Masculinity throughout the years :

Blog#2 : 

The Charlottesville : Race and Terror and Inside Incel documentaries, along with the short story: Masculinity as Homophobia, and the talk by Will James that was shown throughout the weeks, all have key components that link together. They all link to negative ideologies that can influence young boys, leading to hatred, violence, etc… that will only harm themselves and others.

The Charlottesville documentary shows the 2017 riots and violence that occurred in Charlottesville, Virginia where many people of the town wanted to remove the statue of Robert E. Lee. Along with the violence occurring, a prominent figure was documented pushing for more violence against those he dislikes. Christopher Cantwell, a white supremacist was a big instigator for hate and violence. He clearly stated his hate towards anyone who wasn’t like him and tried to justify the violence happening to the people he disliked. This links to Michael Kimmel’s story on masculinity, as he explains how men can act certain ways due to needing to feel in control and in power towards others. Cantwell trying to intimidate and attack certain people, is his own way of trying to establish power on others to feel superior and better about himself. He rallied a bunch of people with similar beliefs to him such as, Neo-Nazis, KKK members, white nationalists, etc… to help him spread hate and attack people who were against his beliefs. He also purchased many weapons, including knives and guns, which he stated he’d need to protect himself from the people he disliked. He would refer to himself as a racist and say the world needed more people like him, and that America needed an ethnic cleansing. His beliefs are something no one should spread, as hate and violence towards anyone is not ok and should not be accepted. Him also having a decent following, leads to him feeling powerful and able to influence more people-especially his younger followers, which he sadly probably has. Threatening to harm others and calling people derogatory terms is not a good example that should be taught to others or his followers. He’s a pure example of toxic masculinity at its finest.

The Documentary on incels depicts how men who have been shut down by women turn their rejection into anger and hate towards them and look for a way to project it by joining online chat groups, and in some circumstances going to extreme measures such as hurting women. Their insecurities fuel their negative emotions and by having others who feel the same way, it only creates a bigger space for their hate and violence.  Having people instigate and fuel one’s feelings such as these incel chat groups, makes them feel superior, which links to Kimmel’s story, as it allows them to lean into that toxic masculinity so they won’t be scared of being attacked by other men and to no longer feel like they’re an outcast or inferior to their peers. Since the men in these incel chat rooms feel they’re not “man enough”, and don’t want to be perceived as so, they resort to their misogynistic beliefs and violence as a way to feel powerful and regain their sense of superiority and manliness. For example, Alek Minassian was an incel who drove through a crowd of women, killing a bunch. His anger towards women throughout his life was later fueled by others who felt the same, in an online chat room full of other incels. Being bullied and called names his whole life, to never having a girlfriend and being rejected, along with others telling him to hate women and hurt them as they did him, inevitably lead to him driving his van and killing a lot of people. This also links to Will James speech about how toxic masculinity can risk being normalized if not addressed, just like those very chat rooms full of incels. They began to normalize being aggressive towards women and being violent, leading to them thinking it’s a normal ideology to have and that they can harm women because they were treated wrong. It is never ok to attack anyone and that’s why its so important to create open, positive and safe places for everyone without having negative effects.

Michael S. Kimmel’s short story on masculinity as homophobia, details his take/depiction on the topic. Kimmel believes that homophobia goes beyond the fear of gay people and stems from men being afraid they’re not manly enough and fearing they’ll be seen as too feminine, therefore leading to them being ridiculed and criticized by other men. He believes it’s their fear of how they’ll be perceived that lead them to act the way they do. Kimmel talks about how men become misogynistic due to them needing to feel in control and in charge. They need to feel superior to at least the other gender as sometimes they feel inferior against their own. For example, Kimmel explains how a limo driver may seem fancy and in control, when in reality they’re taking orders from another person and can make them feel less than and result in them having a low self-esteem. That’s one way to have a perception to how men can feel inferior in certain ways, therefore making them feel the need to act a certain way towards others to regain that control or power. Men’s insecurities lead to them being homophobic, sexist, misogynistic, etc… so they don’t seem weak among one another. Men seek power and it’s what ends up fuelling how they act towards others. 

Will James speech on online influencers and toxic masculinity discusses how men with high popularity and status can influence young boys ideology in a good or bad way. He gives the example of Andrew Tate who gained a lot of popularity last year, and had many young boys idolizing him even though he is not to be considered a good role model. Tate is a known misogynist, sexist, homophobic man who was arrested in 2023 along with his brother for suspected sex trafficking of young women. Will talks about how toxic masculinity, if not addressed can lead to violent behaviours, etc… and can risk being normalized which is something we shouldn’t want. He also states some ways people can help change these toxic acts into positive ones. For example, challenging those remarks, being more open to discussing masculinity, being honest with one another, etc…. Can help lead to a healthier place for each other. 

To conclude, we as a society need to be more aware of ideologies and influences on our peers and try to create a more open and safe environment for all, especially young men. It’s easy for boys to gravitate to men telling them to act and believe certain things, when we should be properly educating them and letting them know right from wrong and how to be themselves without fearing what others think of them. (This also goes for women as well.) It’s time to remove all negative and toxic masculinity on men along with these harmful ideologies and create positive masculinity instead. 

References:

Kimmel, Michael. Masculinity as Homophobia. 1994.

Charlottesville: Race and Terror. YouTube, Vice News, 14 Aug. 2017, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P54sP0Nlngg&t=5s. Accessed 28 Mar. 2022.

Inside Incel, CBC, The Fifth Estate, 27 Jan. 2019, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tqWjCHPg9gA. Accessed 25 Sept. 2023.

James, Will, Online Influencers, Toxic Masculinity, and the Classroom, Vanier College, March 5, 2024