males grow up isolated and bonded within a separate male culture bad things can happen to women.