The Selling Of Masculinity

[ismnotwasm]

The topic of masculinity is one I come back to over and over again because it’s a long-running question for many men. The search for an identity and finding one’s own definition of what it means to be a man is an important part of maturity for young men, one that has been with us through most of recorded history. The question of the role and meaning of masculinity is especially strong in younger men – men in their late teens and early twenties – as they strike out to find their own place in the world. It’s only natural to look to the world around us for gender cues and role-models to guide us through the thorny questions of gender identity and the role to take in the world.

Unfortunately, mass media doesn’t send the greatest of messages about how to be a man. In fact, we are regularly bombarded with messages selling the idea that masculinity is violent, physically aggressive and sexually domineering and that anger and stoic toughness are the only appropriate emotions for men to display. Male-oriented advertising is targeting young and impressionable men looking for guidance… so it’s time to take a look at just what they’re selling.

Manhood For Sale
Amanda Hess’ article in Slate Magazine alerted me to a study examining just how masculinity is pitched to young men. In the most recent issue of the journal Sex Roles, psychologists from the University of Manitoba examined the prevalence of hypermasculinity – the ideology of exaggerated male traits as the epitome of masculine identity – in advertisements in popular men’s magazines including Maxim, Playboy, Game Informer, Fortune, Esquire and Wired. Hypermasculinity portrays violence and physical aggression as manly ideals; it promotes a world where all of male life is a struggle of dominance of others, where sex is a matter of power and female submission rather than one of intimacy and mutual pleasure and that any “feminine” emotions are to be repressed.


Seriously, Freud would be having a field-day here.
The researchers kept track of ads that fit into the definition of hypermasculine – ads that showed men as violent, physically aggressive, hypersexual or participating in “dangerous” activities for the thrill of it all – and cross-referenced them with the demographics that the magazines targeted. For those of you who like to crunch the math, the methodology can be found in the report – it’s a tad involved but the end results were interesting. Over half of ads in men’s magazines presented over-the-top imagery from hypermasculine ideology – upwards of 90% in some magazines like Game Informer. Moreover, hypermasculine imagery was predominantly aimed at two audiences: younger men (adolescents and men in their early 20s) and older working-class men without college educations.

http://www.doctornerdlove.com/2013/03/selling-masculinity/

This, from a blog that dispenses dating and love advice 'for nerds' --damn.

[redqueen]

1. So, nothing at all to do with rape culture, then.

Hypermasculinity portrays violence and physical aggression as manly ideals; it promotes a world where all of male life is a struggle of dominance of others, where sex is a matter of power and female submission rather than one of intimacy and mutual pleasure and that any “feminine” emotions are to be repressed.

[ismnotwasm]

6. It's the ads that blew me away

This guy is writing about men for men, but challenges gender 'norms' as presented in advertising. It's the switch side of feminist complaint of being objectified in ads, he finds the presentation of hyper-masculinity, within he narrow confines of 'what a man is' insulting and dangerous.

[redqueen]

7. Oh yeah, men like Jackson Katz have been fighting to get this message out for years.

Reactions aren't always the best, sadly.

[ismnotwasm]

9. Oddly no

He say "why aren't we finding this insulting?"

Good question

[geek tragedy]

12. We may not notice it, but rather subconsciously internalize it.

What's interesting is that the ads most demonstrating sexual domination of women are for fancy clothes and liquor--Valentino, Dolce & Gabbana, etc. The more salt of the earth stuff like whiskey and pick up trucks and guns seems to rely more upon the hypermasculinity as defined as being a man's man--being covered in blood, mud and beer.

[Little Star]

2. Wow. Good write-up.....

Also from your link:

Moreover, it’s important that women are implied to be for men’s sexual use at any time. Men, you see, are hypersexual. To be a man is to be a satyr, rampantly virile and voracious in appetite. A man is defined by his steely hard-on as much – if not more – than by his muscles or his toughness. A man is ready to fuck in a bare instant. If you aren’t able to have an erection so hard that you could fuck concrete in the blink of an eye… well shit son, you’re just not a man.

Mind you, these are very strict heterosexual standards. The story of manhood in these messages is one of a very narrowly defined form of heteronormativity; to deviate even slightly from this model of manhood is to be feminine, which is a fate worse than anything short of emasculation.

The constant underlying subtext is that if you don’t meet the implied definition of manliness, you’re a fag; you have given up your identity as a (dominant) male to take on the subservient, female role. In this ideology, being gay is almost worse than being a woman, since it’s a man choosing to be penetrated – and thus, dominated – rather than the one in charge. To not be in absolute control is to be lesser. Anything with a whiff of femininity – including the expression of any emotions (besides anger or stony indifference that is), caring about one’s appearance or even drinking the wrong beverages - is to be violently repressed.

