I don’t even know how I can possibly write this without sounding completely ignorant and sexist. Yesterday, I went on a falconry trip to witness how the hunting process takes place when you have a trained bird of prey. So we drove really faraway and reached out a deserted area in the north.
When I stepped out of that Land Cruiser I was shocked to see a woman holding this beautiful falcon and fixing its cap. The thing is, I’m quite the feminist and I do believe that women are capable of doing everything a man can and vise versa. Everything is possible. But to see a woman, in the middle of the desert (literarily), giving us lessons on falconry and looking so boss was just astonishing.
In a patriarchal society, it is really hard to find women doing things that men do to display their masculinity. Especially when it comes to a sport like falconry. In this culture, falcons are associated with strength, poise and total control and so are the men. The “Falcon Lady” (that’s what we called her because nobody had the guts to ask her again for her name) showed us the ropes and answered all our lame questions with scientific facts and personal experiences. We were very impressed by how much she knew and she wasn’t even old or anything. On the other hand, the men who came with us and tricked us (not intentionally) into thinking that they were going to do the hunting, just sat there and cuddled with their female Chihuahua dog. I guess that is what you would call hybrid masculinity. A combined toughness, decisiveness, and hardness with sensitivity, compassion, and vulnerability. Those same guys brought their younger daughters along to teach them about falconry.
I guess the reason why I was shocked is because of gender socialization. Gender socialization is the process where people learn the norms related to sex and gender. I know that women are biologically different than men, but I was socialized to believe that men are the ones who do the rough, tough kind of sports (like hunting with birds of prey) while women should pick more tender activities. Which is totally bull because she was doing something really amazing and enjoying it.
I am really glad that there are people out here who are willing to break the “rules” society made to pursue what they most enjoy.
It turns out that yet another component plays an influential factor in a game like badminton—a person’s gender.
Badminton, one of the 8000 varied sports in the world, shares the common feature of being an inherently male dominated sport. As of 2004, the number of male badminton players (in the 16-34 age-group) was almost double the number of their female counterparts (retrieved from sports.espn.go).
Originally traced back to 16th Century Japan and Greece, badminton as we know today, was a 300-year-old European innovation in India. Then, elite men and women somberly playing shuttlecock and battledore were a very common sight.
Over the years though, the formula has changed dramatically as restrictions in movement have completely vanished.
Present day badminton= verve+ vitality+vivacity [B= 3V]
There is a certain degree of ease for those with a strong and supple body that is fairly well-built and amply energized. Men naturally have an upper hand in such a fast racquet sport that requires continuous exertion.
To summarize (and, once more, grossly to simplify) such positions, sport is a crucial site for the reproduction of patriarchal structures and values, a male- dominated secular religion that has celebrated the physically aggressive and often violent deeds of men. Sport has been an integral element of self- sustaining forms of exclusivist male culture, lubricating a closed system of male bonding and female denigration. (Rowe, 1998)
The last game of badminton I played was at EC, barely a few hours ago, and I must say I still feel dizzyingly tired. In the 45 minutes I spent at the game, I left the court four times to get a drink of water, and spent a total of about 15 minutes being an "audience," simply because I was too tired to play. Which brings me to the next formula:
Energy Level= Exhaustion- (Spirit + Motivation)
Towards the end of the game, my right hand ached as if it were bloated. Physical discomfort aside, I couldn't help but notice that throughout the entire span of the game, a majority of the shots were a) exceedingly fast-paced; b) usually directed upwards (because of the amount of strength expended on each shot, the shuttlecock would sometimes reach the ceiling, which was several feet high).
Every five seconds in a game of badminton, you are guaranteed to be doing either one of the following: jumping, running, skidding, stretching, hitting-as-hard-as-you-possibly-can. (And occasionally saying “Dayyum!” when you miss a shot because you are too distracted by the lights overhead, but that is an altogether different matter). Badminton is a reaction sport that can drain energy levels very easily, so sufficient physical strength is a must to stay buoyant.
That established, the following statistic is not particularly surprising:
Total number of badminton players in Rec Center on 18/04/’12 = 13 = 12 Males + 1 Female
Yes, I was the only female.
There are usually an equal number of women around though, said my badminton partner, Kee Guan NG. Although he agreed that such a sport involves intense physical activity, he stressed that the you-should-constantly-be-on-your-toes part of the game has not lugged back women in any way, at least in his home country, Malaysia. I learned that badminton is Malaysia’s national game and that the world’s leading player, as of 2012, is a Malaysian Lee Chong Wei.
Kee, a regular player at the Recreation Centre, continued about the relatively negligible gender segregation and equal woman proactivity in badminton, even in EC.
But I noticed that while he mentioned Wei as being the foremost international competitor, Guan said nothing about a similarly top-ranked woman player.
Which can be explained by the fact that badminton definitely has a manlike connotation attached to it. Wikipedia-- one of the most frequented websites around the world-- is proof enough of this: of the six coloured pictures of badminton players, only one shows (and rather vaguely) a woman player.
But it’s not just badminton.
For most of us, the term “Woman’s sports” is fed into our mental lexicon, while the term “Men’s sports” sounds deviously wrong.
