Breaking out of "The Man Box"
The cycle of socialization is sometimes a vicious process, but there are some good things that come with socialization, such as how to act in front of everybody, our manners, and so on, but there are some bad things that should not be the rules of our society The “Man Box”, the thing that all men have to have to be a man. “The Man Box” has multiple items that “define” us as men. All men have to follow these very rules to be a man. I have set up an example of “The Man Box” to the right of my mask if you would like to see those “rules” in definition. I have been socialized to believe that I, as a male, for example can’t cry or show any emotions whatsoever, with the exception of anger, I will never need directions and know everything, and I have to be very athletic and strong. It is very plainly shown in all men that they can’t and will not cry, especially when women are around, infact they might be afraid to cry in front of women. In fact you need to cry or your eyes will get too dry. “Cry me a river, build a bridge, and get over it” - Unknown. It’s unhealthy to keep one’s feelings bottled up and shoved deep down inside. It is bad for you to hold so much stress in like that and not let your feelings out. It is almost a taboo, something that is taken very badly in a culture, to cry in front of women as a man because you have to be like a rock and not be a “softie”. Not that it isn’t ok to be the rock every once in awhile, sometimes you have to be the rock so that others can lean on you to help them. Everybody should be able to cry no matter what their gender is it’s just not right to have to keep all of your feelings tucked inside of yourself and not be able to express those feelings. Nobody knows everything, you will need to ask questions a lot, everybody has to ask questions at least once every so often. “The only source of knowledge is experience.” - Albert Einstein. I ask questions daily. You are not born with all of the knowledge in the world, we learn about it throughout life. Learning is part of our culture as a society, that’s why we have elementary, middle, high schools, and even college. Have you ever noticed that a lot of men, when they have something to build or do, they will not follow directions, this is one of the side effects of this habit. As a matter of fact, we are even currently still getting more knowledge from things around us such as space and even from our own soil on planet Earth. Everybody thinks of me as the man to ask and sometimes I will know what they’re talking about and will be able to help him/her with their problem, but there are some things that I just very plainly have problems with, one of those being Humanities. Nobody knows everything, you learn these things over time not the second you are born. Not all males are strong and athletic. You always see strong males in the media never the “weaker” males. You have to be buff and strong to be popular. Some boys are born without the physical needs to play sports. It’s not your fault if you are not all that and better. I have never really wanted to grow up and have my career be a sweaty mess, not to put down being athletic, but the athletes are loved so very much that it pressures you to be the best you can to be strong and athletic so that you get the girls and are popular. Professional athletes are also a great contribution to the economy in that you have millions of people who watch sports on the television and in person and end up paying a lot of money doing those certain things, but there are tons of male scientists such as the very famous Albert Einstein, who I quoted earlier, and Nikola Tesla, one of my favorite scientists, but one of the least known, and they did amazing things in their lifetime. That is where my love of math and science comes from. The amazing facts of what is in our world and what is in space so far away from us. You don’t have to be athletic to be a man, you can just live off of your smarts and what you know about the world. I don’t need to be a “stereotypical” man to still be a “man”. I love to cook for my family, I even bake bread. There is really no specific definition for a man, since there are so many different men out there in this world, that are who they are. There are some things that you need to know even if you are a man. “The Man Box” does not need to define us as men or even little boys. As a male I should be able to be who I want to be without being judged. On my mask is me getting out of “The Man Box” norms and breaking free to be myself and who I want to be without anybody judging me as who I am.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. Archives
May 2014
Categories |