Essay #2 - March 24, 2015

Katie Covey
English 460
Essay #2
March 24, 2015

Hyper Masculinity in Our Culture
   
Hyper masculinity is an issue that is not only becoming immune in our society, but it is helping play into acts of sexual violence and assault. It is seen in every day contemporary society, yet it has become yet another facet of an exempt topic. Hyper masculinity is seen in a variety of cultural ways through entertainment, such as movies, sports, and books to even more of a day to day professional basis, such as the army or even heads of corporations in the business world. Unfortunately, hyper masculinity is also seen through a monetary value. In the business world alike, it is seen far too much that women take a pay cut far more often than men do. With just these examples, the idea of hyper masculinity may be one of the main causes behind aggression and hostility toward women alike, leading to these types of personalities being the perpetrators behind rape.
    According to Dr. Sarah Edwards, lead researcher behind the study titled Denying Rape by Endorsing Forceful Intercourse: Exploring Differences Among Responders says that men who have hostile feelings towards women along with negative interactions, tend to be the men who project the personalities that many rapists have. However, men who said they wouldn’t directly state that they would rape during this research fall under the hyper masculine classification. This specific group of men that fell under the classification that they would not rape a woman, said they would force a women into having sexual intercourse. Edwards stated, “In general, they objectify women and feel expected to be ‘sexually dominant’ and display some traits of hyper masculinity.” (Frost) Edwards found that working with hyper masculinity and the males that fall under this category, tend to display very different personalities than that of rapists. “If you’re working with hyper masculinized groups, you think of the usual suspects. Male sports -- it’s very competitive, there’s a big focus on body image and the idea that bodies are power and you’re taught to value physical conquest over others.” (Frost) With these extrinsic proofs and Edwards testimony about the hyper masculine category, behaviors of forceful aggression can lead to rape. And we see still see many cases of rape and athletes all around the nation. Many well known college campus rape stories that hit newsstands do involve athletes, such as Florida State University’s Jameis Winston or the Vanderbilt case, that involved multiple football players who were found guilty of numerous different counts of sexual violence. Hyper masculinity does heavily play into the Vanderbilt case. In this specific case, the victim was gang raped by multiple football players in a dorm room. Competition is a key here, displaying that these hyper masculine males felt the need to compete with one another. Rhoda Jordan, writer for the Huffington Post, perfectly defined hyper masculinity in a recent blog posting. “Simple: It's the delusion that masculinity is king. That aggression, toughness and competition trump compassion, expression and collaboration.” (Jordan) This perfectly describes the hyper masculinity that can be found in our contemporary society today.
    Sports do conduct a tenacious view of hyper masculinity, however the army also subsists a very heavy hold on hyper masculinity. Michael T. Crawford, a solider in the U.S. Army, as well as Communications Assistant for the Pennsylvania Coalition Against Rape cannot believe the rates of sexual assault that is taking place. Crawford states, “Rates of sexual assault in the military are staggering. Our service men and women deserve better than this. A culture of hyper masculinity -- strength and stoicism -- breeds the sense of power and entitlement that drives sexual assault.” (Crawford) A man, a solider and a citizen who is speaking out against rape is able to identify the problems of sexual assault within the military and he is also capable of establishing the belief that it is wrong. Hyper masculinity is not only a driving force behind sexual assault, it is a cultural norm that we are too comfortable with. This cultural norm isn’t just included in the way we think and act, it is practice through our discourse and rhetoric. Hyper masculinity is produced through our cultural needs for entertainment. Hollywood takes hyper masculinity and uses it to provide a story line in movies, advertising and even books. When Crawford began to examine and analyze the field of anti-sexual violence, Crawford said that, “Anti sexual violence brings forth a lot of introspection. For me, that has meant coming to terms with learning that my world views were largely manufactured by Hollywood and advertising. ... Everyone is exposed to the same messages, and those messages are rooted in hyper masculinity.” (Crawford)
    In Hollywood for example, hyper masculinity is seen a variety of different genres of film and TV shows. Hyper masculinity can often be found in movies that contain law enforcement or war. Just to name a few that easily came to mind, Starsky & Hutch, Fight Club, The Terminator, or even the classics, like James Bond. With these movies, come the existence of gender roles and the objectification of women. As movies are just one facet of Hollywood, music, often seen in Hip-Hop or Country, women are also objectified to look pretty and do what the man wants. The unfortunate case in our society has now used to this discourse and we are now paying for it in the result of sexual assault. Our use of language as well as our practiced norms are setting up our society and younger generations for failure against rape. And unfortunately, it is not just happening in the United States, it is universal phenomenon.
    Crawford agrees with such a statement.
    “Hyper masculinity is not just unique to the Army, or any branch of service. That’s     national. Hell, that’s global. And sadly, to a degree, it’s necessary for a select group of     men and women who ultimately have to pull the trigger, so others don’t have to. But     instead of being treated as the conditionally necessary evil it is, the world celebrates this     kind of "macho" behavior. That kind of behavior is rewarded, and the people who have     been force-fed these messages their entire lives wind up in the military.” (Crawford)
The frightening truth behind masculinity is just that. It is a celebrated type of behavior we see in our daily lives. This is practiced in almost all stages of life; from the time we are children and playing with the neighbors to the time we are old sitting in our chair, while my husband and I are drinking tea, that I made for him... The unfortunate matter of the fact detail is, hyper masculinity is an underlying bearing that we will always see in some place in our lives. Hyper masculinity can and does begin at a young age. With a number of diverse reasons that can contribute to the development of hyper masculinity, young men will begin to evolve these habits into unspeakable and terrifying actions, such as rape. Many do contribute hyper masculinity to the patriarchal system that the U.S. has carved out for young boys growing up. Gender roles can be based on this type of system, where male entitlement becomes active in a young man’s life. Other things that contribute to an adolescent's young life is how the control of the family is portrayed and the urgency to compete with others. With so many different factors to consider, hyper masculinity can be seen through a variety of family habits. Patriarchal routine can lead to family violence and be an origin for hyper masculinity. According to Ian Gault, a presenter at the No To Violence Conference, presented his findings and proofs about the Macho Man and how hyper masculinity and adolescent behavior can lead to it. When young males are born into families that have a patriarchal system, they tend to produce hyper masculine behavior.
    “Encouragement of violence and sex can lead hyper masculine fathers to be complicit in     their sons' sexual violence, for example, by excusing the behavior and minimizing it to     police. [Ian says,] "The message is 'You can have your fun and get away with it too'.     That's incredibly important, because in patriarchal families, the father is seen as the most     important person." (Gault)
With this testimony from Gault, the extrinsic proof is displaying that these types of families are creating and producing young men that may possibly be perpetrators in the future. This type of control and desire for power create men who also rule over the business world and bring hyper masculinity into this area of culture too.
    In today’s world, it is more common to see a woman in a commanding position, if not top position in the business world. However, women still struggle receiving the same pay grade that men do on an average income. Based on empirical data from Institute for Women’s Policy Research, women still earn quite a bit less than men do.
    “In 2013, female full-time workers made only 78 cents for every dollar earned by men, a     gender wage gap of 22 percent. Women, on average, earn less than men in virtually every     single occupation for which there is sufficient earnings data for both men and women to     calculate an earnings ratio.” (About Pay Equity & Discrimination)
Although hyper masculinity cannot be proven to be directly tied with thus data, it is can still be assumed that it plays a role. In a contemporary society, such as this one, it is hard when women begin to compete with men for higher ranking position. For so long, a traditional value was held that women would be there to support the man, that it was unseen that women could also carry out the same responsibilities that men did. Gender roles were set and for many (especially men) that was okay. However, when this began to change and women started taking over, competition emerged, which also brought aggression.  The desire and need for power and control also emerged, which are underlying attributes for hyper masculinity. When all of these things begin to merge, acts of sexual violence can begin to form. In 2006, the National Sexual Violence Resource Center gathered information from the Equal Employment Opportunity Council and received 12,025 charges of sexual assault (15.4% filed by males). (What is Workplace Sexual Violence?) And unfortunately, there are many different types of sexual violences that can occur. The NSVCR stated that jokes about rape or women as sex objects was the most frequently used behavior, with language, images, pay inequity, verbal abuse following, then at the top being physical abuse, rape and sexual assault.
    With all of this data, it is easy to testify that the culture of rape, sexual violence, hyper masculinity and gender roles are becoming much more of an immune behavior. Among the cultural norms that are produced on a daily basis plus the origins of patriarchal habits and family violence, hyper masculinity is becoming much more common and celebrated in our daily lives. With the perpetual existence of hyper masculinity, hostility and aggression will continue to thrive in our society and from that will branch more occurrences of sexual assault and violence in the work place, on college campuses and in our daily lives. With the hermetic cultural that persists to carry these norms, society will not see change unless we can begin to penetrate the walls of hyper masculinity.



