Blog 4: The Different Perspectives of Gender Roles

Indigenous people and European Colonists have differences in many aspects, mainly their cultural practices, beliefs and worldviews. When they first encountered each other during the colonization period, these differences became highly noticeable while interacting. This essay will focus on gender roles, gender diversity and the way trans people are seen from both perspectives, by referring to the main points of text Gender and Cultural Diversity in The Early Contact Period by Willeen Keough and Lara Campbell, and to the documentary Trans in Trumpland: Idaho. 

In European culture at that time, men were traditionally following the dominant roles within their own family, as well as in the whole society. This reflects a patriarchal system. In a religion like Christianity, they believe that it is God that gave to men the role of authority and the duty to lead. Even in the present time, Europeans and many other White people like Americans and Canadians are still following the original ideology for many centuries. The text Gender and Cultural Diversity in The Early Contact Period presents a Jesuit missionary called Father Paul Le Jeune, who was working in New France in the seventeenth century. He was very surprised when he tried to convince a father from the Montagnais (Innu) to let his son go to a Catholic school but got refused because the mother said so. The author explains: “The power exercised by aboriginal women within their families was unfamiliar and disturbing to the French missionaries” (1), where we can feel their discomfort. Europeans disagreed and did not try to understand and accept the traditional gender roles of Indigenous people, which pushed even harder the colonizers to enforce European cultural and religious values on them. Most Indigenous groups are neither patriarchal or matriarchal, since both gender’s roles are equally important and essential. Men’s main duty is to hunt fish and meat to feed their family, and to prepare weapons to participate in wars when necessary, while women’s duty is to gather fruits, berries and nuts, and take care and educate their children. Their culture is a great example of gender equality and equal contribution: “Both men and women could become shamans – mediators between the natural and supernatural world who held considerable status and influence” (2). As a result,, when it comes to distributing power among gender, Indigenous culture seems better and fair, since they acknowledge their both importance. 

From the documentary Trans in Trumpland: Idaho, a trans interviewer Tony Zosherafatain interviewed an Indigenous man called Shane Ortega who identifies himself as “two-spirit”, which means that the person considers themselves as a male and female at the same time. Shane Ortega showed a painting of two individuals being close, a biological man and a trans woman, and explained how in his culture, trans people are considered sacred: “In many societies, two-spirit individuals had special social and cultural roles – such as healers, seers, and bearers of oral tradition” (4), as explained in the text. Others are not trying to understand Indigenous culture and ideology and they rather keep being discriminatory against Indigenous people considered “trans” or “two-spirit”. For example, Donald Trump decided to ban all trans people from the US military, and Shane Ortega lost his job because of it. Even though Shane Ortega is still being judged and discriminated against, he decides to face it and focuses on showing more of his culture. He is fighting to be recognized, to make other cultures understand and normalize his culture, and to be accepted as a “trans”. 

Even though our society is becoming more and more accepting and diverse, there are still transphobic and toxic masculine people. If the world wants equality and acceptance between men, women, trans, and others, adopting the mindset of Indigenous people will bring us to a freer world without hate and discrimination.

Glenn Gear, presenter. 29 Apr. 2024, Montreal, Vanier College.

Keough, Willeen G. and Lara Campbell “Gender and Cultural Diversity in the Early Contact Period.” Gender History: Canadian Perspectives, Oxford University Press, 2014, pp. 16-28

Zosherafatain, Tony. “Trans in Trumpland: Idaho.” Kanopy, The Film Sales Company, www.kanopy.com/en/vaniercollege/video/11561418. Accessed 29 Apr. 2024.

Discrimination against minority

Over many centuries, white supremacy has continued to expand its force, using systemic discrimination and practicing violence against non-white people. In both Canada and the United States, white colonizers have been treating Indigenous people and Black people unfairly, believing that their own race is superior. From taking control over Indigenous people’s ancestral lands, and dehumanizing practices of slavery towards Black people, oppression and inequality against them are still persistent through our societies today. Throughout this blog, the discriminatory experiences in Desmond Cole’s writing The Skin We’re in and Jordan Peele’s movie Get Out will be discussed. 

