In the essay “Masculinity as Homophobia”, Michael S. Kimmel, talks about how in America men are afraid of other men. he says that men are so scared of being called feminine that this emotion overtime turns into a phobia. We can relate this topic to the Trump documentary we watched in class. Trump as we all know him is the exact definition of what the author talks about. Trump grew up with such a strong reinforcement of manhood that it became toxic. To think that because you are a men, you are better than everyone and even being associated with being called gay can ruin your reputation or seeing it as an insult.

Femininity is seen as a weakness. Being a women is seen as a weakness. Why would a men like to be associated with such disgusting words? For men like Trump, they think that having the most power is what you need the most, and definitely being called gay or working under a women is NOT the way to get there. When Trump was younger, his father always taught him business, he went to a military school where he was surrounded by boys who all want to be the best and at their best behaviour. Furthermore, Trump was taught from a very young age that he needs to be the best.

Since being a man is all about being strong and in power, being gay was seen and still is seen in some cases as the worst possible outcome of being born a man. Men nowadays feel that to be completely and utterly masculine, they have o reject every aspect of being less in power, this is also how Trump, even when he looses , he calls his “loss” as winning, because he can never show weakness.

In my opinion, there is no such thing as being more or less masculine because a person prefers the same sex or because of their likes and beliefs. To be a “man” does not mean you need to put other men and women don to fee superior, which is the exact opposite of Trump is behaviour.

The essay “ Masculinity as Homophobia” by Michael Kimmel argues that homophobia is more then just sexual orientation. Homophobia in this text is described as fear, fear of being unmasked and seen as untough, uncool, or even a sissy. This fear starts at a very young age as soon as kids enter school everyone is trying to figure out who the “sissy” on the playground is. Kimmel says it progresses through out life, he says “as adolescence we learn that our peers are gender police constantly threatening to unmask us as feminine.”

Kimmel says manhood is automatically equated with power. A man needs power over women, and over other men. This negatively affects the men that feel powerless, men have experienced being wounded victims of oppressive male socialization. A man is not a man if he doesn’t feel powerful. Men are being forced to hide any behaviour that might seem even the slightest bit feminine, they must uphold an image orelse they are not manly. Moreover, only a small percentage of men are able to reach full power of manhood, and that’s when men start to discriminate by race, ethnicity, age..

Trump seems to be the biggest racist sexist bastard of all America but never has been called feminine or a sissy.Trump was brought up in the military academy, and his dad always told him “if you did not win you lost.” This lead Trump to be very competitive and reach for the highest power.
Trump is a perfect example of what Kimmel was describing in his essay. For one he was trying to surpass his father, be even greater. Secondly, Trump has no respect to anyone, especially women. He believes women need to prove themselves. He even said that he cannot be attracted to a woman who had kids. I personally belive any man that has even a small amount of respect for women wouldn’t be disgusted by a women who brought life into this world, but not Trump (the most powerful man in America). Trump puts down anyone he can just so that he can be at the top. But it is very lonely at the top even if he is powerful.

With the introduction of feminism we can only hope that people like Trump stop living in fear of being called feminine and start embracing the differences in today’s society. Women will have a complete voice some day, the lgbtq community and any ethnicity should also have a voice, and shouldn’t be discriminated against. One day at a time patriarchy will no longer be the way of life in my opinion.

In his essay “Masculinity as Homophobia,” Michael Kimmel argues that homophobia is perpetuated by men’s fear of being seen as unmanly or feminine. Kimmel first discusses what he perceives to be the real definition of the word “homophobia.” He argues that this word has nothing to do with sexual orientation (the fear of gay people or the fear of being perceived as gay); rather, it is a fear of being perceived as unmanly, especially by other men. This fear starts at a very young age, when little boys are scared of being seen as or called a “sissy” at the playground. Later on, during adolescence and adulthood, this fear persists and dictates the way men behave because every mannerism, such as the way they walk or talk, could be interpreted as a sign of their lack of virility.

