Preview

Strong Enough Analysis

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
880 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Strong Enough Analysis
Men and women in our culture are constantly forced to act a certain way. Humanity takes joy in dictating how each gender should behave. In Jock Culture by Robert Lipstye and Strong Enough by Wendy Shanker, we learn countless pressures and insecurities both women and men face in today’s society. The tension placed on both men and women to meet a certain standard often lead to catastrophic outcomes. Unfortunately, both men and women constantly feel the pressure of fitting into society’s norms, and fitting into these norms comes with many consequences.
Insecure women aren’t born, they are made. In Strong Enough, Shanker introduces her personal experience on what being treated as an outcast feels like. Due to rejecting a boy from having sex with her, she is then seen as a “lez”. Shanker feels it is devastating that a girl can’t make her own decisions without automatically being labeled. Majority of the reason she is made fun of and is called a “lez” is because she is fat. Shanker states, “I’m not gay. But as a fat girl, lots of people assume I am.” Just because Shanker doesn’t fit the
…show more content…
Lipsyte states, “Men have tradiotnally been taught to pursue their jock dreams no matter the physical, emotional, or finaicaial cost” (307). These men are taught to be tough and aggressive and are constanly told to take risks in their life. With this kind of pressure men tend to be more aggresive with friends, siblings, friends and girls. Jocks live life with the mentalittly that the world revoles around them, but of course being a jock is still better then being a repulsive puke. Due to this outcome, Lipsyte states, “No wonder there are so many abusive athletes, emotionally stunted ex-atheletes, and resentful onlookers” (307). If more men are given this pressure, society will get more dangerous and will have drastic consequences. All the pressure these men receive, just so they don’t look like the ridiculous person in the athletic

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Better Essays

    In recent discussions of Susan Bordos reading about women’s pressures in society, one controversial issue discusses how women have expectations in society that they think they have to follow. These expectations consist of being able to cook and work in the kitchen, look beautiful, and dress certain ways to gain attention. In contrast, other arguments are; men do not have to worry about their weight, they should be strong and maintain a fit body, and not needed to cook or help out in the kitchen. Proponents of this position, emphasize that women in this world have to follow what society portrays of them, otherwise by not doing it, they will not receive the same attention as they would if they listened to society. Overall, the issue presented…

    • 1254 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    Guyland Paper

    • 1269 Words
    • 6 Pages

    In Guyland, Michael Kimmel chronicles the journey of young males and the issues they face while trying to exert their masculinity and prove themselves to their peers. Based on interactions among North American males between the ages of 16 and 26, Kimmel has found that at an age where young men had previously prepped for a life of work and committed relationships, they are now living in “Guyland” where they spend their time drinking, playing video games, and having immature relations with women. Kimmel explains that these young men are “frighteningly dependent on peer culture” and “desperate to prove their masculinity in the eyes of other boys.” (30) These young men live in constant fear that they will not measure up to the ideals of masculinity, which are wealth, power, status, strength, and physicality.…

    • 1269 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Though not every sporting event is televised, the ones that are tend to be violent, male sports. One example of a popular, televised sport in America is men’s hockey. Not only is the sport violent in itself, but physical altercations are also allowed and even encouraged. American football also results in violence that can cause serious injury. For example, in 2012 there were 261 reported concussions in the NFL (Garriott, 2014). Research shows that there is a link between masculinity and sports due to the fact that men’s sports not only involve power and privilege, but also display aggression, anger, and domination (Omar, 2011). Fans not only praise the sports, but they also praise the players. Participants of these sports are being idolized for their violence and aggression. This results with having those who are exposed to these sports will then tend to believe that displaying these actions is considered masculine. Therefore, boys and young men who are striving to be “masculine” will then mimic these behaviors in hopes of fulfilling the ideal masculine role that is set by American…

