It’s Time to Man Up
By Halley Weinberger
Has anyone ever told you to man up? What does it mean to man up anyway? When people make comments regarding masculinity or tell people to man up, they are referring to the idea that men should be strong, brave, and physically dominant. Oftentimes, these things show themselves in the form of aggression. Many college students have experienced physical violence and aggression, which means that aggression is a social issue that needs to be addressed.
Leonard et al. (2002) reveals that 25% of women and 33% of men experienced some sort of violence in the past year. The percentage of adults that have experienced violence is too high to ignore, leading many researchers to explore why people are acting aggressively. Social psychologists examined differences in the number of violent acts committed by gender. According to Berke et al. (2015) the male to female murderer ratio is 10:1, with men dominating national crime statistics. While people have previously blamed men’s violence on sex differences, Berke argues violence is due to conformity to masculine norms along with gender role conflict. Clearly, violence by men possesses social components, and these components need to be addressed.
Further research about men’s violence was conducted in hopes of understanding the motivations behind aggression. A study by Weisbuch et al. (1999) decided to look at men’s perceptions of their own masculinity. Participants took a survey that measured male’s perceptions of their masculinity. Participants also engaged in an online test that provoked them and then measured how aggressive their response was. After collecting and interpreting data, the study found that male gender roles and the idea of masculinity are strongly connected to performance of aggression in males.
Another study supported the finding that men perform aggressive behaviors due to societal ideas about what being masculine looks like. Reidy et al. (2009) looked at physical aggression in hyper-masculine men. Participants in the study took a hypermasculinity survey which measured their attitudes toward masculinity and their tendency to use violence in a given situation. The study found that higher levels of masculinity were associated with more aggression, and participants with higher scores on the hypermasculinity survey exhibited more aggression. Yet another study shows that men are performing aggressive behaviors because they feel they have to. Locke and Mahalik (2005) explored the predictors of sexual aggression in college men, finding that men who agree with rape myths and masculine norms were more likely to report sexual aggression. Research on men’s violence reveals that aggressive behaviors are performed to act in accordance with expected gender roles.
Due to the overwhelming evidence of the role societal expectations play in encouraging men’s violence, solving and stopping aggression means getting rid of hypermasculinity mindsets and reshaping gender norms.
To get rid of hypermasculinity mindsets, I believe we need to reshape how people think about men, as well as how men think about men.
We can start by implementing programs in our educational system that destigmatize men experiencing emotion. It is important to teach men they do not need to look like a football player or lift weights, nor do they need to talk in degrading or derogatory ways to be considered manly. Along with getting rid of a mindset of hypermasculinity, I believe reshaping gender roles is an important part in solving aggression and violence in society. Right now, society thinks the roles men perform involve risk-taking, dominance, power over women, self-reliance, and violent behaviors. If we change these ideas, reshaping the male gender role to include kindness, empathy, and emotion, we can live in a healthier and less aggressive society.
I propose a different understanding of what it means to man up. In this new definition, manning up means encouraging men to be kind, helpful, and open. Being a man in this society means being comfortable having hard, vulnerable conversations, and supporting men who have less gender-normed interests.
The next time sometime tells you to man up, DO IT! Man up and share your emotions. Man up and speak against gender norms. Man up and show other men that there is a different way to be a man, a way marked by humility and kindness.
References
Berke, D. S., Wilson, L., Mouilso, E., Speir, Z., & Zeichner, A. (2015). Isolating the gendered component of men’s physical aggression. Sex Roles: A Journal of Research, 72(11-12), 509-520.
Leonard, K. E., Quigley, B. M., & Collins, R. L. (2002). Physical aggression in the lives of young adults: Prevalence, location, and severity among college and community samples. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 17(5), 533-550. http://dx.doi.org.ezproxy.mnsu.edu/10.1177/0886260502017005004
Locke, B. D., & Mahalik, J. R. (2005). Examining masculinity norms, problem drinking, and athletic involvement as predictors of sexual aggression in college men. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 52(3), 279-283. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0022-0167.52.3.279
Reidy, D. E., Shirk, S. D., Sloan, C. A., & Zeichner, A. (2009). Men who aggress against women: Effects of feminine gender role violation on physical aggression in hypermasculine men. Psychology of Men & Masculinities, 10(1), 1-12. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/a0014794
Weisbuch, M., Beal, D., & O'Neal, E. C. (1999). How masculine ought I be? Men's masculinity and aggression. Sex Roles: A Journal of Research, 40(7-8), 583-592. http://dx.doi.org/10.1023/A:1018840130646