Blog #5

Blog #5 Feminist & Relational Masculinities

1.a) Katz Ch.13 “More Than A Few Good Men”
I thought that this chapter was very interesting because of what we have been talking about in class. All of the things that Katz talks about men should do to help prevent women’s violence made me laugh. In today’s world any men who talked about their feelings or seeked help from others for their violence problems would be called gay or would get made fun of. I don’t think that men who abuse women would be down to do any of the things listed. Some of the things that Katz says men should do to help are have courage to look inward, support survivors, seek help, join an anti-sexist men’s group and more. A perfect example is when Katz talks about the story of the bachelor party on page 262 and 263. One of the guys that was working for a group against women’s violence didn’t want to go to a strip club, the other guys he was with asked him if he was gay. I am actually stunned that there are so many groups that support women’s violence and I think that is great, I am just saying I think that men who use violence on woman are not going to want to talk about it with other men.

1. b) Cooper Thompson reading: “A New Vision of Masculinity”
I thought that this was a weird article in general. I agreed with him in the beginning about how boys use the term fag to degrade one another. I hear that word used all the time whether it’s the high school boys I work with or on TV or just out in public. A guy calling another guy a fag when he really isn’t is common everyday stuff. I didn’t understand the whole tarot card thing. He could have used a different example of strength than a tarot card with pictures on it. I just thought that whole part was irrelevant. I wish the author elaborated more on what happened in the classroom. Like had the guy that came in ask the four wrestlers why they used the term fag so much. What does being a “fag” entails. I was really interested in the article in the beginning then it got weird.

1. c) Bell Hooks Chap. 7 Feminist Manhood
I really liked how Hooks just put it straight out there that feminists are not man-haters. I know that everyone I have talked to about being a feminist or brought up the word feminist, they automatically think they are crazy ladies who hate men. Hooks says that feminist don’t hate men, yet they feel sorry for them and want to help them. He says on page 107 that they are not out raping and murdering men, they aren’t being jailed for violence then talks about on page110 that feminist are about equal rights for men and women. The term feminist I have learned in all my sociology classes were that if a woman is a feminist she just want women to be equal to men.

1. d) Bell Hooks Chap. 11 “Loving Men”
I didn’t think that this chapter would have anything to do with war when I read the title of it. I never really made that connection before but now I can see why older generation men act the way they do. Like my grandfather for instance will tell me he loves me all the time but rarely tells his wife or his daughter (my mom). He keeps to himself a lot and works out in his shop on different little projects all the time. I liked on page 173 Poet Wendell Berry talks about how people who grow up with a caring mother and father tend to be more affectionate. I completely agree with this, I have noticed that kids that I went to high school with that had both a mother and a father didn’t necessarily turn out “good” but better than the ones that only had a mother or only had a father. I know three guys I graduated with that had no father’s in their life and all three came out of the closet after high school. I also know a lot of kids I graduated with that are not going to college or doing anything productive with their lives them too also only having one parental figure in their life.

2. a) Thompson’s reading about the four wrestlers calling other kids fags I can relate to. Like I said earlier, I constantly hear other boys calling other boys fags who are straight. This article gave me some insight as to why this happens. A fag is seen as being the opposite of masculine. On page 2 of the article Thompson says that masculinity includes attributes such as independence, pride, resiliency, self-control, and physical strength. It really doesn’t make sense to me how guys can call someone else a fag, which is a horrible word for a gay person if they lack in any one of those areas. I just think that there should be another less harmful word for them to use to describe someone who isn’t up to the height up male social norms.