[Marr]

3. That last sentence you quoted there really caught my eye.

Just read the article as well-- interesting topic. For a long time I've been noticing the rise of a certain type of super-macho advertising, particularly on television. The Chevy commercials are an example. It's ruggedness taken to the point of silliness-- but it's not meant to be silly.

There's this archetype that's promoted as hyper-masculine all over the media, but it seems juvenile and stupid to me. From "man caves" (how is this not a club house, again?) to ostentatiously overpowered vehicles that are really just oversized toys, the 'masculinity' is sold as little more than a BIGGER version of childhood. I'd never considered it's appeal along demographic lines, however. Very interesting.

[Liberal_in_LA]

4. how about those burger commercials, man taking big bite of beef

[Marr]

14. Oh yeah-- that's actually one that's always confused me.

I mean, how is it more macho to be a fat tub, at the mercy of his cravings for junk food? It seems like the macho thing would be eating extremely healthy food with no regard for taste. I mean-- it would certainly fit better with the whole "stoic" thing, at least.

But it's just the opposite. Maybe it's because that would show a concern for ones' appearance? I have no idea.

[hfojvt]

5. are there really a huge percentage of males reading those magazines

much less paying attention to the ads in them?

Wouldn't it make more sense to look at television ads, which both have a much larger audience and are much harder to avoid?

[ismnotwasm]

8. Booze ads are everywhere

And there are a variety of magazines that men do read, that have similar examples-- say Sports Illustrated, other sports type male gears magazines that ads like these are in. Or even popular mechanic

But a look at television ads for say, trucks, which may or may not be overtly sexualizing women, still will reinforce an expectation of a certain masculinity. The complaints I hear from men, here on DU and elsewhere is that they are often presented in television ads as buffoons, inept and awkward. Even in those 'bro' ads there may well a contrast and compare, the the objectified, desirable female going off in a car with a more polished masculine male-- with a certain car, suit, type of drink-- whatever is being old

[hfojvt]

20. sports illustrated has a weekly circulation of 8 million+

so out of 110 million households, less than 10% of them are getting Sports Illustrated. Whereas 12 million people are watching NCIS on an average night.

Which is still a pretty small proportion of the US population of 310 million.

As for the ubiquitous booze ads, So far none of them have even convinced me to buy booze. Am I supposed to believe that they are shaping my lifestyle when they cannot even achieve their primary purpose?

Anyway, I still would think that a TV ad is more likely to be watched than a magazine ad is to be read.

[ismnotwasm]

30. Okey dokey

I'm not sure what you're trying too say exactly, but I take it that you believe advertisements and other presentations of masculinity have nothing to do with how you present gender?

It's all good. I'm not here to argue.

[Uncle Joe]

10. The corporate media isn't really selling masculinity; that's just the Trojan Horse gift

primarily to younger men and to some degree younger women as well.

The hidden present (what they're really selling) to the American People is eternal war in service to the mega corporations which dominate or own the corporate media, all the hyped up masculinity, aggression and soulless sexuality is just the means to that suicidal end.

Thanks for the thread, ismnotwasm.

[geek tragedy]

11. I struggle to see who benefits from promoting hypermasculinity.

Obviously, it does get promoted, but it leads to a rape culture and violence towards women and "short, brutish and stupid" lives for men.

It's easy to blame capitalism, Madison Avenue, etc. But is there a deeper dynamic at play?

[LongTomH]

13. The article, and the blog, is interesting and insightful.

I think he's right about the hypermasculinity ads being targeted toward blue-collar males and to the young in general. Since 2000 and especially since the 'Great Recession,' young men have been denied many of the traditional male roles, such as breadwinner (even co-breadwinner) and father (Young people are still putting off marriage due until they can find a job that can support a family!).

There's another article on the Dr. NerdLove site: What Does It Mean To Be A Man? that goes into this:

The anxiety about what manhood manifests itself in myriad ways. As the economy crashed, news media began to run breathless articles about the “man-cession” – the struggle for men to find or keep work while women outnumbered them for the first time in the workplace. Universities were thought to have reached a point of crisis as male attendance began to wane and the performance of male students flagged behind women. Pop culture brings us shows like Mad Men wade into the nostalgia of a lost era when “men were men” while fantasy series such as The Walking Dead or Game of Thrones externalizes the concept of masculine power versus feminine in a realm where the rules as we know them have been tossed aside and every day is a literal struggle to survive. Movies celebrate the overgrown man-child and what it means to grow up. Men, desperate for an external source to help quell the insecurity and nagging feeling that something is missing turn to groups that promise to restore that feeling of “manliness”, whether it’s the Promise Keepers or the Pick Up Artist community.

