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| Image courtesy of Paul Needham via Creative Commons. |
The first I found on the great blog Marketing, Media and Childhood, which posted the trailer from a new film from the fabulous Media Education Foundation called The Bro Code: How Contemporary Culture Creates Sexist Men. The film looks at the cultural forces that help shape young men to dehumanize and disrespect women. Filmmaker Thomas Keith dissects a range of media that glamorize and promote sexism, violence against women, and certain very specific definitions of "American manhood."
The film is divided into four steps:
Step 1 Train men to womanize.
Step 2 Immerse men in porn.
Step 3: Make rape jokes.
Step 4: Obey the masculinity cops.
Watch the trailer here (NOTE: CONTAINS VIOLENT & SEXUAL IMAGERY AND PROFANITY):
TRAILER: The Bro Code: How Contemporary Culture Creates Sexist Men from Media Education Foundation on Vimeo.
The Media Education Foundation has several other great films exploring media, culture and masculinity, such as Tough Guise, Hip Hop: Beats and Rhymes, Dreamworlds 3, and Generation M.
The other resource is a news story posted on Sociological Images (and other sites) about IKEA's new "Manland" -- a pilot program providing a separate area of the store for men to watch TV, play video and other games, and hang out in manly ways while the women do their shopping thing. Women are given a buzzer that goes off after 30 minutes to remind them to pick up their men. Manland not only perpetuates stereotypes about men, women, gay couples, and consumers, but insults men and frames them simultaneously as too macho to shop and as so infantalized that they must be constantly distracted and entertained. The media has picked up on IKEA's new plan and is happily trying out new labels, calling it a "playpen for men," "daddy daycare," a "nursery for men," and "a holding pen for bored male shoppers."
Both resources offer important opportunities to explore the messages we send men (and women) about what it means to be masculine -- to be a man.
~ Marsha
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2 comments:
Gender stereotypes do indeed affect men and boys. Negative images of masculinity first appear in the cartoons and books aimed at young boys and get progressively worse as boys enter the "tween" and teen years. It's encouraging to see this issue being addressed through blogs like yours and films like those produced by the Media Education Foundation.
Crystal, thanks so much for visiting and sharing that important point. One of the essential elements of humane education is helping people (especially youth) think critically about the world, including about all the messages we receive via media and culture (one of our graduate courses is called culture and change).
Thanks for all that you do to bring attention to this important topic!
Peace,
Marsha
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