College Masculinity

       There are many different photographs that I have come across while searching for a photo that represent masculinity in college age boys but this specific one caught my attention for a couple different reasons. I feel like in college there are specific expectations that boys are “supposed” to meet. For instance I feel like one of the expectations is that boys can't cry or be sad. This picture shows a boy with the words “Man Up” on his forehead. If you look at the boys face you can tell that he's not happy whatsoever. He looks like he has feelings and I feel like for boys in college that is not technically acceptable. I feel like there is a stereotype that surrounds college age boys. They aren't supposed to be sad, they are disrespectful towards girls or anyone they consider to be below them, and they are dominant or in control. I for one know that all of these things do not happen on college campuses. When these things go a different way than planned that is when boys

                                The two most popular forms of social media that affect the opinions and social status of students in college right now seem to be Tiktok and Yik Yak. They are apps that people use to find information, entertainment, and inspiration, but that’s not always a good thing. Yik Yak is a place students go to send anonymous messages, usually about other people, to the entire university. In terms of masculinity, people often send messages like “(male name) from (dorm hall) has a big dick” and this wording both sexualizes the person named and makes them a bully target for other males.  Tiktok is an app where anyone can post a video and gain millions of views and traction. The most popular videos shown are often stereotypically attractive men showing off their bodies, making comedic videos but then shutting women out of the joke, and stating opinions heavily influenced by normative masculinity. Trends appear pretty fast on Tiktok, one of the more recent ones being

   Disclaimer : Gun violence, Abuse  This clip is from a very popular TV show for most teens and young adults. The show is called Euphoria and it takes place in a high school and all the actors play high school aged kids. The show is supposed to portray a typical high school life during the present time. It follows a 17 year old girl going through drug addiction while also showing her friends and the problems they have in their lives. This scene involves a girl named Maddie and her ex boyfriend Nate. I think that this clip is a perfect example of toxic masculinity because it shows Nate taking a gun to Maddies head and even to his own head to scare her into getting what he wants out of her. This clip also shows that this kind of toxic masculinity can happen at any age. This show is not the only show that portrays male characters as abusers that use fear to get what they want. 

      Does “toxic” masculinity apply to all men in college? Of course not. This article provides many examples of how fraternities lose members due to the “alpha” man stereotypes. In the article “Fraternities’ problem isn’t the partying—it’s the toxic masculinity at their core” it is noted that excessive partying, sexual questions/conversations and harassment are considered “normal” in some male Greek life on campuses around the country. Peer pressure in the consumption of alcohol is a slippery slope that often leads to life and death situations. Every year there are news articles on student deaths due to hazing, tragic losses due to a hyper-masculine aggression and peer pressure. It puts into perspective the fear young female students have walking around campus, knowing that drunken aggressors could appear any minute. In Beneke (1982), the article discusses how the night impedes on woman's lives due to fear of sexual assault/harassment. Women are forced to change their schedule a

  “Gender, Masculinity, and COVID-19” By Christina Ewig (2020) talks about studies and statistics in relation to masculinity and its effects on the COVID-19 crisis. It’s weird how wearing a mask can be seen as a feminine thing to do, but it’s not uncommon for a masculinity standard to form in any functioning rule for society. Ewig (2020) reminds us that gender is not biology and we form masculinity standards based on social norms and symbols that are dependent on one’s biological sex. It’s socially normal for men to not wash their hands after using the bathroom, smoke, and drink; so much so that they have higher statistical rates in all those things in comparison to women. These set men up to catch COVID-19 at much faster and higher rates than women. Especially in a college setting, closed spaces like dorms and classrooms promote the spread of the virus and masculinity can be a solid cause.  As a male myself, I’ve experienced pressure to avoid wearing my mask from other men. Just last

     From the creators behind “Miss Representation,” “The Mask You Live In” by Jennifer Siebel Newsom (2015) focuses on the effects of normative and toxic masculinity on boys and men. Similar to “Miss Representation” (2011), “The Mask You Live In” focuses on the effects of media, social interactions, and environment on masculinity. Dr. James Gilligan, A psychiatrist and educator stated, “whether it’s homicidal violence or suicidal violence, people resort to such desperate behavior only when they are feeling shame and humiliated or feel they would be if they didn’t prove that they were real men” (Newsom, 2015). Similarly in college, men get into fights and arguments over girls, games, sports, etc. to prove they are more of a man than the other. Whoever wins the fight is more masculine because of the belief that strength and anger correlate to being a male. We’ve constructed an idea of masculinity that doesn’t allow men to feel secure in their own masculinity, they have to prove it (News

    Toxic masculinity has a huge effect on college students in my opinion. This video shows a girl who is at the university of Georgetown. During the video she goes around asking random students their opinion on toxic masculinity. She asks what students think and she asks people to describe toxic masculinity using two words. Most of the women who answer the first question have a huge problem with the topic and think that there needs to be work done to improve toxic masculinities on college campuses. When the second question was asked to the girls there is a slight pause, many of them didn't know how to describe it. Most of the men who answered question one really didn't see much of a problem with the topic and didn't know how to answer question 2 either. As you can see this video shows how girls on college campuses feel VS how boys on college campuses feel about toxic masculinities. The girls in the video talk about how they feel sexualized by the boys who “walk around with

       For my offline interview I decided to interview my cousin who is an Ohio University Alumni. I interviewed my cousin. He was in a fraternity here at OU and I asked him a few questions about masculinities on this campus. The first question that I asked him was if he thought there was a problem with toxic masculinity around campus when he was going to school here. He answered with the words "not necessarily" which I found very interesting. He said that the people he hung out with and his fraternity didn't have a problem but he said that he saw it in other frats when he was out on the town at the bars. I then asked him if he ever felt like he had to do something because he was expected to do it by other boys in his fraternity and that question he answered easily with a yes. He said he felt he had to drink more or stay out longer if his “buddies” were also doing those things which is like peer pressure. Although I didn't interview her, I feel like it is important to

As a more personal piece I have interviewed an Ohio University Male student on his opinions on the transfer in expectations of behavior from high school to college. Owen Cox is a 21 year old Public Design/User Experience Major who lives in a house on campus. Coming from a public school in Dayton Ohio he had experience with the “toxic” masculinity of high school by using “gay” as a derogatory term. While we were discussing “cliques” of social settings he mentioned the standards and grouping of people do not change. Although people do learn and try to escape from this culture it forms naturally as common activities/Greek life/sports draw in “clique” behavior. One of my questions was centered around if Owen believed that fraternities have anything to do with part of the generalization of all men with “toxic” masculinity. Owen responds with “Absolutely. I think when you get a bunch of guys, with the same ideals of drinking and aggression that it will just feed those stereotypes. It's h

https://www.wiley.com/enus/College+Men+and+Masculinities%3A+Theory%2C+Research%2C+and+Implications+for+Practice+-p-9780470448427     “College Men and Masculinities: Theory, Research, and Implications for Practice” (2010) by Shaun R. Harper and rank Harris III follows the effects of masculinity on college men. While written 12 years ago, I strongly believe this book holds an accurate representation of our current issues with masculinity. Similarly to Pascoe (2007), this book focuses on how men feed off of each other to grow these harmful stereotypes against themselves in a battle to see who’s more “masculine”. Harper and Harris (2010) define college men portrayed as, “drunken, promiscuous, academically disengaged lovers of pornography, sports, and video games who rape women, physically assault each other, vandalize buildings on campus, and dangerously risk their lives pledging sexist, racially exclusive, homophobic fraternities” (p. 10). As sad as it is, It’s easy to apply all of these