Feedback

Sorry I forgot to include feedback on the project in my video:

I really enjoyed this project. I am not sure how to improve it. I think making the videos were the best part! I love that we can each pick a unique topic.

Cultural Reporter Video

Enjoy my final results!

Project Summary

Amanda Wesely

My approach to this project has been different because of my own cultural identity. I am a white, middle class, and female. A woman studying the male identity would probably irritate most men. The assumption is most likely the woman will try to make the male race the enemy. However, I hope I am not perceived as such after reading my research. Being a non-religious individual is probably a benefit for this research. Religious texts can sometimes express gender roles that influence the followers.

I am interested in gender roles. I know we cannot put males and females in separate categories without overlap. The world is shades of gray, not black and white. There are no set qualities, but what are the bases of these generalizations? Are they partially based on biology? Going through the differences in biology between men and women can help illuminate these generalizations, which are imprecise.

Let’s start with the human brain. Men and women have different regular brain activity. Women have more brain activity, because they are thinking about multiple things at once. A man has lower brain activity and concentrate on one thing at a time. This can lead to some gender roles being defined. Men are often times put into the role of the sexual gender. Men are supposed to want sex all the time and women are supposed to be more naïve. What research has found is that because men have lower brain activity they like to spark more activity in the brain by thinking about sex. Women on the other hand generally have more activity going on, so sex does not get on the mind as often. This difference in brain activity could be one of many factors that lead men to become the more sexual gender typecast. However, creating this gender role has created unrealistic expectations on both genders. Men cannot always be in the mood, nor can a woman never be the more sexual partner.

Below is a great video illustrating many differences in the brains of the different genders and the generalizations are made because of these differences.

As children girls and boys have similar muscle mass makeup, but when puberty hits boys increase their muscle mass as women decrease theirs. The surge of testosterone boys receive in puberty results in larger frames, increased muscle mass and increased bone mass. On the opposite spectrum, women are preparing to give life to a child. Their body begins to store more fat cells for potential pregnancies. Their higher levels of estrogen lessen muscle and bone mass, along with wider hips. The factors for men result in a stronger body than the results of the women after puberty.

The generally stronger male bodies can possibly be attributed to the role males have taken over centuries of being the protector. Let’s be realistic, the average man can overpower the average woman. These physical differences are contributing factor in many male gender roles created. Perhaps physical strength has somehow been associated with leadership. The weak following the strong is a survival technique, which seems to have continued today. Men feel the need to lead their “weaker” partners. This leading, I think, can be traced back to physical strength and hunting abilities of men in the early civilizations. Women gave childbirth and needed male companions to hunt and gather food. Nowadays, women can give childbirth and be a leader simultaneously. However, I think the previous generations of women following men because of their physical strengths have entered into a time period when it is no longer necessary construct genders so. Men are again trapped in this role as leader and protector. I believe this gender role is based largely on physical strengths of men.

In the video I posted last time, many men find the idea of taking a women’s last name insulting while insisting a woman to take their last name. This could be tie into the idea of physical strength snowballing onto males being the leading gender. A leader would never submit to changing themselves for a follower, so a man should never adjust his last name for a woman. However, a woman is a follower so she should change her last name.

The research I have found instructs us that gender roles may have some biological basis, but ultimately they are simplifications of a more complex process. Men are not always better at math. Women more often think about math with their right brains, while men use their left brain. This causes them to learn it in different ways and understand it in different ways. Until recently math was taught for the male left brains and not the female right brain. Now that schools have adjusted for both genders, women are excelling in mathematics. This is another example of how the simplifications about the differences in males and females can have negative impacts. Assuming women just were not as talented in mathematics limits the female sex.

When communicating with different sexes one must always remember gender renders are stereotyping that cannot be taken too seriously. Pigeonholing a sex to a certain gender role limits communication and the progress of the civilization. We must communicate with one another, being aware of biological differences and their affects, but never assuming identities on others that may be inaccurate.

Sweden is attempting to create a gender-neutral society. They are starting in schools, where boys are girls are not separated by gender. They are referred to as the gender-neutral terms “hen” or “buddies”. Sports are not separated by sex and there is encouragement to create friendships with both genders. This is an ideal world of communication. I am not going to make assumptions on the outcome, but it is an admirable goal.

http://shine.yahoo.com/team-mom/kids-raised-gender-neutral-society-sweden-thinks-033400030.html

References

Martin, J. N., & Nakayama, T. K. (2009). Intercultural Communication in Contexts (5th Edition ed.). New York, NY: McGraww-Hill.

Birkeland, Charlene Prince. Yahoo. http://shine.yahoo.com/team-mom/kids-raised-gender-neutral-society-sweden-thinks-033400030.html.

Ulmer, Graham. LiveStrong. http://www.livestrong.com/article/246036-how-much-more-muscle-mass-does-a-male-have-than-a-female/ (accessed April 2012).