Imagine, for example, Men’s cricket, or Men’s hockey. Or Men’s badminton. Somehow, the former part is taken for granted-- if it is a game, it is assumedly men’s.
Another interesting trend I noticed was that most players played for points
i.e. Men playing a game ∞ Level of competition
Throughout, the intense games were heavily peppered with split-second conversations like:
“What is the score?” “Six to Seven.”
The competitiveness was amusing. Interestingly though, my game with Kee was a score-free, casual one-- the only competition-bereft game he played. Perhaps this can be explained as follows (retrieved from jsssagepub.com):
The competitive hierarchy of athletic careers encouraged the development of masculine identities based on very narrow definitions of public success. The fact that winning was pre- mised on physical power, strength, discipline, and willingness to take, ignore, or deaden pain inclined men to experience their own bodies as machines, as in- struments of power and domination—and to see other peoples’ bodies as objects of their power and domination.
In the 1980s, masculinity was defined and portrayed in movie as characters being physically strong – having muscles. Expressing feelings and being emotional was strictly unacceptable. It was almost a taboo for a man to express himself in public, especially with the presence of women. These values are represented in the tough, decisive, hard, competent person of Arnold Schwarzenegger, one of the most famous starts in the film, business and political industry. Schwarzenegger was the typical masculine man.
However, in the late 1980s, a new form of masculinity emerged in film¬ – a hybrid masculinity. It was referred to as hybrid because it comprised elements of both masculinity and feminism. This new form allowed men to display “sensitivity” and emotionality” in public, while at the same time not giving up on being tough and decisive. Nowadays, hybrid masculinity is no longer a new form. It became sort of the norm in many movies. The film Fireflies in the Garden is a good example. In this film, we see Michael Taylor (Ryan Reynolds), the lead actor, being able to express his feelings and show them without putting his masculinity into question. In one of the scenes we see him crying, which was considered a symbol of weakness that is usually associated with female feelings for so long. A scene of a male crying over a woman or over an issue in his life no longer strikes the audience as culturally shocking or unacceptable.
Displaying emotions became acceptable not only in movies but in politics as well.
In today's blog post I will discuss masculinity and how males are influenced to act as either the strong, dominant male or the "soft", weak male depending on where they are employed.
Today I went to Landmark and simply walked around and observed people's behaviors. I was very confused as to how I could relate my outing to masculinity. So I decided to compare male employee's behaviors in feminine stores to male employees's behaviors in masculine stores.
The first store I entered was the Body Shop. Their products consisted mainly of moisturizing creams, body lotions, and females cosmetics. There was one male employee among three females. The male was not masculine in any sense. His appearance did not represent any hint of masculinity. He was not physically built, he was very kind and sweet, and smiled a lot. His behavior represented the "soft," sensitive man.
I entered a an Adidassports store. All of the employees were males. They were all dressed in yellow adidas t-shirts. They seemed quite fit and had a more confidant masculine posture as they stood tall. This reflected the traditional masculinity male. However, they were very friendly and assisted me with my needs. This reflected the "kindergarten commando" because they were masculine in their appearance but kind and friendly. I assume this is because of how they are trained to serve customers in the store.
We see these types of behaviors in our day to day interactions with people. Some males are more accustomed to being the "ladies man" where they understand females better than the "traditional" male figure. They are more sensitive and understanding of the female gender's needs. The more "traditional" male figures view these "softer" males as weak and submissive, and that is what causes the power factor to exist. The physically larger and stronger males tend to feel like they have more power and influence over the "softer" male figure. However, in today's world we are experiencing more of the "kindergarten commando" where the physically strong men have been "remasculinized." They seem tough and insensitive on the outside. However, once you interact with them you see the more sensitive and "soft" side to them.
My family and I started our preparations for our Easter celebrations last night. There are several different symbols associated with Easter, three of the most prominent being the Easter Bunny, chocolate, and eggs. As Roman Catholics living in Qatar, we’ve brought over several of our traditions for celebrating Easter. One of these traditions, which is also my favorite, is Easter Egg Coloring.
In my family, we color and decorate the eggs the night before. Then, on Easter Sunday, we celebrate together at breakfast. During breakfast, we have an “egg-breaking competition,” which is basically done to find out who has the strongest egg. We basically go around and try to crack each other’s eggs. The last egg standing is the winner.
After our last sociology class about masculinity, I realized that my father resembled the “hybrid masculinity” during this little competition. My father is the only man in our immediate family. For as long as I can remember, my little sister, Joy, has always come out as the winner during these competitions. This is for one main reason: my dad does everything he possibly can to make sure she wins. He does this by taking everyone else out – he has a special way of holding the egg to make sure it doesn’t crack as easily. He also tends to cheat a bit when he hits other people’s eggs. However, whenever it’s just him and Joy left, he lets her win.
This made me think of the “Kindergarten Commando.” My dad feels a need to beat everyone out because he wants to prove his masculinity and macho-ism by being the strongest. However, at the same time, he also feels the need to take care of my little sister (his youngest daughter) and puts his macho-ism aside at the end to let her win. Joy doesn’t really take well to losing…I remember the one year I managed to beat the both of them, she was so upset she kicked my winning egg right out of my hand. I had to watch in horror as it flew out of my hand and hit the floor, dead. My dad never did anything to punish her, either…
Through this tradition and competition, my father is able to play the role of both the protector and the caring father.