Another point that Kimmel discusses is that of power. To be a man means that you have to be more powerful than women as well as other men. In the feminist view, men, as a group, have all the power, in both the public and private spheres, whereas women, as a group, are powerless. The feminist point of view clashes with men’s actual experience: since a young age, men are taught that they are entitled to power, yet they do not feel powerful. This feeling of powerlessness, as Kimmel argues, is due to the fact that only a tiny fraction of men benefit from the construct of masculinity, meaning white heterosexual middle-class men. These men practice the politics of exclusion by considering anyone who does not fall under these categories as “unmanly.” They are threatened by other men and try to exclude as many of them from the definition of “manhood.” Therefore, men discriminate the majority of men on the basis of race, class, ethnicity, age, or sexual orientation in order to elevate themselves and feel somewhat powerful. It is the politics of exclusion that helps us understand how the issues of racism, sexism, homophobia and transphobia emerge and persist.

Kimmel’s arguments, in terms of both the fear of being seen as unmanly and the quest for power, can be exemplified by the case of Donald Trump. In fact, ever since a young age, when he went to a military academy, Trump never wanted to be seen as weak. Therefore, he gladly got into fights at school in order to demonstrate to other boys his strength and power. As he got older, he continued embracing the playboy mentality of his teenage years by dating and marrying models, whom he used as evidence of his virility. Not only does Trump seemingly have a fear of being emasculated, but he also has a strong quest for power. First, it started as a competition with his father. Donald Trump’s father, Fred Trump, was a successful businessman, and Donald desperately tried to surpass him. Then, once he surpassed him and became a multi-millionaire himself, Trump still wanted more power. However, in the business world, Trump was seen as a terrible businessman, especially by bankers, and was therefore criticized. Moreover, socially, the old money elite never saw Trump as one of them and never accepted him. Therefore, as a response to all the criticism he received from people around him and the media, he sought the biggest sign of power anyone could have by becoming the president of the United States.

On his quest for power, Donald Trump put down many groups of people in order to elevate himself. For instance, he believed that men are better than women. However, he did employ women to work for him because he believed that since women are inferior, a good woman is better than ten good men since she will work much harder to prove herself. Not only is Donald Trump sexist, but he is also racist as demonstrated by the fact that he and his father were accused of discriminating against Black people when hiring. Donald Trump is a perfect example of the type of masculinity that Kimmel discusses in his essay, the type of man who is so afraid of being seen as unmanly that he goes out of his way to prove his manliness most often by putting down others.

People who have visibility in the media are often viewed as speakers for the majority. Just like people might assume feminists are all radical and hate men, people ca also judge relations between men and women by looking at Trump. Undoubtedly, men look up to other men to determine what masculinity is. Michael Kimmel’s essay can attest this whole phenomenon that we can all understand because we have been part of it since our childhood.

Traditionally, homosexual men have been portrayed as effeminate. In order to prove themselves as «straight», men have felt the need to over-express a masculinity as expected by society. Dressing manly, speaking manly, and, mostly, demonstrating sexual attractiveness toward women. If we look at Donald’ Trump and his education regarding masculinity, we can understand that referring to Playboy leads to a misunderstanding of real life interactions. His two wives were models and that is what men can look up to as a model nowadays. Again, women are seen as accessories rather than individuals with their own qualities to please men’s ideal of masculinity.

In “Masculinity as Homophobia”, Michael Kimmel explains to us that homophobia is more than just sexual orientation.  He describes it as the fear of being unmasked by other men.  Being unmasked is being seen as sensitive or having other qualities that fall outside of the man box.  He says that the biggest secret of manhood is “we fear other men” (Kimmel, 147).   They fear being seen as anything that doesn’t make them seen manly. It is as though the have this constant need to fill the norms of society pertaining to what a man should be and act like. 

Though in our everyday lives the term homophobia is most commonly used in a different context to what he is describing, the definitions that he has stated are still very prominent.  It numerous western societies nothing has evolved. Men constantly fear being ridiculed by people they know. At a young age like Kimmel explains, boys are constantly throwing little tests, just like the finger nail test to test each others masculinity.  I find it completely absurd that a way a man looks at his fingernails can classify him and being either manly or girly. It is the little things like this that can drive men crazy and it is because things like this start at such a young age that throughout their entire lives men are constantly trying to prove themselves and outdo other men. 