The Male Identity

Amanda Wesely

The male identity is a broad topic. I will narrow my focus on two concepts: Gender Identity and Majority Identity.  Gender Identity for males are those masculine characteristics that society have attributed to males. Majority Identity is a belonging to a dominant group. There are five development stages: Unexamined Identity, Acceptance, Resistance, Redefinition, and Integration. I am claiming that the males go through the majority development stages, as historically males have maintained more power as an entire gender.

I decided to conduct interviews with males from my classes this semester. So these are all architecture majors from the Midwest, so it is not an overall assessment of the male population. However, what I gathered from these interviews has been useful to determining the variety of developmental stages men are at in their personal identities.

The Gender Identity questions had fairly cohesive answers. The questions aimed at the Majority Identity placement were more scattered. The masculine characteristics engraved in us as youths seem to still be present in us as adults. The men all confidently answered: dominant, aggressive, confident, strong, and breadwinner. Though each man interviewed may not contain all the qualities listed, they are what they describe as male traits.

There were two questions in the interview about changing last names for marriages. I asked these to consider how the gender characteristics we grew up with affect some of our decisions. Most of the males expected their spouses to take their last name, however no one was okay with changing their own last name. This could perhaps be traced back to the dominant and breadwinner traits our culture encourages males to take on. They see taking the spouse’s name as demeaning or perhaps feminine….

Men discover they are men at an early age. I think one of our earliest identifications is our gender. From that we begin to shape our other identities: sexuality, race, ethnicity, etc. The Unexamined Identity development stage of the Majority Identity is probably only a brief moment as a baby and toddler.

By kindergarten most boys understand there are two genders: male and female. The Acceptance stage begins and some men never seem to go beyond. The acceptance stage is when men understand the gender roles assigned by society and accept them as a foundation for their lives. I would argue that some of the men I interviewed are still on this stage. The question of blaming women for their lack of power was asked to gage which men were on the Acceptance stage. The man who believes there is no lack of power may still be on the first stage of development, but the rest seem to be beyond that point.

There was a recent bill, “removing gender inequalities”, by the University of Nebraska- Lincoln Student Government to adjust the Constitution to (s)he instead of he. Grayson, the interviewee, made a comment that there were bigger issues to fight for women, so they should stop with the small petty items. That is a direct lack of interest in attempting to understand the other gender (a clearly defined majority group attribute). The social acceptance to ride a horse without side saddling probably was considered a small step at the time, but women may not have the power to attack the larger issues. This example blames the minority group for not taking action over larger issues, without thinking perhaps the power was in the hands of another group.

 

Some males move on to resistance, where the individual begins blaming the dominant group for the minority group situations. Some of the interviewers commented on the fact feminists tend to blame men for all their problems. In my translation some women are in the Resistance and Separation development stage where they reject the dominant group and become sensitive to ill-treatment. It is important to note that women and men scatter throughout the development stages. This means some people are more sensitive or aware of minor inequalities, while others take no note of any indifference.

These interviews, along with considerable observations, have allowed view at the many ranges of male identities. With this knowledge I will be able to further my search on what biological occurrences could be creating these identities and what cultural occurrences can be hindering or enhancing these identities.

References:

Martin, J. N., & Nakayama, T. K. (2009). Intercultural Communication in Contexts (5th Edition ed.). New York, NY: McGraww-Hill.

Bailey, Grayson, et al., interview by Amanda Wesely. The Male Identity (March 2012).

Cultural Reporter Project Topic Selection

Men.

I am a woman raised by a female dominated household, with my baby brother as the only Y chromosome- unless you count the family dog. I have grown up with boys as my friends since the awkward age of 13. In my English 151 class we had many discussions about the male and female natural characteristics. I always found these traits interesting to think about.

What I want to focus my attention is on the biological differences and how they may affect our human behavior. I believe that saying women like shopping and men like sports is stereotyping the genders. These stereotypes are usually also dependent on cultural settings. Although I do want to focus on men in my current location (Lincoln), I want to discover what is attributed to their physical make-up. 

Below is a link to a report that talks about some of the theories being investigated currently by gender psychologists. It can give you a bit of an insight into what I am thinking directing my attention towards.

Biological Differences 

For example, the male body is fit to build muscles, while a female’s body is fit to store fat for future children. This biological difference causes men to be, generally, a stronger gender. How does this strength in men affect them? Could aggression be associated with this different body make-up?

I do not want to identify stereotypical gender roles or any kind of societal created male gender qualities. These generalizations anger me and do not interest me in the slightest. I want to strip away what the context has done to different genders and focus on the truly basic natures.

Below is a very funny, and quite accurate video. This is a video by a marriage counselor, who is highly trained in the differences in the wiring of male and female brains. Of course, he is created a comical sense to the whole thing, bu it actually has factual information behind it.It focuses on the multitasking, interconnected brains of women vs. the focused individually brain of men. I find it interesting.

Works Cited:

http://thebioblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/genetic_male-252x252.gif

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P77JnDHUw6g

http://www.psychlotron.org.uk/newResources/developmental/AS_AQB_gender_BioBasics.pdf

Okay. Here is my Cultural Identity Video. Please enjoy!