As the world’s population continues to grow, culture’s view of masculinity might also change. American culture plays a role in assigning traits to both sexes. According to David Wexler, masculinity …show more content…
The first category is called, “the no sissy stuff”, meaning not showing weakness, vulnerability, and weakness or face rejection of society. The next category “The Big Wheel”, which refers to the pursuit of a better life, such as fame, success, and wealth. The third category, “The Sturdy Oak”, as it refer to it name, the sturdy oak mean someone who can you lean on; which involve traits such as stoicisms, confidence and competence. Then finally the fourth category, “give em hell”, which refers to the machismo effect, which displays the perception of …show more content…
Some of these traits include words such as nurturing, passive, emotional, and dependent. Similar to the men, female also have two dimensions. The first dimension being that of a mother figure, relying on their intuition, and passivity. The second dimension being that of the sexy, seductive, whore figure. With these two extremely different views, women go through innuendos of femininity. Just as masculinity differs in society, femininity is also influenced. For example, Marilyn Frye’s essay titled “Oppression”, explains how culture and values impact women, often having conflicted feelings between the two norms. For example, if she isn’t sexually active, she is considered to be prude, but if she is too sexually active, she is considered to be a whore, slut, and or a vixen. Females are aware that there are many derogatory adjectives, use to describe the individual, often with an emphasis on sex. This constraint is call double bind; which according to Frye is the securitization of women. Frye stated, “Women face restrictions which, on-balance, are harmful to them, they are imposed by social structures and expectations, and even within the law; women face them because of their status as women; and men both impose these barriers and benefit from