Tori Amos once sang, "I guess you go too far when pianos try to be guitars."
In last week's discussion of the sexualized male body in advertisements, I purported that those types of ads were capable of self−reification. In other words, the physical body in this context represents the material manifestation of the concept of masculinity, and we, the audience, interpret it as such. The ideals of the male body, reinforced by the ads, work in collusion with the actual images to crystallize masculinity, which then becomes a sort of legible text inscribed onto the body.
This leads to the problematic notion that we can "read" the body and expect to garner accurate information regarding various aspects of a person, including their sex, gender and sexuality. (This also relates directly to issues of fat acceptance, but that will not be addressed here.)
The pervasive belief in the necessary linkage between male and masculine — and the contrary as a corollary — informs the framework described above. And if we move beyond the scope of body image into the world of performance or behavior, we come full circle again to one of the stakes that men have in feminism: the dismantling of gender conventions and norms that limit and suppress male behavior.
The production and perpetuation of contradictory gender roles engender differing types and degrees of anxieties that ultimately burden men and boys. The baggage piles on throughout a man's life, a result of internal and external pressures to fit the masculine code. Despite the fact that most likely no single individual fulfills every tenet of a prescribed role, we continually and unfailingly police gender.
Thus, gender−role strain comes into existence with the failure to meet the ideals that, as perceived by others, match one's gender. Policing on several levels through different forms of criticism and condemnation that manifest in actions and attitudes — from a simple insult and homophobia to physical violence and structural inequality — only exacerbate the strain. Also, the very progenitors of role strain ensure its survival in perpetuating it. In other words, men experiencing gender−role strain may internalize the prevalent discourse and feel negative thoughts toward themselves and their choices, consequently restricting their behaviors or even harming themselves. Furthermore, the strain can also manifest in outward expressions toward others that debase, restrict and physically or psychologically hurt them, which in turn results in the policing of other men. All these factors function together in a cyclic way that supports the dominant system and perpetuates gender policing.
Solving the problem isn't simple, though. My past columns have featured the need to reconceptualize masculinity as a potential starting point of a solution, but that is not to say all men should and need to forsake "traditional masculinity," whatever that may be, and get in touch with their feminine sides. Obviously, no one needs to become a metrosexual or any other "feminized" form of masculinity to gain that sought−after gender liberation. That is a facile interpretation that does not recognize the arbitrary natures of the distinctions "masculine" and "feminine" themselves, as they are culturally shaped and molded and have been dynamic throughout the ages. Recognizing the limitations, plasticity and artificiality of a vocabulary of conflation — male/masculine and female/feminine — will result in a more comprehensive perspective with which to approach gender−role strain.
I want to make clear that feminism in this context aims for not only freedom of choice and gender expression but also for freedom from an unjust system of hegemonic heterosexuality that profits from stabilizing, differentiated, complementary gender roles and is founded and grounded in unnecessary politics of limiting the human experience based on sex and gender. Feminism seeks to expand human expression so that a person can flourish and develop in all areas of life, whether it is in the public or private sphere.
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Elisha Sum is a senior majoring in English and French. He can be reached at Elisha.Sum@tufts.edu.
