Since the advent of the 21st century, the American man has been depicted to being in a very sorry state. This worrisome trend goes against the aspect of hegemonic masculinity that largely characterised the previous centuries. Since time immemorial, the gender practice in America and almost all other parts of the world guaranteed the man a dominant social position, while the women could only assume the subordinate social position. However, the situation has changed with time and the 21st woman has been observed to go beyond her territory to the point of domineering over the male gender. Largely unnoticed is the fact that, even as the modern woman is soaring beyond their limits in the context of social, political, financial and career life, the modern man on the other hand has been falling, underperforming, giving up and ultimately flipping off his future, while at the same time still hiding these shortcomings behind their ego (Garcia, 3). In this paper, through the use of relevant peer-reviewed academic sources, I will seek to expound on the question on how elements such as race and sexual orientation influence men’s social development in the contemporary American society in our quest to explaining the issue of masculinity in the modern man.
My intended inquiry will respond to the numerous public allegations that the current man is slowly retrogressing and the claims that he has been overtaken by the female gender in almost all aspects of life. My research dwells largely on the issues discussed in the book Decline of men by Guy Garcia, that asserts that the gender wars that stated ages ago seems to have come to an end after the male gender gave up the fight (12), I will be able to focus on some of the ideas that Garcia has highlighted in this book to explain the current state of the said transformation and its importance to the generations to come. As these changes takes place the modern American man still appears to the public domain as one who is capable and still possess an unchallenged position in our society. It is obvious that men are still in the lead when it comes to the issue of politics, career life and also social life. Some authors criticise the comments by giving concrete evidence that the modern man is still on the lead and appears to be enjoying most of the benefits that comes by in life. Most of these authors that argue that man has not changed a great deal over time claims that the purported decline of man is a mere myth that has been made catchy for them to appear to be faring poorly to the public eye.
According to a research study carried out by, Laura and Margaret, on Guyland: The Perilous World Where Boys Become Men, the number of men joining college has largely reduced, even at the elite schools. “Roughly 57% of undergraduates nationally are female, and to be specific, the girl-boy ratio will definitely tip past 60:40 in just some few years to come.” The research findings further shows that men are nowadays underperforming the women in both high school and college. Additionally, in regard to education, the research explains that the men that earned graduate degree in a sample size of 10 different education institutions in United States for the year 2012 was 12% less that their women counterparts. This research findings on the general performance of the male gender individuals in the school context is one of the most important factors to consider in my research on trying to find the probable male retrogression in the society. However, differences in opinions in regard to this issue of male masculinity exists. Authors such as sociologist Margret and Laura argues that younger men are nowadays assuming greater equality at work and also at home more than any other generation of men in the history of mankind (Rapp, Laura, and Margaret 122). These authors puts across a well-researched argument that I can largely apply in my intended research so as to come up with reasonable and reliable findings on the current state of the modern man in regard to his masculinity and position in the society.
I intend to research on my topic of study using a working thesis that Although Garcia has argued that the conflict between men and women has resulted in the plight of men, a careful examination suggests that the more detrimental conflict is between men and men themselves, with adverse effects influenced by aspects between men such as racial and cultural discrimination. My plan on how to answer this question largely lies in my definition and comparison of hegemonic masculinity, 50years ago and in the current times. As a sociological concept, hegemonic masculinity appears to be one of the best approaches to a explaining the current state of man. Through this concept, the issue of the male masculinity with regard to their purported retrogression in the societal domain can be explained effectively. The concept of hegemonic masculinity simply refers to the gender practice that guarantees a man the dominant social position while it subordinates the social position of the woman (Howson 17). Therefore, the hegemonic approach explains why and how men are known to maintain social roles over their women counterparts. I believe that, through the use of this concept and many peer-reviewed sources, I would be able to effectively compare the state of man about five six decades ago and how he has change over time with regard to his masculinity in general.
After reviewing and analysing numerous research journals and also through close observation of the current state of man, my position to this topic is that, despite the much criticism the current trend of man faces, I believe that men perform masculinity not for anyone’s approval especially for the woman but society at large. Therefore when a man appears not being manly enough, more like a woman, they are bound to be perceived as weak and powerless and ultimately judged on gender lines (Cheng 28). However, most of the research on this issue shows that indeed men are in the decline and have been performing poorly over the past few years than their predecessors. To answer this question and support my thesis statement through critical analysis of relevant resources’ that have previously been used to explain the man’s trend over time. I will seek to confirm or disapprove my thesis on man’s supposedly declining trend in their masculinity.
Among the counterarguments that I am prone to face includes the massive academic journals that shows that indeed men have not basically changed over time and if at all there have been any change, it is would be the good of man and his masculinity. Generally, the issue of masculinity has been facing varied opinions especially with the issue of the rise of women and the notion of the decline of men, through my intended research, I will clearly explain this topic by expounding on both sides of the arguments and eventually affirm or disapproving my position with regard to man’s retrogression.
Annotated Bibliography
Cheng, Yinghong. Creating the "new Man": From Enlightenment Ideals to Socialist
Realities. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, 2009. Print.
In this book Yinghong Cheng emphasiszes on the sudden emergence of a “collective man” which is retrogressive. He further explains about the general decline in the ability of man to being creative and industrious as compared to his predecessors.
Gutmann, Matthew C. Changing Men and Masculinities in Latin America. Durham, N.C.
[u.a.: Duke University Press, 2003. Print.
This book contains a variety of essays reviewing and challenging the current knowledge and understanding of masculinity in Latin America, This is a very important book to my research since it gives a lot of information about men as endangered beings and the changing gender roles in Latin America.
Howson, Richard. Challenging hegemonic masculinity. Vol. 10. Taylor & Francis, 2005.
This book explains about hegemonic masculinity. It expounds on the challenges that are facing the modern American society that has led to the alterations in the previously much-respected hierarchies of authority and gender roles. These factors that have been explained to be leading to this alterations includes social, political and economic empowerment to the woman.
McDowell, Linda. Redundant masculinities: employment change and white working class
youth. Vol. 37. Wiley. com, 2011.
This article focuses on masculinity crisis facing young, white, working class men and their absence of voice in the gender wars and opinions. It includes interviews on numerous groups of young men with regard to gender issues in America. In a different context, his article questions the low performance of poor white male children at school.
Rapp, Laura, and Margaret L. Andersen. "Guyland: The Perilous World Where Boys Become Men." Sociological Forum. Vol. 24. No. 4. Blackwell Publishing Ltd, 2009.
In this article, the authors clearly explains, with the use of critical thinking, most of the common gender issues that we encounter in our day to day lives. This article is a great source of counterarguments in regard to the decline of men since its author, Margaret and Laura are of the opinion that the current stories about the decline of man is nothing but a myth and a hyped up subject.
