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).
