Social Construction of Gender

What does it mean to be a man? In our society, we are taught young that being a man means you must be strong both physically and mentally. Just like women, men are also insecure. A specific insecurity every man holds is their manhood being taken from them. In Kimmel's Masculinity is a demonstration of men being bullied to the point where the only other option is to show violence. Men never use violence, as a last resort because their violence demonstrates confidence and strength which each must acquire. A couple years ago, I was at a gathering where two males had physically fought one another because one of them had been talking to the other's girlfriend. It's pretty pathetic that little things like that are taken the extremes by being resulted in violence.

On the other hand, women are more passive, emotional and feel a significant need to appeal to others through their looks, rather than with intelligence or their personality. This is due to the mass media's advertising in television and movies. Dove commercials oppose the media's messages, and try to give a more realistic view on women as a whole. Every year many girls, including my friends, make comments wishing they could look like the models in the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show. Unfortunately, women strive to look a certain way attributed to the unrealistic images exposed to them. Women also feel they must meet up to the expectations or standards given to them just like males do. The stronger you are, the more respected you are; the more beautiful you look, the greater chances you are liked. Furthermore, both genders must go to the extremes to acquire the unrealistic expectations they feel they must meet.