    • 866 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Varda Burstyn provides great insight on hypermasculinity and modern sport in her book, The Rites of Men: Manhood, Politics and the Culture of Sports. In this book, Burstyn asserts that performance enhancing drugs have become institutionalized as part of the “hypermasculinization” in sports and society. Athletes use performance-enhancing drugs to receive an energy boost as a means of playing through the pain endured during a sporting event. Especially in modern sports, competition has increased dramatically and athletes are willing to do anything they can to gain a competitive advantage. Monetary and materialistic incentives that are attached to winning in modern sports have catalyzed a need to attain even the smallest advantage. The source of athletes’ mentality of gaining a smallest advantage over competitors can be traced back from the time they were young to the time they reach the professional stage. The pressure to perform at a high-level consistently throughout his life has influenced the athlete to rely on drugs and has normalized the use of drugs in modern sports. However, using performance enhancing drugs comes with its fair share of disadvantages as well. Athletes who use steroids tend to have mood swings,…

    • 2609 Words
    • 11 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Society’s way of thinking intensely about identity, places individuals in specific gender roles. Historically, gender identification has been socially constructed within individuals in a society. The debate on expectations embedded in society has been discussed constantly in the past. During the late 19th century, identity roles have changed with an innumerable influential number of women who fought in numerous ways for the same rights that men were effortlessly granted. The roles of females have also changed significantly for gender equality; however, in the 21st century, women and men are still not considered equal. Also, gender equality differs across cultures as women and men are stereotyped according to the roles they must assume in the society. However, both sexes are still expected to exude a character that is defined by societal expectations, restraints, and religious values.…

    • 589 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The ideology that gender is socially constructed is a view that has been present in a number of philosophical, sociological and psychological theories. This view shares the understanding that gender is a result of enculturation through a prescribed ideal, and that society deems what is considered socially appropriate behaviour. Carol Vance, a feminist scholar, argues that gender and sexuality are not to be understood as “natural”, but rather as a socially constructed truth (Grewal, Kaplan 29). This reflects that society is shaped globally through social order. Each culture and society shares a social order that is unique to a particular set of customs, values and practices. These customs are engrained within society as individuals share a…

    • 1177 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Richard L. Worsnop offers multiple different points about high school sports and athletes. Concerns about the oppression of young athletes and debating if high school athletics “builds character”, are some of the main issues pointed out. Some coaches believe interscholastic sports competitions teach everything about character and teamwork, while others believe overemphasizing a win can teach the growth of negative character traits. Meanwhile, there are no doubts that certain drugs can enhance an athlete’s performance, but this can lead to injury and other harmful effects. High school athletes are sometimes considered, “dumb jocks”, which leads to the question if student athletes should maintain a certain grade-point average. Some players think…

    • 269 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Tough Guise Gender

    • 553 Words
    • 3 Pages

    I have learned a lot from this assignment, it has shown me how much society has grown from its past views. However, we can also see how much we still need to advance in other areas. Men and women have always been said to be completely different. However, this assignment has shown me that both genders deal with many similar issues. Both men and women have high expectations that society placed on us through the media. Growing up we are unconsciously receiving rules and expectations on how we need to act, speak, and look. Both men and women are told to act and feel a certain way. Jack Katz allowed to see how much men are hindered by these unsaid rules.…

    • 553 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Success in sports is, arguably, the determining factor of overall success and public admiration of a man today. We find that many men look to the athletic world as a means of escape, liberation, or fulfillment of their lives. While all this may be true, there are many costs associated with the game, both health and relational, and just about everyone who aspires to this type of success falls victim to these costs. However, despite the fact that many are fully aware, they seem to have little weight in people’s decision to pursue a professional athletic career. On the other hand, this ignorance is justified as some see the costs as just part of the job, and as Michael A. Messner suggests in his essay, “Sport and Gender Relations: Continuity,…

    • 1972 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Masculinity In Canada

