Is masculinity a social construct?

[b_priest9mm]

No, it's not.

 

[714562]

I've read this somewhere and I wanted to know how or why this is true.

Well, yes. But that's not the end of the conversation. Social constructs exist for a reason. They are rooted in biology, history, and economic success.

To say that something is a social construct begs the question, "Is it a useful social construct?" And masculinity is still very useful. But brehs shouldn't be held to an impossible standard.

 

[Matt504]

Elaborate.

Masculinity and what it means to be a man is learned and the learned behaviors are severely warped in the Black community, many males think that being a man is all about impregnating women, exerting dominance over them and how many women they can have sex with, in other cultures, masculinity means something entirely different.

"You don't watch football, you're not a real man"

 

[Amphibious]

Yes. It is.

 

[BocaRear]

Well in some cases biological factors are disregard and called social construct. Like despondency that can come from lack of sex.

See there's a line between social constructs and biology but I feel like despondency from a lack of sex is a biological urge to reproduce and is a fundamental part of human nature.

this is one of those "nature v nurture" arguements.

In my opinion, masculinity stems from a biological place, the males with more masculine characteristics were considered to be more desirable so they went onto procreate and nurture offspring with similar characteristics. Do genes affect personality? I think so, but at the same time so does society as we have a group mentality and we don't want to upset the group's status quo, so it's probably more accurately described as a combination or societal and genetic factors.

 

[Redeem87]

I don't think so, I feel its innate in the majority of men.

I would think most feminine men and masculine women, which is them trying to act like/ imitate the opposite gender (never the real deal) are a small percentage .We shouldn't base society on the few who break away from the normal

 

[Shazeer Fitzgerald]

Well in the way it's portrayed in society is a man made idea. In the idea

Everything derives from biology. As above,so below...

I wanted to answer this post with an answer that relates from where this came from but I get where you're coming from .

 

[BocaRear]

Masculinity and what it means to be a man is learned and the learned behaviors are severely warped in the Black community, many males think that being a man is all about impregnating women, exerting dominance over them and how many women they can have sex with, in other cultures, masculinity means something entirely different.

Is it all learned though? Don't all straight men have a biological urge to procreate with women? And exerting dominance is common place in the animal kingdom, the oldest part of our brain which is the amygdala often referred to as the reptilian brain still houses primitive urges so can everything really be boiled down to society?

 

[Matt504]

I don't think so, I feel its innate in the majority of men.

I would think most feminine men and masculine women, which is them trying to act like/ imitate the opposite gender (never the real deal) are a small percentage .We shouldn't base society on the few who break away from the normal

You feel what is innate, masculinity?

What is masculinity?

 

[GYAAAL YA PUM PUM FAT!]

Men don't 'naturally' wear pants and sneakers....but let some nikka walk thru the hood with a skirt and high heels on.....

 

[Matt504]

Is it all learned though? Don't all straight men have a biological urge to procreate with women? And exerting dominance is common place in the animal kingdom, the oldest part of our brain which is the amygdala often referred to as the reptilian brain still houses primitive urges so can everything really be boiled down to society?

Define masculinity

 

[CriticalThought]

I guess it comes down to environment. Could a "feminine male" really compete against a "masculine man" outside of a synthetically created environment when it comes to safety, or acquisition of resources or women? Outside of that embryo there's no benefit to having "feminine males" in your camp minus intelligence (which they would have to have because they couldn't compete physically).

Ask yourself breh, if society fell tomorrow, who would you rather have on your team...a Wesley Snipes or Justin Beiber?

So you could say it's a social construct, but you can't disregard the biological aspect either. What woman would take a weak man over a strong one? A short one over a tall one? They wouldn't. Only in an artificially created environment can those factors be discarded for a new definition.

Nature doesn't tolerate weakness...never has, never will. Female mammals in nature seek to mate with the strongest most dominant never the weakest.

 

[Poitier]

Is it all learned though? Don't all straight men have a biological urge to procreate with women? And exerting dominance is common place in the animal kingdom, the oldest part of our brain which is the amygdala often referred to as the reptilian brain still houses primitive urges so can everything really be boiled down to society?

Thats the biological part.

Men don't 'naturally' wear pants and sneakers....but let some nikka walk thru the hood with a skirt and high heels on.....

Thats the social part.

 

[Redeem87]

You feel what is innate, masculinity?

What is masculinity?

Google

Masculinity possession of qualities traditionally associated with men characteristics that most boys show

 

[Matt504]

Men don't 'naturally' wear pants and sneakers....but let some nikka walk thru the hood with a skirt and high heels on.....

This kinda lends credence to the idea that masculinity is a social construct especially considering that in some cultures men wear skirts and in the 80s plenty manly men wore heels.