The horror-thriller movie Get Out portrays manipulation and dominance against Black people through the themes of racial exploitation, and psychological control and manipulation. The Armitage Family uses young Black people’s body to transfer the consciousness of a White person, for their own benefit. The Armitage family represents a perfect illustration of how the white community have been brainwashing and exploiting black people. Rose Armitage is acting as if she really loves Chris Washington, by giving him affection and being the only person to who Chris can express his discomfort and unease of being with Rose’s family. What Chris does not realize is that he is being completely isolated from potential safety and sources for help, so he has no other choice than trusting and be dependent on Rose. Even after Chris realizes that there is something wrong going on with the Armitage family, he still trusts Rose since he thinks that their love is real. Rose’s manipulative actions are for example, being the only one that listens and tries to help Chris by comforting him, showing her love to Chris, and accepting to run away together from the Armitage house. In addition, hypnotizing black individual and transplanting white people’s brain is an ongoing historic form of exploitation and black labor, as well as contemporary discrimination and assimilation. White people buying black individual’s body is a tradition in the movie Get Out, and this action shows how white people are seeing black people as objects or animals. Overall, this movie is a powerful representative of modern racism, in which it reveals both individual and systemic level. 

In Desmond Cole’s book The Skin We’re In, he reveals his and other’s discriminative experiences as Black individuals in Toronto. He first mentions the incident on New Year’s Eve of 2016, where Toronto police attacked an art gallery of a black man called John Samuels. The police broke the glass window and attacked John with a taser. For many years, the police have been attacking and arresting black people for no reason, so Cole was not surprised by this happening: “The police are just doing their job: a central responsibility of policing has always been to discipline Black people on behalf of the ruling class” (Cole 4). This statement shows how those police’s duty is not to protect and treat equally all individuals, no matter their races, but rather to benefit of their power as police to enforce discriminatory ruling and laws, targeting black community. Cole also mentions how he felt marginalized and have been aware of the injustice towards himself because of his skin color since he was in primary. He realizes that his skin color has become something to laugh about. For example, while Cole was watching TV with friends when he was still very young, every time a Black person appeared on the screen one of his friends was shouting: “Hey, that looks like you!” (15). His friend making comparison between the Black person on the screen and Cole himself, implies that all Black people look the same, which is a form of racial stereotype and microaggression. I think that Cole wanted to highlight the fact that racial stereotypes and microaggressions could be in everyday interaction, even among friends. Cole draws parallels between the experience of black people and Indigenous people in North America, emphasizing both of their history of racism: “My ancestors and the Indigenous people who signed the Treaty 7 have a critical common experience: both were oppressed by a group whose legacy is so unquestioned today that we usually don’t even name it” (13). Through personal anecdotes and history of discrimination and oppression, Cole reveals the nature of racism in North America, interconnecting Black and Indigenous people’s victim journey.

In conclusion, even though racism is less practiced nowadays, there are still present systemically or in a more discreet way. These two examples, The Skin We’re in and Get Out, showed us a more evident type of discrimination against minority. 

Cole, Desmond. “‘negro frolicks (January).'” The Skin We’re In, Doubleday Canada, 2020, pp. 1-17
Peele, Jordan, et al. Get Out. Universal Pictures, 2017.