References:
"About Pay Equity & Discrimination." Institute for Women's Policy Research. Institute for Women's Policy Research, 1 Jan. 2014. Web. <http://www.iwpr.org/initiatives/pay-equity-and-discrimination>.

Crawford, Michael. "A Culture of Hypermasculinity Is Driving Sexual Assault in the Military." Huffington Post 4 Apr. 2014. Huffington Post. Web. 4 Mar. 2015. <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-t-crawford/a-culture-of-hypermasculi_b_5147191.html>.

Frost, Aja. "Study Examines Rape, Hypermasculinity and Hostility in College Men." USA Today - College 21 Jan. 2015. USA Today. Web. 5 Mar. 2015. <http://college.usatoday.com/2015/01/21/study-examines-rape-hypermasculinity-and-hostility-in-college-men/>.

Gault, Ian. "Macho Man: Hyper - Masculinity and Adolescent Dating Violence." Www.ntvconference.org. No to Violence, 16 Nov. 2012. Web. <http://ntv.org.au/conference/wp-content/uploads/2012-ntv-conference-workshop-3d-macho-man-doc.pdf>.

Jordan, Rhoda. "The Problem With Masculinity." HuffingtonPost.com. Huffington Post, 7 July 2014. Web. 12 Mar. 2015.

"What Is Workplace Sexual Violence?" Http://www.nsvrc.org. Http://www.nsvrc.org. Web. <http://www.nsvrc.org/sites/default/files/file/SAAM/SAAM_WPSV-Factsheet.pdf>.