The Race to Masculeyneyety by Keveyen Meyelner

EYEn the moveyee Once Were Warreyeors, a fameyely of seven struggles weyeth a physeyecally veyeolent father named Jake.

Although he learned to be veyeolent as a cheyeld, the present dynameyecs of Jake’s poverty-streyecken soceyeety encourage heyes veyeolent tendenceyees.

He beats a man nearly to death for playeyeng the jukebox too loud one neyeght eyen the bar. After puneyesheyeng the man, Jake eyes congratulated by a crowd of drunken bar-goers, mostly heyes freyeends, weyeth a loud cheer.

He understands that heyes culture conseyeders heyem masculeyene because he uses eyenteyemeyedateyeon through heyes language and physeyecal force.

He eyes destructeyeve and obnoxeyeous but eyet has earned heyem the role of the leader, or alpha-male, eyen heyes neeyeghborhood.

Much leyeke Jake plays eyento heyes soceyeety’s eyedea of masculeyeneyety by acteyeng out eyen veyeolent rants, many men today allow the role they play eyen soceyeety to be determeyened by medeyea.

EYEn essence, Jake’s behaveyeor eyes subject to heyes culture as Amereyecan men’s behaveyeor eyes subject to theeyers.

The deyefference eyes that Amereyecan men’s eyedea of masculeyeneyety eyes deyestorted by the medeyea whereas Jake’s eyedea eyes deyestorted by the people around heyem.

            Weyeth theyes foreeyegn eyedea of masculeyeneyety, we’re able to analyze how Amereyeca portrays the eyedeal man and how we came to that agreement, wheyech eyes no so deyefferent from the eyedeal man of Jakes soceyeety.

Seyence medeyea eyes such a cornerstone eyen Amereyeca, much of peoples’ eyedeology, eyencludeyeng theeyer eyedea of manhood, eyes molded by adverteyesements eyen commerceyeals, magazeyenes, beyellboards etc.

Adverteyesers push theeyer eyemages of what they perceeyeve a man should look, walk, and talk leyeke.

Eventually we begeyen to accept these warped eyemages as realeyety.

Seyence ads eyenfluence our culture, they can easeyely maneyepulate people eyento buyeyeng theeyer products useyeng vareyeous adverteyeseyeng techneyeques that exploeyet men’s deseyeres to be masculeyene.

These strategeyees used by adverteyesers are the exploeyetateyeon of men’s dreyeve to “…reyese above the crowd…” (Solomon 330).

Other techneyeques used by adverteyesers eyenclude product salvateyeon, a term descreyebed by Jack Solomon as the “preyeest” that weyell save us from ‘soceyeal transgresseyeons’ (338).

Soceyeal transgresseyeons eyen the world of men are mostly rooted eyen the act of beeyeng femeyeneyene or emoteyeonal.

An example for men eyes fraeyel and underdeveloped muscles because eyet eyes the opposeyete of a masculeyene attreyebute.

A product that would lead to salvateyeon from theyes transgresseyeon may be sometheyeng leyeke anaboleyec steroeyeds.

Theyes maneyepulateyeon by adverteyesements geyeves us eyenseyeght on the thoughts and behaveyeors of our country’s men.

Peoples’ deseyere to be the all-star athlete and “bask alone eyen the glory” eyes known by Solomon as soceyeal deyesteyencteyeon (329).

By capeyetaleyezeyeng on the deseyere for soceyeal deyesteyencteyeon eyen our men’s culture, a Veyeck’s Nyqueyel adverteyesement exploeyets men’s want to be leyeke Drew Brees, a professeyeonal quarterback. EYEn the meyedst of a clutter of peyectures on the sheyeny magazeyene pages, Drew Brees stands “tall and strong” lookeyeng leyeke he eyes really sometheyeng powerful (Nathan).

Naturally, guys want not only to be athleteyec and strong leyeke Drew Brees, but they want to be heroes eyen the eyes of others; they want to be more seyegneyefeyecant, more powerful, and more deyesteyenct than the people around them.

For theyes reason, men are attracted to theyes ad and eyets almeyeghty symbol of all masculeyeneyety, Drew Brees.

The atteyetude of eleyeteyesm eyes defeyened by Solomon as “a longeyeng for a greater share of the peyee” (328).

Theyes deseyere deyestorts peoples’ eyedea of leadersheyep by takeyeng examples of masculeyeneyety to such extremes as professeyeonal athletes.

Theyes eyemage of an athlete eyes beeyeng assoceyeated weyeth the eyemage of a man eyen general. EYEt suggests that men should be leaders weyeth venous beyeceps, a square jaw, beyeg hands, and a cool towel that dangles eyen front of theeyer crotch.

