Pressure to be 'manly' may lead to violence

As I was scrolling through my Tumblr feed, I stumbled across this article that I thought would be very interesting to share on this blog. The article was posted in 2015 and focusses on how the pressure to be “manly” may lead some men to violence. I found this article particularly interesting because I connected it to the film that we watched in class titled “Tough Guise.” The article summarizes a U.S. study that was conducted on 600 men between the ages of 18 and 50. “The men were surveyed about their self-perceptions with regard to gender roles. Then the researchers assessed whether men who were experiencing psychological stress believed that others perceived them to be less masculine.” For the stressed individuals, the researchers investigated to see if stress manifested in risky or violent behavior. The result of the study was that “men who perceive themselves to be less masculine according to traditional gender norms of society, and are feeling stressed about it, may be more prone to violent behavior.” I related this to the film viewed in class because both stressed that much of the violence that occurs in the United States is tied to traditional masculinity and how violence becomes the outlet for many men to express this masculinity. I agree with both the article and the film as unhealthy images of masculinity often lead many men and boys to believe that to conduct a form of violence proves to others that they are masculine.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-genderroles-men-violence/pressure-to-be-manly-may-lead-to-violence-idUSKCN0RP27P20150925