Blog #3

"Be a man about it."

          I have heard this saying numerous times in my life, and I am not even a man. Jon Dukes came into our class with a very interesting, different topic to talk about, something called the "Man Box." Now, whenever people think of someone being objectified, or being held to unrealistic standards, our minds always jump to women. It is not our fault, it is just what we are exposed to (AKA the social media). Jon, on the other hand, brought up these topics but with men in mind. Men, just as women, face the unrealistic standards imposed upon us by the media. Why does no one talk about men? Well, my theory is because they do not talk about it themselves.
          The men in my life, most anyway, fit fairly well into this thing Jon introduced, a "Man Box." A "Man Box" is something that women and men have put men into. "Be a man about it" is just one of the examples that men hear on the daily. It is society's view that men should have the power, be the breadwinners, have exceptional muscle tone, and so on. Everyone knows it, this is what we consider to be a so called "man." And this is what the "Man Box" is, where all of these traits lie and thus, where men "should" lie as well.
          Now, these traits are not by any means bad, for if we had no one to lead, we would not get anywhere. If families did not have anyone to make the money, they would starve. And having exceptional muscle tone can, if speaking about all natural muscle tone, be indicative of a very healthy individual. It is the fact that these traits that men are "supposed" to have have caused those who don't match up to feel inferior and bad about themselves that makes the "Man Box" bad. Who is to say that a man cannot be a stay-at-home dad? Or brush his daughters hair and paint her nails? These acts have been seen as "women's duties" and therefore if men do them they are some how emasculated. Now, these views I believe are starting to change. I believe that we are already seeing a shift-change to being more flexible about what is feminine and what is masculine, and it is awesome to see.
          Thinking that men go through having to live up to unrealistic standards just as women do is, in an odd way, enlightening. I mean this in a way that, as much as men make themselves seem emotionless and strong most of the time, that they too are human and feel just as much as women do but just express themselves differently.