    • 291 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Geoffrey Canada wrote in his book Reaching up for Manhood, "The image of male as strong is mixed with the image of male as violent. Male as virile gets mixed with male as promiscuous. Males as intelligent often gets mixed with male as arrogant, racist, and sexist." In this way many people define the masculinity and try to conform boys in these stereotypes which negative influence on boy’s development and behaviors. This image of masculinity started in antiquity and is still predominate in our days. Gender roles are distributed when babies are born by their parents then by the society. All these roles restrict men to behave like women and reverse. To have healthy society with healthy men we need to reexamine our attitude on the male education.…

    • 291 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Examples Of Social Norms

    • 1456 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Many individuals may believe that gender stereotypes and typical norms amongst the sexes are long gone, but these traditional views for both men and women, according to society, are still quite prevalent today. This human experience, that men and women both have specific roles to play in society, has been around since the beginning of time and will most likely continue for decades and centuries to come. Men are viewed, by societies standards, as being strong, dominant (at least more dominant than a women), leaders, and they should always restrain from showing weakness. Ronald Levant, a physiologist, explains in his article Men and Masculinity that men are prone to be raised as their fathers were,…

    • 1456 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Different gender roles comprise of all it takes to make the world continue, or so it seems. The separation of men and woman seemed to be drastic up until today’s standards. Men were to go and work, make the money, provide the food and shelter. Whereas the woman stays home: cook, clean, and take care of the family. In World War Two, the woman began to have more of a need in the community in the United States. While the men were away at war, the women were to take care of life on the home front. Life as we knew it was beginning to change. Flashing forward to today, gender roles still seem to be an implied factor in society. Dominant groups in present day society help structure our norms. Quoted, “in the U.S., these powerful messages affect both men and women on affective, behavioral and cognitive levels such that men and women conform or do not conform to these expectations with various associated consequences (Amato, 2012). Providing these guidelines leave expectations up to personal judgment. Looking at the study of men in prison, a scale was used to test the level of conformity. The Conformity to Masculine Norms Inventory (CMNI) is a ninety-four item, four point scale with eleven subscales. Tests such as this provide researchers with results that determine how gender roles affect daily lives. A study performed by Stanley Milgram (1974), tested how far an individual would be willing to harm someone else, just because they were told to do so. In this case, Milgram, a man wearing a lab coat provided the instructions to the two different participants. One was Teacher, the one being studied; while the other Learner, who was involved as part of the research team, unknowingly to the other participant. The teacher was to administer a shock to Learner when applied knowledge was not performed. “This suggests that individuals’ willingness to follow authorities is conditional on identification with the…

    • 1317 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the video “Kathy and Mo Show”, the ladies examine every aspect of gender stratification. Gender stratification cuts across all aspects of social life, social classes, and refers to men and women’s unequal access to power, prestige, and property on the basis of their sex. Gender roles are portrayed throughout the video as well. Our text explains these are the sets of societal norms dictating what types of behaviors are generally considered acceptable, appropriate, or desirable for a person based on their actual or perceived sex.…

    • 702 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    jock culture

    • 713 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Jock Culture glorifies the young, the strong and the beautiful, and Lipsyte gets the tragic implications. Although in his article, he describes himself as a puke, it seems as if he would fit better under the jock section. Given the competitive journalism, he probably owes his success as a sports writer in some measure to his own socialization in Jock Culture or whether his socialization into success in those savage precincts renders him now more sympathetic than he would otherwise be to Jock Culture.…

    • 713 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    “Girl” & Barbie Doll

    • 2455 Words
    • 10 Pages

    In contrast, the short story “Girl” by Jamaica Kincaid suggests that women are sentenced to patriarchy as a result of socially constructed gender stereotypes. She criticizes the idealized patriarchal norms and pressures which overshadow the lives of women. Starting early on in their childhood, little girls are explicitly exposed to the pressures and expectations of how they should live. As a result of gender stereotypes, young girls are brainwashed to believe that their role as a woman is a domestic homemaker and that they should always be kempt and maintain a feminine outer appearance. Kincaid ultimately criticizes how women and girls are trapped under a system of patriarchy that can not be erased.…

    • 2455 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Powerful Essays