Responsibility as a superhero and as a man

The concept of masculinity is portrayed in many movies, such as Spider-Man. Through the evolution of the character, Spiderman, as a superhero, has profound his importance of his role within the society, recognizing his unique ability and the responsibilities they entail. He conviction that it is his duty to get rid of the “bad people” and combat crime, since he has a power that anyone else doesn’t have. In the story, as the people notice his presence and power, and acknowledge his purpose of protecting society from the villains, the society always expects Spiderman to save them from the villains. This resonates with traditional masculinity norms, where men are expected to protect and provide for others, since men are the strongest. As a superhero, he always put the needs and safety of others before his own. His strong commitment to risk his life as a man to protect others and uphold justice reflects his sense of responsibility as a man, a superhero, and his willingness to sacrifice his own life for the world’s safety and peace. However, Peter Parker, the true identity of Spiderman, was having self-doubt, fearing of using his ability, and had to make challenging choices. In other hand, the society has been expecting a lot from him. If he does a single mistake, loses against a villain, or shows his vulnerable side, the society will immediately judge him and say that his is weak and useless. Even though there are intense expectations from society, he has the ability to confront his fears and control his emotions by being Spiderman. Spiderman portraits the meaning of being a hero and a man at the same time, so this is a great example of masculinity. In addition, this story illustrates how one man’s power can shape the destiny of an entire society, which we can refer to the power of domination. “Superheroes” are often associated with men, so the 3 Spidermans or all men. However, the title is Spiderman and not Spiderwomen, so we can understand if there are not any women as Spiderman. The author might have wanted to show that the sense of duty is often associated with masculinity, since they are stronger. 

Blog 2 : Rethinking Masculinity

As much as in the present than in the past, certain individuals, mainly men, often proceed to demonstrate their power and superiority, also to show that they are the ones that are right and that are taking all the decisions. Masculinity, a concept that has been deeply established in societal constructs, has been associated with societal norms, individual perceptions, and expectations towards men. Its complexity is being discussed by many people and from various perspectives, reflecting the definition of masculinity through different context. This reality is brought by the documentaries “Charlottesville: Race and Terror” and “Inside Incel”, and by Michael Kimmel’s essay, “Masculinity as Homophobia”, highlighting the toxic masculinity by the use of violence that contribute to the ideologies of racism, sexism, and homophobia/transphobia.

Firstly, Michael Kimmel mentions in his essay that; “Violence is often the single most evident marker of manhood. Rather it is the willingness to fight, the desire to fight.” He is saying that violence is often equated with masculinity and seen as an important characteristic of manhood. Violence is important for masculinity, because for a long period of years, they have always been using it to protect themselves, to choose who are right, to show their superiority, and more. For example, in the documentary “Charlottesville: Race and Terror”, the Charlottesville’s incident that occurred in 2017, two groups of people with two different ideologies fought for the statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee. The people identified as White Supremist who want to protect the statue, fought against their counter-protesters who tries to remove it and demolish it. White Supremist believe that their country got destroyed because of these immigrants, so they wish that the United States to go back to only white population. Christopher Cantwell, the leader of the White Supremist rally called “Unite the Right”, calls his counter-protesters “animals”, which proves their strong ideology of racism. In addition, a person from the white supremist side drove his car directly into a crowd of their counter-protesters, resulting few deaths and many injured people. Christopher Cantwell and his allies are saying that this action was completely fair because that is their way of fighting. These men are not hesitating to use violence, since they think that it is the right thing to do to show their superiority.

Secondly, the documentary “Inside Incel” exposes some incel community that showcases discriminatory attitudes and behaviors towards women, which could be associated with “hegemonic masculinity” that has been discussed by Will James. Toby, a member of the incel community mentions sexist and misogynistic claims such as “women are not fit to vote”, or calling women “dogs”, which means that he isn’t considering the two genders equally, and associating women as slaves and not as humans. Other than verbally discriminating women, some incels used physical violence to murder women. From the same documentary, on April 23^rd, 2018, in north Toronto, a rented white van went on the sidewalk with the clear purpose of killing the people walking there. The fact that most of the ran over victims were women, which proves that the man was targeting women. Another case where a 22-year-old university student called Elliot Rodger caused car accidents killing 6 people and injured 14 people. Elliot Rodger who has always been hating girls and being bullied at school, decides to revenge. He thought that he would be able to show his superiority and dominance by using violence. Men getting rejected by women or getting bullied by others are holding anger issues, so they are more likely to suffer from psychological illness. Their anger issues are mostly rooted by the fear they have been experiencing. Even if these misogynist men are experiencing fear, they don’t want to show it because they are scared to be judged as “non-manly” as pointed out by Michael Kimmel; “Our fear is the fear of humiliation”. Michael Kimmel also shows how some men are putting down other men by referring them as “a girl”, which also shows sexism because it is the same thing as saying that women are weaker, and inferior compared to men.

