Masculinity in Fraternities Essay

In the book Dude You're a Fag: Masculinity and Sexuality in High School, author C.J. Pascoe did a study for roughly a year and a half at a American High school. While she was at this high school she examined masculinity and its ties with sexuality.

According to Martin and Hummer (1989: 459), "fraternities are vitally concerned – more than anything else – with masculinity (cf. Kanin 1967)." This sets the paradigm that they will look into. The paradigm they look from is the eyes of a fraternity's typically nature and values and actions they take part in to decipher what really takes place in order to understand the fraternity's view as

The concept of masculinity has been around for an eminently long time. However, the qualifications for being

When one first thinks of Greek life or a sorority the only thing that comes to mind is the social aspect. Most people don’t think of sororities as social institutions that envelop their own culture, with mannerisms, languages and customs that are unique to each individual organization. However, these institutions promote a common set of values that enable members to become connected in a way that has a more profound meaning than just social interaction. Greek organizations are good examples of how institutions can affect and be affected by social status and roles within the collegiate community. They are also a prime example of how race, class and gender can affect a social setting in both positive and negative manners.

The definition of masculinity; Is the fact of being a man or having qualities considered typical of a man.

What is masculinity? Answers may vary depending on who you may ask, C.J. Pascoe’s ethnography titled Dude, You’re A Fag: Masculinity and Sexuality in High School targets high school as being the important location where the term masculinity is asserted, defended and defined by the students who roam the halls of River High. High school is a difficult time for anyone, especially when we bring up the ideals of sexuality and gender identity, all topics which are explored in this ethnography. Pascoe spent around eighteen months of fieldwork in the racially diverse working middle-class River High School. Dude You’re A Fag sheds a new light on masculinity as a meaning as well as a set of social practices. C. J. Pascoe 's unconventional approach examines masculinity as not only a gendered process but also a sexual one. Pascoe demonstrates how the threat of the word fag becomes a disciplinary mechanism for regulating heterosexual as well as homosexual boys and how the "fag discourse" is as much tied to gender as it is to sexuality.

In today’s society, fraternities and sororities have been known to have major impressions on students who attend college. In some cases, Greek organizations and their standings at universities aid in determining ones choice for higher education. For example, some schools are known for sports, others are known for their Black Greek Letter Organizations. When it comes to fraternities and sororities in general, the topic could seem somewhat controversial due to mixed emotions and beliefs. While attending an HBCU (Historically Black College and University) the accusations of Greeks running the yard became vividly true. The topic of research to be discussed is objectification, power and the perception of African Americans affiliated with sororities and fraternities at Historically Black Colleges and Universities.

The topic of masculinity is one that every single man faces at some point in his life. The level of masculinity is dependent on how that individual was born and raised. At times, their level of masculinity is questioned and is forced to live with the positive and negatives of having too much or too low masculinity. Those that are high in masculinity are typically categorized as jocks and higher testosterone based individuals. Typical characteristics that are associated with having high masculinity are handsome, athletic, driven,

Throughout the history of the world, and specifically in the United States, the pressure that has been forced onto men in society has not only had a significant impact on the people themselves but in society as well. This can be seen through America’s history, the evolution of men and masculinity and even reflected through the development and growth of women and women’s roles in history. The expectation placed on men to conform to what would be considered masculine in that era was an extremely important factor in a young man’s life. This pressure was enforced not only by society but by men themselves who held each other to a specific and high standard. In order to understand the role that men play in society and the ideology of masculinity,

Masculinity can be defined as the behaviours, social roles, and relations of men within a given society in addition to the meanings that are attributed to them. The term masculinity stresses gender, unlike male, which stresses biological sex. Despite, this we often times see masculinity being represented as directly correlating to men with an inability to adhere to this is shown making you less of a "man". As put by Katz (1999) there is an expectation that men on screen must be void of emotion, not backing down from a fight, tough and an embodiment of the male gaze. Katz (1999) argues that essentially what

Masculinity, as defined by Webster, is the possession of the qualities traditionally associated with men. In the year of 2018, are we still following these traditional senses of masculinity in nontraditional ways? Traditional masculinity/ hegemonic masculinity can be defined as a practice that legitimizes men's dominant position in society, justifies the subordination of women, and other marginalized ways of being a man. Even in such an advance society our ideas of masculinity lag in comparison to our overall development of a greater culture. This delay is evident in our work environments, classrooms, and any other place imaginable.

First, hegemonic masculinity is the ultimate description of a male and anyone who does not fit this description is seen as inferior and unworthy (Kimmel, 2012). In America, the hegemonic men are described as being white, middle class, married, straight, church going men that provide for their families (Kimmel, 2012). The problem with hegemonic masculinity is that it is largely unobtainable and is more of an idea that is held up because many may never achieve it (Connell and Messerschmidt, 2005). People that don’t feel like they fit the standard definition of hegemonic masculinity still feel like they have to subscribe to it in order to avoid being degraded or

The notion of hegemonic masculinity has altered the field of gender studies and many academic arenas. An idea popularized by R.W. Connell, hegemonic masculinity has played an integral role in the emotional development of American men, articulating the impact that this societal construction has had on the concept of American masculinity. It is a contested topic, yet the impacts that it has in terms of sexuality, struggles for power and political leadership, and gender identities are valid (Connell 830). Although difficult to fully achieve, it acts as a guiding force for the stereotypically masculine. Hegemonic masculinity assumes the subordination of all other forms of masculinity, placing it at the top of the social hierarchy. At the same time, the idea of hegemonic masculinity has served as a bridge between the growing field of men’s’ studies and female studies (Connell 829). Several authors share the premise that men in American society conform to the standards of the social construct of hegemonic masculinity.

Masculinity is also different along intersectional lines of race. It is not a overgeneralization that all men have to follow the same masculine identity or they are not considered masculine men. In the chapter Dude You’re a Fag written by C.J. Pascoe, he goes to a high school where the term “fag” is being thrown around loosely among the male sex of the school. However, this is more dominantly seen in the cis-white men of the school and not their African American counterparts. With being a man

Standards of masculinity vary from time to time, from culture to culture. However, masculinity always defines itself as superior and different from femininity. For example, gay men and househusbands exemplify "subordinate" masculinities in our culture. They are not considered to be "real