I always found it really interesting how one's interpretation of "manhood" and what traits were considered to be "mascaline" was contignent on one's social upbringing and cultural context. I realized (quite early on) that sitting a certain way, walking a certain way, reacting (or not reacting) in certain ways, and not having the right values could cause me to be considered effeminate depending upon the situation and who was doing the judging. The "South" places a high premium on being a man. Manhood is usually dtermined by a male's ability to have and assert two types of qualities: Primal Mascalinity (strong sexual drive, bravado, aggression, physical prowess etc...) and Civilized Mascalinity (social standing, political status, cultural influence, affluence etc...). Although they kinda work in opposition to one another at times, you need the right mixture of both to be a man. In the South, the manhood hedgemony has traditionally been controlled by one group since the formation of the colonies. That group, wealthy white land owners (slave owners in the pre-Civil War South), causes and still causes males who don't quite meet their manhood criteria (i.e. blacks, hispanics, immigrants and broke white males) to either acknowledge their own deficiency as men or find news way of interpreting their own "manness" indepentent of the prescibed norm.
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I always found it really interesting how one's interpretation of "manhood" and what traits were considered to be "mascaline" was contignent on one's social upbringing and cultural context. I realized (quite early on) that sitting a certain way, walking a certain way, reacting (or not reacting) in certain ways, and not having the right values could cause me to be considered effeminate depending upon the situation and who was doing the judging. The "South" places a high premium on being a man. Manhood is usually dtermined by a male's ability to have and assert two types of qualities: Primal Mascalinity (strong sexual drive, bravado, aggression, physical prowess etc...) and Civilized Mascalinity (social standing, political status, cultural influence, affluence etc...). Although they kinda work in opposition to one another at times, you need the right mixture of both to be a man. In the South, the manhood hedgemony has traditionally been controlled by one group since the formation of the colonies. That group, wealthy white land owners (slave owners in the pre-Civil War South), causes and still causes males who don't quite meet their manhood criteria (i.e. blacks, hispanics, immigrants and broke white males) to either acknowledge their own deficiency as men or find news way of interpreting their own "manness" indepentent of the prescibed norm.
ReplyDeleteThis is going to be a great topic, I look forward to you expanding on it, Dexter!
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