There are some subtle differences in the two essays, although they both point out the negative aspect of gender norms and expectations. For Jensen, Masculinity is just a bummer. It’s all about primal conquest and competition to determine who the is Alpha male and where everyone else is on the social hierarchy. It’s exhausting and has some very negative consequences, from stress to violence towards women. He seems genuinely tired of men being forced to adhere to the strict guidelines of masculinity. Zeilinger is looking at men from the outside and seems to focus more on generalizations and complaints about the superficiality of social competition.
In “Guys Suffer From Oppressive Gender Roles Too” Zeilinger analyzes gender roles and identity. She starts with physical descriptions of men. Ideally, they are muscular, robotic and devoid of emotions and vaguely repulsive, full of “dead bunnies.” Her essay is full of antiquated ideas of a repressed male, who is scared to be sensitive and terrified to be seen crying. This may have been true for the 1950’s generation, where men were silent creatures who paid the bills and fixed things. Even the hippy baby boomers were beginning to subscribe to less rigid gender norms and today there seems to sensitive “emo”guys, “macho” guys and some in between – men can decide how they want to manifest their sexuality and there is little stigma attached to not being buff or getting into fistfights all the time. She really makes a good point about identity, maybe some people have no identity, so they copy one they see on TV, which usually revolves around gender stereotypes.
Jensen also seems to overdramatize the situation. He doesn’t think the planet will survive if the “current conception of masculinity endures.” Life is “endless competition and threat”, and only the law of the jungle dictates who lives and dies and who gets to be a stockbroker. It’s as if we live in some post-apocalyptic world and everyone is raping or getting raped in the street. He makes a good point that as far as gender roles, Men shouldn’t complain too much. Women have to deal with the threat of rape, men aren’t allowed to cry. He also mentions the role of biological impulses and evolutional psychology which is how I would explain the way people follow gender norms. They are caveman rules - you follow these rules or you are left out of society and will not procreate.
While Zeilinger focuses on identity and Jensen on how exhausting it is to have to pretend to be a caveman all the time, they both ignore the role of materialism in the slavish devotion to gender roles. They see money as a sign of success in their caveman system, when it could be what drives that system. A primal instinct for survival could force men to Wall Street, or it could some biological testosterone impulse to fight, but it could be that some people are just greedy and follow sexual guidelines set up by society so they can succeed in business, marriage or life in general.
The sex of the two writers clearly define their papers. Jensen is a man and he is just sick of it. There is an element of embarrassment and sadness over the negative aspect of testosterone fueled male aggressiveness. It’s an apology of sorts. On the other hand, Zeilinger, as a woman, is focused on just how weird men can be. It’s a little less serious. It’s like a zookeeper writing notes about a strange breed. They both seem to exaggerate and focus on extreme examples of
masculinity. Most men are not wild animals/sexual offenders. There are serious societal problems caused by negative gender roles, but it’s not threatening the planet.
Their conclusion are similar. Something has to change. Zeilinger says people should forge their own identities and start being themselves. Jensen seems to suggest we should just jettison sexuality – or at least the destructive behavior associated with it - all together. We should just be “human beings”, which seems some weird dystopic science fiction world. They both personally seem exhausted by the oppression of sexual expectations. Zeilinger wants to eat more butter and not be pressured to count calories, which injects some of the “unrealistic body image” debate into the mix. Both essays are short and offer some interesting personal observations. However, they both exaggerate the issue by focusing on extreme stereotypes and generalizing about an entire sex.
Works Cited
Jensen, Robert. "The High Cost of Manliness." Voice Male (n.d.): n. pag. Web. 2 Nov. 2014.
Zielinger, Julie. "Guys Suffer From Opressive Gender Roles Too”. Bedford Guide for College Writers with Reader. Barnes & Noble. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Nov. 2014.