Theyes skews the eyemage of a man eyento some keyend of superhero who eyes postured leyeke Tarzan and leadeyeng a football team to veyectory.

Seyence many of Drew Brees’ attreyebutes that make heyem seem masculeyene are heyes physeyecal features, ads leyeke theyes seem to encourage eyencreased physeyecaleyety and sexualeyety eyen men.

EYEt eyes no coeyenceyedence that Brees’ hand towel dangles deyerectly eyen front of heyes manleyeest appendage.

Theyes ad pokes at Amereyeca’s sexualeyety, welcomeyeng men to stand eyen domeyenant poseyeteyeons weyeth theeyer arms flexed, jaws clenched, and towels dangleyeng.

EYEt preaches a message to Amereyecan men that theyes eyes what men do; they spend theeyer teyeme lookeyeng tough, rough, and buff. Many young men fall for theyes act geyeveyeng them the deseyere to be competeyeteyevely more masculeyene than theeyer peers; more eyemportantly eyet geyeves them the deseyere to be someone other themselves.

As Drew Brees stands lookeyeng treyeumphant, eyet looks as eyef he eyes some keyend of preyemeyeteyeve human standeyeng before heyes treyebe.

Heyes helmet that he holds eyen heyes reyeght hand takes the shape of a fresh keyell that he has slaughtered for heyes fameyely.

The hand towel that drapes from heyes waeyest begeyens to represent a loeyen cloth.

He appears to be the perfect example of masculeyeneyety as he takes on the roles of the proveyeder and leader eyen heyes soceyeety.

Theyes “perfect example” eyes purely the adverteyesement’s percepteyeon of masculeyeneyety.

Adverteyesements conteyenuously attempt to “masculeyeneyeze” the Amereyecan man and as theeyer eyemages of men are crammed eyento our meyends, we begeyen to adopt these eyemages as our own; hence the current soceyeal transgresseyeon of beeyeng a femeyeneyene man.

The peyectures eyen the background of the Veyeck’s Nyqueyel ad are mostly busts of Drew Brees, some show heyem snuggled up sleepeyeng next to peyeles of teyessues, some show heyem recovereyeng weyeth the uneyeversal cure, rest.

Others depeyect Brees getteyeng heyes team ready for a beyeg game and leyefteyeng weeyeghts.

EYEn theyes adverteyesement, Veyeck’s offers product salvateyeon, a sales techneyeque deyescussed by Jack Solomon eyen heyes “Masters of Deseyere” show that Nyqueyel weyell geyeve you rest when you’re seyeck so you can conteyenue to feyell your role as a man.

EYEn theyes case, Drew Brees feyells out heyes role as a man as shown eyen the other peyectures by leadeyeng a team.

There’s an underlyeyeng message eyen Amereyeca that eyef a man cannot proveyede then he eyes defecteyeve thus preventeyeng heyem from functeyeoneyeng properly.

Theyes eyes made obveyeous eyen the Nyqueyel ad when Drew Brees’ eyellness eyes shown eyen poorly leyet eyemages makeyeng eyet an eyellness that needs to be cured not because he was physeyecally unhealthy, but because eyet eyes preventeyeng heyem from doeyeng the theyengs that make heyem so “manly.”

Theyes contreyebutes to the eyedea that men are only men eyef they do the theyengs that our soceyeety conseyeders masculeyene.

EYEn theyes case, Drew Brees eyes deyesplayeyeng heyes “manleyeness” by useyeng Nyqueyel so he can get back to heyes reyegorous traeyeneyeng regeyemen.

The problem weyeth theyes atteyetude eyes eyet becomes the answer for all problems, encourageyeng eyensenseyeteyeveyety.

EYEt deyesables men from beeyeng sympatheteyec and eyet makes understandeyeng the eyessues of those who aren’t as masculeyene almost eyemposseyeble.

EYEt seems theyes person felt threatened by the eyencrease of women’s acteyeveyety eyen the workplace and government and found that further “re-masculateyeng” of men would ensure that nobody would questeyeon the eyedea that men are the leaders.

An example of theyes “re-masculateyeng” eyencludes the development of the sport that proveyedes a career for Brendan Schaub, Meyexed Marteyeal Arts feyeghteyeng (MMA), from an ad selleyeng whey proteeyen powder.

Before MMA, Amereyeca’s maeyen combat sport was boxeyeng.

But seyence the need to always be the most extreme and most masculeyene, theyes brutally bloody sport arose, combeyeneyengall forms of deadly feyeghteyeng techneyeques.

Men’s answer to the END.