Gender roles do not only affect women; they can be just as damaging to men. The idea of "being a man" forces many men to become insensitive to emotion and feel that showing any sort of vulnerability is a sign of weakness.
"Women are supposed to be passive and domestic and sexual—so their employment options and autonomy are restricted and they are fetishized and targeted for sexual assault and exploitation. Men are supposed to be active and violent—so their claims to domestic rights are denigrated and violence directed against them is shrugged off as natural or non-notable" (Berlatsky).
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This artifact suggests the sexism that some men experience is because of society's expectations of them. Even if a man himself is not violent or strong, he is thought to be because of the expectation to "be a man." Women are expected to be loving and compassionate while men are supposed to be stern, tough, and "manly." These qualities expected of men and women have caused only ten percent of men to receive custody of their children when getting divorced (See "Men's Role in Parenting"). The expectation to "be a man" is not as strong as it was a couple hundred years ago, but these qualities are still assumed today.
"Even the expression 'Be a man!' strikes me as insulting and abusive. It means: Be stupid, be unfeeling, obedient, soldierly and stop thinking. Man means 'manly'- how can one think about men without considering the terrible ambition of manliness? And yet it is part of every man's life. It is a hideous and crippling lie; it not only insists on difference and connives at superiority, it is also by its very nature destructive- emotionally damaging and socially harmful" (Theroux).
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This artifact, from The Language of Composition, is of a man describing what it feels like to be told to "be a man." The American society has a constant expectation of men to be strong, tough, and bold; women are supposed to be the sensitive and more caring ones. If a man does not live up to these expectations, he is often told to "be a man" or to "man up." These terms are found demeaning and offensive at times because of the unrealistic expectation America has of men to always be strong, to always be tough, and to always be bold.