To conclude, the two documentaries and Michael Kimmel’s text showed the toxic side of masculinity that not many people talk about. More people should be aware that it causes negative impacts such as harming themselves and others, hiding their emotions and feelings, and always forcing themselves to meet the expectations of a real man.

Blog 1 : Toxic Masculinity

Masculinity can be experienced and expressed in various ways based on their cultural background, personal experiences and beliefs, the people around them, and more. As in the text “Guys Club”, and the short film “Invincible”. The main character in each of them experiences two completely different types of masculinity, but what they both have in common is that they get pressured by the society or the people around them.

At the time the story “Guys Club” takes place, the traditional gender roles were still very important. Expectations of men were more intense and higher than the time we are living right now. Carlos, the main character, says that he is expected to be like a real man, which means that he must hide his emotions, feelings, and sensitivity. I think that this is toxic masculinity, because men are also human, so they have the also should have the right to show and express their feelings and vulnerability. Men are expected to be “tough” and to always stay strong, so they must forget and get rid of that something that get them vulnerable, because it is considered feminine. Men have the image of being on top of everything, they are the one that make decisions, lead, and in control. Men should not ask for help or support since it would be considered feminine, which means that it would be seen as a sign of weakness. All these pressures and expectations can create a high level of stress, loneliness, anxiety, and depression. In the text “Guys Club”, it says that men have the tendency to use certain vulgar or inappropriate words such as “faggot”, “bitches”, and “pussies”. These words were often used as insults to discriminate or make fun of guys who do not follow the traditional gender norms. They also say these words to show dominance and superiority. In addition, some of the guys are using them to fit in society’s perspective. Even if inside them, they were against the traditional gender norms, they were scared to be ridiculed, so they were saying these words to get approved from society. As another example from “Guys Club”, when Carlos was 6 years old, he got his nails painted because he saw his aunt getting hers done and he thought it looked cool, so he wanted his nails done too even if she tried to stop him. He goes to a soccer later with his painted nails and when the boys saw his nails, they were disgusted, laughed at him, called him “faggot”, and didn’t allow him to play with them. Society has made up that, guys painting their nails is considered gay. They live in a time where gender diversity was not accepted as it is now, so even if painting nails is a small action and seems to be not a big deal, you can get ridiculed. I think that it is unfair how society have created these images of a “real man”, since they will need to respond to expectation. If they do not follow traditional gender norms, they may encounter social stigma, discrimination, and mockery like Carlos experienced. In the contrary, if Carlos was living in 2024, gender diversity is now normal and accepted by many people, so the people around him will not be “homophobic” as they were in the story. People are willing to fit in society, so I think that Carlos would not need to be homophobic like everyone else. I think that the author of “Guys Club” wanted to show the difference of tolerance for gender diversity during generations, and he also to give men, greater freedom to express their emotions, feelings, thoughts, etc.

From the short film “Invincible”, I saw that French-Canadian culture has high societal expectations and stereotypes of men. Marc-Antoine Bernier, the main character, develops mental illness and must confront traditional ideas of masculinity. He could not show his emotions, feelings, and vulnerability. However, the people around him are expecting him to be tough, strong, and independent. None of them tries to know how he actually wants to be, or to understand the way he feels, so he was just getting pressured by all the expectations and faces complaints when he is not being like a “real man”. Since he was facing mental health issues, the people around him were not accepting the way he was, so they would not give the right support. Even if he was placed in a center, it did not help him at all since no one could truly understand his feelings and ended up committing suicide. I think that people are referring too much to traditional ideas of masculinity, so it is important to really take care of people with mental health issues by listening and understanding how they feel.

Ultimately, the way society created the hard image of masculinity can cause many individuals to feel pressured to conform to unrealistic standards, to feel suppressed emotionally, and to feel forbidden to seek help and show vulnerability.