How often do you see men working on cars? Most people would say they have seen it often in their lives. Now, how often do you see women working cars? If I were to genuinely think about it through my own personal experience, I would say that it would be an exceedingly rare sight for me to see. Not that women are unable to, but because it is not necessarily considered a norm in our society. Furthermore, society has made it more acceptable for men to take on more “masculine” and “manly” roles, while also striving to display a “tough guise” so that they are more like how our society has created the image of what men are supposed to be like. The background behind this picture depicts two men that come to “the rescue” by attempting to repair a car that has broken down. Society has influenced us that it is very gentleman-like for men to come to the rescue and take the more manly, dominant guise. They have been taught that they should know how to work on cars and are expected to know when asked. I personally could not tell you how many times I looked to a man for help because I simply expected them to know what they are doing because of the many times I was informed that women should always ask a man for help.
In the documentary titled “Tough Guise 2” by Jackson Katz, we are shown the actions men tend to take including the demonstration of violence, careless attitudes, and masculine tendencies. The media is a huge part of why our society has these preconceived thoughts about the way in which men should carry themselves and it has ended up leading to horrible acts of violence and lack of emotions from men. Although this picture only shows two men working on a car, it is hiding the way that they really feel of being expected to be able to do certain things solely based on their gender. If they did not happen to know how to fix the problem with the car, how would people look at them? Would people look at them like they are less than a man?
Overall, we need to stop expecting men and women to fulfill certain duties based on their gender. It is important for everyone to discover who they are on their own without being told how they should be like.
1 comment:
From: Essie
I think this picture is very telling about the tough guise and gender scripts specifically for men. I have also had similar experiences with having to ask a man for help simply because it is a “man’s job”. Men in society are typically expected to be the ones to do the heavy lifting brunt work, like construction, fixing cars, etc., anything that would lead them to be seen as “more manly.” A question that comes to my mind looking at the photo is whether people would consider the man holding the flashlight in the picture as “less manly” than the man who is actually fixing the car. Though they are both “coming to the rescue” for whoever's car it is, the one who does more of the brunt work might be considered more manly and have more praise while the other could be ignored, despite helping. Another thing I think about when looking at this picture is whether one of them would be viewed socially as less of a man if he admitted to not really knowing what he’s doing, and just trying to figure out what is wrong with the car as he goes to avoid the social rejection of admitting to not knowing how to fix cars. Men are typically just expected to know about cars and could be faced with an odd comment if they admit to not having the typical trait expectations of “tough” men, where they could face an amount of social rejection or insults and exclusion from other men in their social circles. Would people be even more angry if a man was present and had no knowledge of cars, but a woman was present and did know how to fix the car?
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