Masculinity / Masculinities

Masculinity / Masculinities

What is "masculinity"?  What are "masculinities"?  What defines these concepts?  Use examples from Orwell's 1984 as well as those drawn from popular culture, literature, advertising, and so forth to furnish your response.

When I first read the blog topic for this week, I was unsure of how to respond. When I think of masculinity I originally think about courage, bravery and war, as being what I have learnt over the years.  But according to today’s media, men are most often stereotyped as being the Jock, the Athlete or the Nerd. But in the novel 1984, people are seen as equals, if they are doing their part in helping the party, so stereotyping is not occurring, as often, in their society.

        When looking at the title again, I instantly begin to think about masculinity and its portrayal in 1984; thinking about the title of Big Brother and how it links to being masculine. With the slogan of the party, “BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU”, this causes people to be constantly looking over their shoulder and worry if their actions are considered to be ungood. This insecurity of Oceania’s citizens allows for the party’s upperhand to gain control, with having its presence known, which unfortunately for the rest of the population influences their daily life.

        Certain scenes come to mind when thinking about masculinity in regards to 1984.  It seems to me that in this time period when the book was written, men, wearing their long black coats with top hats, have more power and authority than women. This perspective of social classes is brought into the society where the story takes place. But in our modern day times, women are often applauded when standing up for what they believe, even if they are standing up against men. Feminists are becoming more and more apparent, thus causing females to gain some power.

        Nowadays, men and women are objectified in advertising. But for some reason, people always buy into it. Stereotyping is often used as a tactic, and unfortunately people do not seem to mind or care. People need to see that the media and its advertisements basically control the products they are buying. The media business is a cruel one, and I hope that in the near future they will be able to figure out how to advertise such products in less objectifying ways.        

I find that the term masculinity is becoming less often used because people are becoming more equal and are able to think on our own without corporations shoving their products down on throats. I believe that these big corporations are like our own Big Brother, monitoring what products we own of theirs and whether or not we are satisfied. They are always looking for people to use their products, in which by using their advertisements they are able to control what we think and thus influencing our decisions of everyday life. I hope that sometime in the short future, people will be able to think for themselves and decide which products THEY want to use.

But right now in the future, I am, like most people are content and can easily be convinced to wear, say, or act like the advertisements want me too.