Manhood to many means power. Power over both women and other men.  It means that you can’t be anything else other than strong and powerful.  With that comes the fact that they feel as though they can’t show their feelings or emotions. “As young men we are constantly riding those gender boundaries, checking the fences we have constructed on the perimeter, making sure that nothing even remotely feminine might show through (Kimmel, 148).  It is completely unfair that they feel as though they need to watch their every move in order to not be ridiculed. It is sad that men feel as though if they do not posses all the qualities that fit inside the man box then they are not real men.  

Donald Trump is the perfect example of this. Growing up he was the ladies man.  He had power and money.  He dated the prettiest ladies, was powerful in the business world and his attitude in general made him the perfect fit for the definition of being a man. Trump hates to be humiliated and therefore enjoys humiliating others. When Trump was humiliated by Obama, he felt powerless and emasculated.  Also, according to Trump women in general are less worthy than men and have to work ten times harder if they want to make anything of themselves.  Men like Donald Trump tend to abuse the power they have in order to make themselves feel superior to others. 

In my opinion, expressing your emotions does make you any less of a man.  It is not the way you walk or talk that makes you a man. It is not about being able to withhold your feelings or winning a fight that makes you more manly.  All these stereotypes really mess with a person’s head.  All this can change and it only takes one man to start this change. 

In the work of Kimmel’s, his article on masculinity as homophobia explains on the impact on how masculinity and the culture surrounding the manhood of masculinity treats homophobia as toxic for a man to be perceive as effeminate. He argues by stating how the fear of a man to be labeled as gay, his identity would be revealed and persecute for it, and if they are viewed as emasculate then they fear that other men ’s will not acknowledged them as men (Kimmel, 1994, p. 147).

Moreover, on the document video on the life of Donald Trump, masculinity is the very definition on what Donald Trump is because he has lived in a life of manhood and learning more from his father. He served a military school for youth males which he embraced it and the wives he married were models meaning that as a dominate male he sees his wife and previous wives as a prize property, and all the achievements he accomplished in a competitive male world shows that he fits as the alpha male and nothing effeminate or gay is in Donald Trump.

Lastly, I think in Kimmel’s work he stated that there is no greater fear for a man to be label as sissy in a culture that dominated by masculinity and defines manhood (Kimmel, 1994, p. 148). This means that for one of Trump’s success he exploited a lot of his identity as a male because if he had traits of emasculate behaviours then no one would of have take Donald Trump serious even if he wasn’t gay. Whether we have racism, sexism, transphobia, and homophobia there is always gender and gender roles that plays in each individual’s identity. I think for men’s, each of these traits are what masculine males do not want to be label as because of the fear that they might break the moral rule of manhood.

