Why are there many cases where men are seen as villains? The answer to this question is masculinity. I say this because according to a site called Sat Puruha said that masculinity can be defined as “Masculinity varies for each man dependent on personality, family, and culture. The common thread is a set of characteristics that allow men to feel masculine.” Males were raised in the past to be tough, unemotional, and above all else dominant. While the definition of femininity is constantly changing according to Michael Ian Black from The New York Times “The past 50 years have redefined what it means to be female in America. Girls today are told that they can do anything, be anyone. They’ve absorbed the message: They’re outperforming boys in school at every level. But it isn’t just about performance. To be a girl today is to be the beneficiary of decades of conversation about the complexities of womanhood, its many forms, and expressions.” This makes me wonder why masculinity isn’t being changed even though it is making males into rapists, sex offenders, and etc. Why can’t masculinity change along with femininity?

  Masculinity can make men feel like they don’t have someone to prove their dominance too. So they then to take that frustration other out on the people around them. From a source that I found about “Toxic Masculinity” is that "People who conform to masculinity have poor mental health.". Masculinity is breaking down the psyche of the men today. It is said that in order for someone to be a man they must take specific character traits like  “The wince-inducing "male" traits are as follows: winning, emotional control, risk-taking, violence, dominance, playboy, self-reliance, the primacy of work, power over women, and disdain for homosexuals.” These traits are all seen in supposedly in masculine men. Men use these traits to hide moments when they feel weak. So that they don’t attract help. From Dr. Joel Wong’s study proved that “Sexual promiscuity, self-reliance, and power over women were most categorically linked to frail mental health.” With men walking around with weak mental health trying to prove themselves every day only makes matters worse and make them easier to break.   

Masculinity was normal back when men were always seen as dominant and had no ramifications for his actions when it came to abusing woman or children because they were always at the top of the food chain. But now in a society where genders are equal and balanced, these type of actions are no longer acceptable. “They are trapped, and they don’t even have the language to talk about how they feel about being trapped because the language that exists to discuss the full range of human emotion is still viewed as sensitive and feminine.” The thing about masculinity is that it doesn’t allow or give men a way to talk about how he feels without feeling vulnerable or emasculated. Masculinity is stopping men from growing up with compassion and learning how to accept help when it is provided instead of bottling up the pain until it is too much, some men even take their lives because of stress that could have been easily avoided if they just reached out to someone. All of these things could almost be simply solved but, this reality of masculinity makes it almost impossible.    

“A man who feels lost but wishes to preserve his fully masculine self-has only two choices: withdrawal or rage. We’ve seen what withdrawal and rage have the potential to do.” Men take out their rage in other ways like forcibly dominating someone else and a common sight of that today are school shootings.  Men that feel weak or threatened will always strike back. That is why school shooters do these horrible acts of violence to somehow prove to others that they are masculine. Hundreds of years ago people gained respect and honor from the number of people that they have killed but, that was in a “dog eat dog world” we now have more civilized ways of solving things without the need of bloodshed but, how can we move on if we don’t change the barbaric ways of our past.

Masculinity is a system that we don’t need anymore. It was used to justify the horrible acts that occurred in the past like destruction of villages, the raping of women, and the cruel monarchies that once stood. We as humans have evolved and learned so many more things but masculinity hasn’t. Femininity has changed so much for the better and has improved the lives of many women, while men are still suffering from a rule made hundreds of years ago. Why does no make an effort to change it? That is because masculinity is something hard to let go and men are afraid of how life will be for them after the change. With nothing too dominate or oppress, men will feel hopeless but if we don’t allow us the opportunity to change then how will we even know if it was for the better.  

Works Cited:

“Toxic Masculinity May Be Quadrupling the Suicide Rate for Canadian Men | CBC Life.” CBCnews, CBC/Radio Canada, www.cbc.ca/life/wellness/toxic-masculinity-may-be-quadrupling-the-suicide-rate-for-canadian-men-1.4158731.

English is a language that has developed over a period of millions of years. Throughout those years, English has morphed through the diversity of races. When slaves were forcefully taken from their homeland,and were brought to America, they didn't know how to communicate with their masters or fellow workers. Over time, they learned things around their environments by just listening. Everything they heard couldn’t have been received perfectly this were some of the first appearances of what we as Americans today call “Slang”. Without diversity, slang and other creative concepts of the American English would have never been created and also allowing it to be considered in a way its own language.

A quote from “If Black English Isn’t a Language” touched on my theory, that without diversity the American English would have never been created and also allowing it to be considered in a way its own language. “Blacks came to the United States chained to each other, but from different tribes: Neither could speak the other’s language.” The mixture of tribes caused even more diversity than just the blacks converging with the whites. Because of the mini diversities, there was even more turmoil because it would make it even harder for them to communicate and accomplish their tasks. In the future, this intelligible english had become normal and is even being considered the way all americans speak. Without the failed attempts of the slaves speaking english there wouldn’t be differences between British English and American English.

It was a normal day - I was doing my homework on the kitchen table as my Dad was reviewing some documents. My mom was cooking dinner and my little brother was already passed out on the couch.

“Babou, can you give me the envelope(ON-vuh-lohp),” said my Dad. Looking intensely at some sort of document.

“Pass you which one,” I said as I begin to rise from my chair.

“Give me the envelope(ON-vuh-lohp),” Said my Dad. He turned staring at me.

“Ohhh, you want the envelope(EN-VUH-lohp),” I said. The storm of confusion had finally drifted away.

“Yes, the envelope(ON-vuh-lohp),” Said my Dad. He looked sort of annoyed as if someone had played “Never Gonna Give You Up” by Rick Astley on repeat for a couple of hours.

“Why do you say it like that? ”I said as my lightbulb of curiosity had lit up.

“What do you mean?” inquired my Dad.  

“How you say envelope(EN-VUH-lohp), you say it differently,” I said.

“That’s the way I was taught in school, I learned British English when I was young,” said my Dad.

“Why are you taught that type of english instead of the english that Americans speak?” I replied.

“I believe that we learn this type of english instead because it is more proper than the English that Americans today speak,” Said my father.

A quote from “How To Tame A Wild Tongue” talks about experiences of Chicanas have growing up speaking their language. “Chicanas who grew up speaking Chicano Spanish have internalized the belief that we speak poor Spanish.” Chicanas in the spanish community have to live with the stereotypes all the time with people saying to them that there language is improper and incorrect even though it is also said to be the purist. Just like American English after years and years of developing it is still to this day being called improper and incorrect even though it is one of the most popular languages in the world. The differences that they had didn’t just make it a language derived from British English but, a language of its own.

When I started off writing this essay I wanted to show you what english would sound like if there was never any diversity within the people. I had talked about evolution and changes that caused english to become what it is today. As I continued onward I talked about how in America people try to prevent more spread of slang or improper english by getting rid of the accents of foreign people. What I was left thinking was without diversity the American English would have never been created and also allowing it to be considered in a way its own language. My father who was taught the supposedly proper of two englishes has learned that American English isn’t improper it is no longer below British English but, of equal footing. My father now speaks with the tongue of a person who speaks slang and American english. As I end off I want you to think what life would be like if people were only taught British English and are not allowed to alter it. What do you think the image of America would look like. Would it still be considered improper because of other things or would it truly be appreciated for what it is, A way for people of different cultures to communicate and learn from each other.

Works Cited:

Anzaldúa, Gloria. “How to Tame a Wild Tongue.” https://www.everettsd.org/cms/lib07/WA01920133/Centricity/Domain/965/Anzaldua-Wild-Tongue.pdf