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| Men don't need patriarchy |
Drawn by the class
reading titled Feminist Manhood by
Bell Hooks, I will make a research that elaborates further on her assertion.
The author explains that patriarchy, as a social organization, not only abuses
women, but men as well.
Her affirmation,
I believe, takes a more comprehensive approach into the ills of this social
order. Feminist Manhood targets
directly the source of the oppressive system, patriarchy, as an institution
where women are oppressed and men are forced to comply and fulfill. Thus, both
genders are under the domination of an unjust and authoritarian power. This
approach presents patriarchy as a philosophy that may not reflect one’s
perception of their gender, freeing the individual off of preconceived gender
roles.
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| Gender expectation |
Aside from the
above personal motivation in investigating more about this topic, my interest
also comes from the need of taking the word out about this approach to systems
of oppression. When thinking in taking the message out, I have in mind the
Hunter College community of students as my target audience. To achieve this
goal, I will generate a zine with images and text about Feminist Manhood. I will relate her concept with the way in which
pop culture, images and music encourage and perpetuates this social order. I
will distribute it for free on campus to everyone willing to take a copy. I
also envision this zine growing as a form of alternative print media around
campus, elaborating on topics that bring facts to the students on a short and
easy to read format without intricate ideas or fancy words.
I am interested
in making a zine because it can give me the opportunity to experience something
that is outside of the scope of my major, and thus a well-rounded skill set in
my career. I am working toward an Emerging Media Undergraduate major, so I see
this as an occasion to get closer to the journalistic expression of print
media. It will complement my curriculum of studies, and I can present my resume
with proficiency in digital media in addition to some printing experience.
The bibliography that I am planning to use is:
- Hooks, Bell: The Will to Change: Men, Masculinity, and Love.
- Hooks, Bell: Feminism Is for Everybody: Passionate Politics
Timeline:
Weeks 1 and 2: researching, readings, and
drafting a paper about the topic.
Week 3: proofreading and first version of the
zine
Week 4: Zine second draft and revised final
version
Week 5: Final versions of paper and zine.
Presentation to class
In conclusion,
Bell Hooks’ Feminist Manhood asserts
a comprehensive approach to the problems of gender roles. It presents
patriarchy as the source of an institutionalized philosophy that causes harm to
men and women. Although women are the recipients of grater violence (with no
doubt), men are also targeted to comply and upkeep such beliefs about
patriarchy, resulting in men harmed as well. Thus, I think that Hooks has made
an excellent point here, in addition to making a call or an invitation to
target the source of such attacks to both genders, instead of perpetuating a
battle between the two.
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| The ideal image of man according to patriarchy |
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| Role of man according to patriarchy |
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| Successful men in patriarchy |
I think that this project is a good idea, mainly because I have no idea if a collection of sorts exists at all, in print media or alternative media, one that focuses on exploitation of the male gender.
ReplyDeleteI just did a quick search on "feminist male celebrities" and stumbled upon this amalgam of male celebs saying some pro feminist stuff, maybe you could have a bunch of these in there, or find some similar material.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/07/25/famous-male-feminists-men-support-women_n_5564005.html
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/womens-life/10522448/9-male-feminists-of-2013.html
For some reason, I immediately thought of the Ryan Gosling Meme of "Hey Girl."
First of all, if you have never heard/seen this, it's funny, google it! Second, maybe you could put a cliche spin on it and use "hey boy" or something...and use an attractive female celeb as the face of it (because ryan gosling is attractive, mostly) just a silly thought.
I think the use of celebrity is a good thing--because people are familiar with celebrities, but I would also suggest that try to limit it, we don't want to turn this into a fan-of-male-celebrity-feminist zine...because I don't think that is what you are trying to do with this at all.
Most importantly (in my opinion), it would be really awesome to see some politics / statistics in here that would help inform the general public.
This link is about the worst states in the US for women: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/25/worst-state-for-women_n_3984544.html
Pew research on countries w/o paid maternity leave (legitimate source you could use, too!)
http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2013/12/12/among-38-nations-u-s-is-the-holdout-when-it-comes-to-offering-paid-parental-leave/
As far as the last two links i've shared with you, my intention is that w/o paid maternity leave, I think that is the home run of how patriarchy really hurts every single person in america. It's one of the most financially straining phenomenon on families, and one that hurts the core of each young family.
Hope this helps, and good luck! I can't wait to see what you come up with.
I think that this is an excellent idea for your final project. As a woman, I hardly ever think about how patriarchy effects men and the standards that they are expected to upkeep. There is a huge double standard in regards to gender roles, hence your example of the different reactions displayed with the physical abuse role reversal experiment.
ReplyDeleteI think that hooks brings up a significant point of including both genders in feminism instead of pinning them against each other."Feminist manhood" is not something that most of us think about when discussing feminism so I think that it is important that you are focusing on this topic.