In the text “Masculinity as Homophobia”, the author, Micheal Kimmel explains that men are raised to fit into the very limited norms of masculinity. This masculinity is based on the fear of other men. We live in a society where men pay attention to every action they do, to make sure they do not act feminine in the slightest way. The biggest fear a man faces is being called a homosexual. Gays are still describe with stereotypes such as someone who acts feminine, dresses feminine, talks a certain way, etc. Therefore, being seen as feminine is the biggest fear men face. To make sure people do not portray them that way, men are forced to exaggerate masculinity norms. Therefore, they turn to violence. Manhood is based on having power – power over women and other men. This is where we can connect this article to the documentary on Trump. Trump was raised to always be the best, the most successful, the most powerful. This explains his use of verbal violence towards so many people; the only way he is able to show his power is by diminishing others. Sadly, American society is constructed to fail the majority of men. What I mean is only the smallest fraction of men will manage to obtain their goal of power. All the other men will feel “powerless”. However, they are not truly “powerless”. Compared to all other race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, these men are powerful. Why do they feel so powerless? Because the norms of masculinity are so unobtainable, that even men with a certain quantity of power, always want more. They do not realize their power compared to women, LGBTQ+, poorer individuals, etc. Men are fighting a competition between themselves and do not bother to think about every other individual who does not fit perfectly the norms of masculinity. In their fight there is always a winner and a loser, and that loser is a “sissy”, a “pussy”, a “faggot”, and the list goes on. Trump was raised to always win. He was taught to never show his weakness and failures. However, when Obama made fun of him at the conference, Trump felt humiliated for the first time in his life. As a consequence, Trump decided to run for presidency in spite of Obama – he had to win this battle. This situation really shows the immaturity of Trump, but also the immaturity of all men who are racing for this power. This need for power is extremely childish, and men will obtain it in childish ways. Men are raised to believe they will be powerful, but most of the time they will never feel the power they were described because it is so unrealistic. As a result, they feel frustrated, angry, but mostly humiliated. Without this power, they feel that they have failed their parents, their friends, their family, and themselves. Men are made believe that if they do not have power, then they are nothing. We must change this perception of masculinity.

Michael Kimmel’s essay, “Masculinity as Homophobia,” was very progressive for the time it was written in, and it continues to be highly relevant today. Kimmel puts forth the idea that the crux of American “manhood” lies in the fear of other men; this fear manifests itself through the violent and exclusionary practices that are common markers of what it means “to be a real man”. Men are constantly afraid of not measuring up to this ideal of what virile masculinity is supposed to be, and so as a defensive measure, they are constantly trying to point out that others are even less “manly” than they are in an effort avoid the humiliation of emasculation. Men occupy a place of power and privilege in society, but many individual men feel powerless, largely due to this constant self- and peer-policing, and that is a big reason why they are constantly clinging to the privileges they have.

The reassertion of the false validity of privileges is what sustains, encourages, and even necessitates the propagation of racism, sexism, classism, homophobia, and transphobia. The average man who feels powerless in society gets to artificially elevate himself above others by placing himself at the center of masculinity and others at the fringes, and this gives him the modicum of power and privilege he feels he needs to get through the day. While his boss may order him about and degrade him at work, the man, in turn, can go home and boss around his wife and kids and reassert his masculinity. The cycle of power and powerlessness is thus replicated, and the problems surrounding the relationships engendered by this kind of social order are never addressed as the true cause of much discontent in society.

In the case of Donald Trump, we see this mentality manifest very obviously in a few key manners. First of all, we have Trump’s constant quest to control the narrative, through any means necessary, in order to define himself and reassert his masculinity over and over again. He never admits fault, failure, or wrongdoing, and always loudly proclaims himself a winner; sadly, more often than not, this message gets picked up by the media and Trump succeeds in maintaining his façade of success. He then uses this artificial image to appeal to masses of middle-class Americans, who have not adapted to modern society and thus feel left behind, telling them that it is not their fault for falling behind but the fault of minorities for stealing their privileges and “rightful place” in society. During his development as a young student and businessman, Trump had very stereotypical, hyper-masculine “macho” role models, like playboy Hugh Hefner and ruthless lawyer Roy Cohn. Roy Cohn was both a mentor to Trump and his personal lawyer, and he taught him that people were either “killers” or losers; Cohn taught Trump to always be on the attack, a tactic Cohn himself used as a prosecutor during the McCarthy hearings. Whenever Trump feels attacked or belittled, he immediately goes on the offensive, making personal attacks and pursuing ruthless smear campaigns, the perfect example being his obsession with Obama’s birth certificate and his baseless claim that Obama was not born in the United States. Trump is the epitome of masculinity expressed as homophobia, transphobia, racism, sexism, and classism, and his election is a clear warning sign that if our social construction of masculinity and gender do not change, we are headed for a catastrophe from which we may be unable to recover.

Kimmel’s essay “Masculinity as homophobia” explores the social construct of “masculinity” or “manhood” as men’s fear of failure to be perceived as manly by others.  In the documentary about President Trump, we are exposed to his early life and the way in which he grew up, which helps us understand why he embodies the idea of masculinity – which is toxic according to Kimmel’s article.   