[seabeyond]

15. and rape rape rape in every bit of mens entertainment. bro code. love this man

http://vimeo.com/29397650


thanks for your article. gonna read it.

[redqueen]

17. Posting so I hopefully won't forget to watch this later. nt

[seabeyond]

18. i didnt even watched. just picked it up. assume it is the same i have seen. luv it.

i better take a peek first, though.

[ismnotwasm]

16. I'm trying to decide which is worse

Promise keepers or Pick up artists. Ew. Just ew

[redqueen]

19. Two sides of the same misogynist coin IMO.

Both are creepy as fuck and need to just do womankind a favor and GTOW.

[randome]

21. Hm. What's wrong with a man trying to talk a woman into sex?

[redqueen]

23. Are you kidding?

If not, here:

http://www.xojane.com/issues/i-am-going-to-dropkick-the-next-dudebro-who-tells-me-coercive-sex-is-consenting-sex

[randome]

24. Ah. 'Coercive' sex, we're on the same page.

I thought 'pick up artists', mentioned by ismnotwasm and referenced by you, meant anyone trying to talk someone into having sex.

There's nothing wrong with talk so long as it's not coercive, I agree with that.

[redqueen]

25. Just as we saw DUers claim they weren't sure about what counted as rape,

Many PUA practitioners seem to be confused as to the nature of consent.

...

It’s really very simple. The issues are:

1. CONSENT and Sexual Assaut/Rape: There are specific PUA books, e-newsletters, trainings, DVDs, lairs, bootcamps, and other “trainings” given by PUA “schools” that INTENTIONALLY teach men methods such as “ASD” (Anti-Slut Defense) and “LMR” (Last-Minute Resistance) and which also advocate the use of hypnosis and/or NLP (neuro-linquist programming) methods to psychologically and/or physically coerce women into having sex with them.

We see this is as negligent on the part of the PUA “schools” given that they are teaching men methods that could easily result in the sexual assault and rape of women. PUA trainers do not seem to be educating these men that their PUA actions could easily result in sexual assault and/or rape – and they are not even reviewing with these men what the legal defintions of CONSENT, Lack of Consent, Sexual Assault, Date Rape, and Rape are.

...

3. The PUA “language” is degrading to women:

This is self-explanatory, but it’s very important to realize that this language comes from a belief system about women that has unfortunately been borrowed from extremist MRA (men’s rights advocates) groups. Many MRA groups use HATE SPEECH and are HATE GROUPS. To learn more about what the FBI has to say about HATE GROUPS, see the FBI paper on this blog under “Just for PUAs” and also on the sitemap. Also, see this link: http://www.fbi.gov/hq/cid/civilrights/hate.htm

“Hypergamy” and the idea that women want to be treated with indifference or badly, negged, ignored, controlled, “led”, or kept on their toes is completely untrue.

...

http://gameovernow.wordpress.com/

[ismnotwasm]

26. No totally different

Trying to Talking someone into sex is something all genders can do. As long it's honestly on the table, eventually you either say yes and it's a go, or you say no and it might a regret for lost opportunity for your old age.

The Pick up artist 'community' at least from what they post on- line, are just disturbing. and probably disturbed

It'd rather go watch '100 tears' again than wade through their blogs. But I do once in a while anyway. Yuk.

[lunatica]

22. Ads create a fantasy. That's why they work

Actually they basically are about existing fantasy taken to a bizarre level.

[llmart]

27. This is a long overdue conversation that our country needs to have.

Let's not forget the ridiculous hate radio/hate TV shows that sprouted up during the Clinton years. I don't know the statistics, but I'll bet it's mostly men who listen to these blowhards. Didn't the phrase "angry white male" come about during that era? Rush and idiots like him stoked the flames with their feminazi labels and anti gay rants. They want to bring back the '50's for one reason only - because men were handed everything (white men) even without having to work for it just by virtue of being men. People like him poke fun at men who have real emotions which they define as emotions other than hate and anger.

[nolabels]

28. This Macho Male thing has been promulgated for thousands of years

Even with a whole army of writers and others you still will have a hard time taking most any of it down through lines of communications. When people see it as a real need to do so and not act like a jerk then things will change. Until then don't hold your breath. I see it happening but it's been kind of a slow transition.

It's sort of like a cult thing, a few blaze the trail and the others follow along because it looks cool

[ismnotwasm]

29. Heh!

[GiaGiovanni]

31. That's why humans have culture

to control their lesser angels.