Fighting For His Masculinity by Erin Mangan

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 hard, especially for a guy like me that is actively working against all the stereotypes. Like, I’m not going to stop fighting but it makes it feel like it is for nothing.” Many parts of what Owen explained reminded me of Jaramillo (2019) in how boys are not reinforced in being emotionally vulnerable. With societal factors of strength and toughness weighing on men, aggressive outburst and drinking can be an easy connection. Overall stressing the importance of understanding societal pressures and pushing past them through conversation, experience and education.