Men are negatively affected by the social construct of masculinity which dominates many western societies as they are socialized into believing that anything trait that falls short of the idea of a dominant, aggressive, and masculine man makes males less manly.  Western culture has taught men that failure to achieve the ultimate masculinity is shameful and humiliating.  Therefore, men are afraid of behaving in ways which do not fit the stereotypical depictions of masculinity created by society.  This is learned from a young age and causes boys to fear that if they are not manly enough, they will be perceived as homosexuals, “sissies,” females, etc.  One of the main markers of manhood becomes violence, as the idea of a manly man consists of aggression and dominance.   

Men turn against each other in trying to be the manliest, and they police each other in that they call out any acts which may be perceived as feminine.  Therefore, men must put on a façade and repress any behaviors or acts which may be remotely feminine.  In turn, men fear that they will be perceived as gay and thus exaggerate traditional manly behaviors; this perpetuates homophobia because traditional manhood rejects the gay man.  Moreover, it also promotes sexism because traditional masculinity defines women as inferior to the aggressive man, which may also lead to sexual predation because men feel as though they need to assert their dominance over the inferior woman.  Feminists argue that masculinity attempts to increase the power of men, while consequently diminishing any power that women may hold in society.  The main idea that comes with manhood is that men hold power, and in turn, males attempt to hold power over women and even other men.   

Furthermore, the unwritten rules of manhood are constructed in such a way that only a small percentage of men could truly achieve it; since men are supposed to be powerful, this has led them to discriminate on the basis of “race, class, ethnicity, age, or sexual preference” (Kimmel).  In disempowering or excluding others, they are able to empower themselves.  The group that often dominates and fits into these notions of masculinity is that of middle class, straight white men.   

Kimmel argues that the whole idea of manhood is an insecurity and fear of being perceived as someone who is not the ultimate, traditional embodiment of a man; this, in turn, causes exclusion of women, homosexuals, transgenders, non-white individuals, etc.  The only way we could relieve men from the responsibility of embodying the rules of masculinity would be by including instead of excluding.  

The issue my team and I want to address in our project is how sexual violence is also present in high schools, colleges, and universities. The goal of our campaign would be to help victims of such violence to open up given that is it sometimes harder due to authority figures in schools.

Here’s a few campaigns I found that touches the same issue my team and I are doing are project on. 

#MeTooK12 

While doing some research I found a campaign called MeTooK12  that is a branch of the MeToo Movement but, about sexual assault in schools. #MeTooK12 is a social media hashtag created by the national nonprofit Stop Sexual Assault in Schools (SSAIS). The campaign encourages victims of sexual harassment and assault by peers or school staff to share their experiences while they attend K-12 schools. It also encourages secondary victims—the victim’s friends, family, and allies to share how sexual harassment negatively impacts the lives of students.

#HandsOffIX

#HandsOffIX is the social media hashtag created to oppose the U.S. Department of Education’s proposed amendments to the Title IX regulations. These changes would dangerously impact both college and K-12 students.  Public opposition from organizations, attorneys general, lawmakers, organizations, school, superintendents, principals, psychologists, survivors, and individuals is substantial.

What the new regulations would do for K-12

If approved, the new regulations would:

• Narrow the definition of sexual harassment so that students might have to endure escalating incidents of harassment before the school will respond.
• Permit schools to ignore cyber sexual harassment or sexual harassment that occurs off-campus.
• Allow schools to delay their Title IX investigations indefinitely.
• Place more obstacles in the path of student survivors who want their schools to protect their rights to an education free from sexual harassment.
• Allow a school to ignore a complaint of sexual harassment unless a someone notifies a school official who is authorized to take “corrective measures.”
• Require student survivors of ongoing sexual harassment or sexual assault to make a formal complaint before the school could take Title IX action and offer supportive measures.

Sources : http://stopsexualassaultinschools.org/handsoffix/ 

A.C