September post - Hobby Aljohar

Fear: Beneath the Façade: “Killing all of the fears inside of me became an obsession.” (Gomez, p.3)

I chose this quote because it is very powerful. It sums up the feeling of the reading well and rings true with toxic masculinity in American Culture. I am really digging the social activism aspects of this course, exploring that part of culture. “Fear: Beneath the Façade” ties in nicely with “Between Speech and Silence, Reflections on Accountability” Russo, as she spoke of her feminism. Both are comparable in that both are about important issues and are equally relevant to culture in that they explore activism of sorts; but also, feminism and toxic masculinity go hand in hand. Toxic masculinity is harmful to feminism, as encouraging men to be men often leads to pent up emotions and the severe mistreatment of women. Men need feminism just as women do, for equality, equity, safety, and sanity.

I chose this reading because it really rings true with me personally. Saudi Arabia places a lot of emphasis on being manly. Though we define masculinity differently, ie wearing perfume is dressing up, is manly; we also participate in some displays of masculinity that Americans would recognize. While women are able to hold jobs, and can now vote, the man still pays the bills. Men are supposed to love women only and we are supposed to be tough.

Here in America, it seems to be similar. “Toxic masculinity is killing men: The roots of male trauma” by Holloway sums the ideas of “Fear: Beneath the Façade” nicely, and further enforces the ideas of toxic masculinity.

The author of “Fear” talks about men fronting, how they puff up their chests and strut about, and would rather fight to the death, literally die, rather than being called scared or afraid. This ties in nicely with Holloway’s article, which claims that toxic masculinity is literally killing men. This phenomena in general is mind boggling to me as well as heart breaking. I have grown up thinking like this, so I understand that it is real, which is why I chose this article.

Citations:

Holloway. "Toxic Masculinity Is Killing Men: The Roots of Male Trauma." Saloncom RSS. N.p., 12 June 2015. Web. 29 Sept. 2016.

Russo, Ann. "Between Speech and Silence: Reflections on Accountability." N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Sept. 2016.

Gomez. "Fear: Beneath the Facade." N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Sept. 2016.