In our latest Sociology class we discussed masculinity and cinema. The discussion was both entertaining and fascinating, considering that we only have two males in our class: a student and our professor. But seeing as the demographics of Northwestern University in Qatar is majority female, I found it really interesting to know more about males, who in our university are outnumbered.
Gender movements are almost always associated with women. No one really acknowledges men when it comes to their rights or the fact that they are also discriminated.
There is little doubt that there’s discrimination towards men. They do, in fact, make up the majority of inmates in prisons and work some of the most dangerous jobs in society. I was surprised to learn about a men’s rights movement in class. I think because I was under the impression that men have it made when it comes to getting good job positions. But then I understood that it was about more than just being a man. It was also about being a member of a particular race and social class too.
Usually race and social class are in correlation with each other. White men, when they aren’t in their home countries, tend to have better jobs than Indians in other countries, such as Qatar. Indian men in Qatar usually work as laborers or cleaners, not very glamorous jobs. There are those few Indian men who have good job positions but that’s mainly because they were raised in upper-class households. But in countries such as the U.S. there are white men who work in job industries such as construction or sanitation. There isn’t really an issue of pay with these types of jobs, but with the quality of the jobs.
We learned in class that there are three categories of men. There are some who are “soft” and sensitive, traditional and aggressive, and those who are a hybrid masculine. In society today, hybrid masculinity is accepted in comparison to men being sensitive or aggressive. Hybrid masculinity associates both muscle and compassion; so portraying a tough guy image, but also being caring and considerate of others.
We talked about different celebrities in class who fall under each category of men. Tupac was categorized as being hybrid masculine, while Bruno Mars and Twilight star, Robert Pattinson, almost fell short of being called men. However, I read in our sociology textbook that men in power, who have affairs with women, while they are married, tend to be seen as more manly. While sexual scandals can boost the masculinity of a man, physically abusing women will most definitely demean it.
The incident between Chris Brown and Rihanna in 2009 caused many people to dislike Chris Brown. Prior to them dating, he was pretty much a heartthrob and girls swooned over his music, particularly his very emotional lyrics directed at females.
“You changed my whole life Don't know what you’re doing to me with your love I'm feeling all Super human You did that to me Super human heart beats in me Nothing can stop me here with you, superhuman”
These lyrics are from one of his songs called “Superhuman.” It’s kind of hypocritical that he can sing these kinds of songs yet still beat up his own girlfriend. Ever since the incident he was targeted in the media and became the butt of many jokes. The fact that he could hit a woman could have been an action to boost his masculinity, yet it backfired. Even today, Chris Brown continues to attempt to sweep women off their feet. Although many women were against his actions and it stirred up controversy over abuse, other women still continued to be “fan girls” and listen to his music.
Overall, what I learned is that men have rights too. Despite that they’re the ones who have the top positions in almost all kinds of work.
Once again, Sociology has given me another chance to look things differently. What I learn in class can almost always be applied to everything around me on daily basis.
In today’s class, we learnt how masculinity is portrayed in cinema. During the early cinematic ages, men were portrayed as masculine, rough, tough, aggressive, powerful and competent. However, in the 1970’s, the embrace of feminism directly influenced the media industry. The “New Man” was more soft and sensitive. Following the feminist era, the reclaiming of traditional masculinity backlashed the feminist and the political state America was in during the 1980’s. This decade could be best described as “remasculinization”. Nevertheless, things changed. The end of 1980’s introduced hybrid masculinity. By hybrid masculinity, I mean the combination of sensitivity, compassion, and vulnerability with toughness, aggressiveness, and decisiveness.
Masculinity was not only portrayed in the cinema, but within stars and artists. The artist who stood out the most to me was Tupac Shakur, as his masculinity was constantly being questioned because of his songs such as Dear Mama. This may be because he expressed his sensitive side by dedicating some of his songs to his mother. On a social scale, rappers and men in general are expected to be tough, heartless and tough, but Tupac wasn’t. Tupac had more of a hybrid masculinity expressed within his music. He had sensitive songs such as Dear Mama and rough-aggressive lyrics such as Only God Can Judge Me.
In the song Dear Mama, he says, “Dear mama, Place no one above ya, sweet lady, your are appreciated, Don’t cha know we love ya?” Again, we get to see his sensitive side mentioning his mom in the lyrics of his song, Keep Ya Head Up. This is evident when he says, “And I realize momma really paid the price, she nearly gave her life, to raise me right.” On the other hand, he expresses his rough side in his song Only God Can Judge Me by saying “I’d rather die like a man, than live like a coward.
All in all, Tupac Shakur exemplifies the hybrid masculinity throughout his music by mentioning the difficulties he endured and the social problems his community had. He tends to be sensitive and compassion while being tough and aggressive.
“… They say I’m wrong and I’m heartless, but all along I was lookin' for a father he was gone… Dear Mama, you are appreciated...”
