Choosing Between Masculinity and Humanity?
Holly Brubach wrote a great piece for the most recent NYT Style Magazine on how “manhood in America has an image problem.” In it, she looks at three new books on various aspects of that topic – Guyland by Michael Kimmel, Brocabulary by Daniel Maurer and Hysterical Men by Mark S. Micale. According to Kimmel (as quoted by Brubach), “masculinity is a homosocial experience, performed for, and judged by other men.” He goes on to say (and I paraphrase) that the success of that performance boils down to a single rule of manhood, from which all of it (wealth, power, status, strength, physicality) derives – “to demonstrate constantly and repeatedly, that you are not gay.”
Brubach closes her discussion with another Kimmel idea…why not “appeal to boys on the strength of the notion that they shouldn’t be forced to choose between their masculinity and their humanity.”
All of this just makes me wonder how marketing teams may be hindered by what men and women bring to the table from their individual life experiences or patterning of masculine/feminine expectations. If showing emotions or talking about them is emasculating, do men just disengage and let the women on the team “explain” women to them? That would be a tragedy for the future of marketing, if so.
Anyway -
If this sort of discussion intrigues you, you may want to take a look at a recent AMA Marketing News blog post that discusses gender stereotyping in today’s culture. If it REALLY intrigues you – please email me, as I am building a research panel that will dig deeper.
