While enduring the last two minutes of running on the treadmill during a vigorous workout, a wave of emotions Freud would have argued are manifested in the id and Thoreau would have argued are natural and authentic pervaded both my body and mind. They felt barbaric and raw. They felt the way I imagine Mohammad Ali felt like mid-punch in a championship match, or King Kong felt like on the empire state building— roaring and beating his chest to an honorable death—. But, as authentic as my emotions felt, they mirrored the emotions I’ve discerned from superficial billboards and commercials that advertising agencies have created to project what values and roles men should practice in society. (http://www.piolopascual.net/wp-content/uploads/piolobelomedical.jpg) Maybe I’m just a human commercialism has infected with the theory that being male is embodying the traits society deems appropriate for people with male genitals to exercise.
I want the emotions I experienced while running to be palpable only to people with male genitals. I want the emotions I felt to be an indicator that there are gross biological and physiological distinctions between men and women beyond our breasts, genitals, and varying levels of estrogen and testosterone. (http://www.parenting.com/article/Pregnancy/Development/The-Real-Difference-Between-Boys-and-Girls) I want my experience to mean emasculating experiences exist, because I want my life long self-identification with masculinity to mean more than I was a mouse in one of societies traps.
It’s possible that I want to fulfill masculine stereotypes, because after years and years of rap music, action movies, and football I’ve internalized the notion that the elements, which constitute an effective ad for selling Gillette Shaving Cream (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l4L3bm6m3KQ), constitute what it means to be male. But, it’s also possible that I strive to emulate commercially masculine traits because my innate physiological instincts drive me to do so.
I don’t know whether or not I was born with the predisposition to fulfill masculine stereotypes. I don’t know by if the time I’m too old to care how I define my gender, I’ll have furthered my understanding of what it means. But, I do know that I’ll do my best to live free of any manacles that society secretly binds us to. Regardless of how my emotions were created, I’ll follow them in whatever direction they point me. There are over seven billion people on the earth, and there are over seven billion ways to live life authentically.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Your blog follows a really interesting question- how can we know if the things that divide us by gender are created by genes or society? It's good that you don't come to a concrete answer, since the question is huge and complex. But I do wonder, do you have any ideas on how we could figure out how much of our gendered selves is caused by society, and how much by genetics?
ReplyDelete(that was by Caroline)
ReplyDeleteHaha the world population won't be over 7 billion until July 2012. I thought you touched ever so briefly on pop culture's influence on you, and you did a great job of internalizing how you feel, but I was wondering how you think pop culture and things like football affect the way you view yourself and what manhood means? Or have you always felt that men should act a certain way?
ReplyDelete-Bob
Dan, your blog was powerful and you seemed (through your voice) to be very passionate about your writing topic. This need for it to mean something real and not a societal "trap," I think says a lot about the way you view the world and your "meaning of life." Maybe I am reading too much into it, but your voice really shines through the message you wrote about.
ReplyDelete-Ariana
Your blog is very personal, which is pretty different from the rest of the blogs. A couple questions: do you feel that if someone doesn't fit the "manly" stereotype, that they are, in fact, not manly? Do you believe that pop culture alone influences your view on what "manly" is?
ReplyDelete- Callie