Favorite Blog

           I think "Zeus: Father of Gods and Men" blog was the best. His blog was well done, you can tell he spent alot of time on it and the assignments. If i had a question about one of the assignments i would always refer to this, just to get a type of idea of what was suppose to be done.

Blog Post 15

1. The one assignment that was fun to do, had to be the Worst Date scenario. You got a chance to learn alot about other people, just by the people they interact with, and how they handle different situations. And basically their stories were quite entertaining.

2. The response to Susan Bordo's quote help me realize how others interpret things. Like when i look at a magazine i dont necessarily think that they're trying to portray masculinity. So it helped me learned the different types of masculinity.

3. I think the one assignment that i didn't quite care for was the first research paper with analyzing the magazine. At first i didn't quite understand the concept of it, but this assignment too has helped with my knowledge of masculinity.

4. Overrall i think Blogger was very useful pertaining to the class. If you missed a class all you had to do was look on the blog for what happened in class. Everyone from the class was involved with each other though the blog.

5. The assignment i would have liked to do more of was the worst date and the debate. I found it interesting and entertaining at the same time. We got a chance to really debate about the situation where many points were touched.

Research Paper 2 Final Draft

Mikayla Mitchell

Professor M. Bogacka

ENG 101.0800

December 10, 2010.

           

    There has become an increase in men who stay at home those of whom become caretakers of the children. As a result masculinity has been put into question due to “stay at home” dads, and men in feminine professions. Aren’t men viewed as being the breadwinners of the household? What type of man stays at home, while the women go out and work? A non-masculine one you might say. If a man is playing the mother role it can confuse the child, on which role they should play. At a certain age boys are taught to be masculine not do things that would make them look otherwise. But due to the unemployment rates and the men who are unwilling to take on a female career, the only choice left is to stay at home. Men who stay home are typically looked down upon and stereotyped because this isn’t following the traditional behavior of a man. If a man is the partner who stays home, they’re considered lazy or not being able to provide for their family. Or simply feminine, why would a man choose to stay at home. The movie Daddy Day Care and two articles “Fathering: Paradoxes, Contradictions, and Dilemmas” by Scott Coltrane and “Culture, History, and Sex: Anthropological Contributions to Conceptualizing Father Involvement by Barry S. Hewlett focuses on fatherhood and masculinity. I agree with Coltrane’s research that fathers have begun to participate more in their offspring lives. Fathers have stepped up their role as their caretakers. But people view that as not being masculine. As well as “The Glass Escalator: Hidden Advantages for Men in the “female” Professions” by Christine L. Williams. Where she explains how female profession tend to push men away who want to enter these fields.

    The movie Daddy Day Care, starring Eddie Murphy and Jeff Garlin provides a good example, of how stay at home dads are not looked at as being masculine. After Murphy and Garlin are laid off, the wives of the two become the breadwinners while the men take over the household. However they open their own day care services and quite frankly the mothers of the children isn’t exactly happy with them being the caretakers. They look at men as not knowing what they’re doing. “Men are very distressed by these negative stereotypes, which tend to undermine their self esteem and to cause them to second guess their motivations for entering these fields (Williams 219)”. Which like in the movie the guys decided to go back to working to avoid the controversy? The negativity comes to a point where they don’t want to be in a female profession even though it’s still a job. The suspicions and allegations that they encounter can sometimes be too much to bear. And because their use to being the bread winners that type of “title” can make them feel masculine.

Men are constantly being discriminated against because of an occupation. Society hasn’t made it any easier for dads to feel masculine either. If a man wants to work as a preschool teacher or a nurse, he’s considered a pedophile or feminine. Putting this type of stereotype on a profession can cause a man self esteem to drop. The people who men meet outside of work as well are often the ones who give off the negative stereotypes. Christine L. Williams mentions how the suspicions that occur in the work place often cause men to alter their work behavior to prevent any charges against them. “Unlike women who enter traditionally male professions, men’s movement into these jobs is perceived by the “outside world” as a step down in status (Williams 220)”. It’s a step down because men are viewed as supposedly being hunters and constructors, something manly. Not a teacher or nurse. Men always seem to encounter the worst criticism from the public when they choose to enter female jobs.

    Over the years men have become more involved with their families then before. According to Coltrane “The ideal father at mid-century was seen as a good provider who “set a good table, provided a decent home, paid the mortgage, bought the shoes, and kept his children warmly clothed.” The man was always seen as the one to provide for their family. However now a days since fathers are the ones who tend to stay home, mothers have taken that role. The mothers become the workers without having a choice. Now women are looked at as being equal. Although in our culture we look at things as being right, other cultures may see it as wrong. Hewlett mentions that Aka view placing an infant in a crib as the same room as the parent as neglect. They feel the infant should be held at all times. Also “Fulani believe that parental care has very little impact on the child until he or she reaches the age of reason (7-8 years old) (Hewlett 61)”. But in the US a father should be involved with the child from when it is conceived. Or well that’s how we portray it in the US.

    Fathers have become more involved with childcare. Although it’s not traditional men behavior, shouldn’t we be happy they’re in their child lives. Also with the low employment rates that we have, men have no choice to seek into a female impression. So why downgrade their status? At least their working and fitting into the stereotype of a lazy man without a job.

                                                           

Work Cited

Coltrane, Scott. “Fathering: Paradoxes, Contradictions and Dilemmas.” Men’s Lives. Ed.

Michael S. Kimmel and Michael A. Messner. New York: Allyn & Bacon., (2001): 432-449. Print.

Daddy’s Day Care. Dir. Steve Carr. Perf. Eddie Murphy and Jeff Garlin., 2003.

Hewlett, Barry S. “Culture, History, and Sex:  Anthropological Contributions to Conceptualizing

Father Involvement”  Marriage & Family Review and FATHERHOOD: Research Interventions and Policies. (2000):59-73. Print   

Williams, Christine L. “The Glass Escalator: Hidden Advantages for Men in The “Female”

Professions. Men’s Lives. Ed. Michael S. Kimmel and Michael A. Messner. New York: Allyn & Bacon., (2001): 211-224. Print

First Draft Research Paper 2

Mikayla Mitchell

Eng 101.0800

November 29, 2010.

            

Masculinity has been put into question due to "stay at home" dads, and men in feminine professions. There has become an increase in men who stay at home, those of whom become caretakers of the children."Men today are far more involved with their families than they have been at virtually any other time in the last century," says Michael Kimmel, author of Manhood in America: a Cultural History. In Fathering: Paradoxes, Contradictions, and Dilemmas, Scott Coltrane states that "Men came to be seen as fulfilling their family and civic duty, not by teaching and interacting with their children as before, but by supporting the family financially (Coltrane, 435)". Aren't men looked at as being the breadwinners of the household? What type of man stays at home, while the women go out and work? A non-masculine one you might say.  Well due to the unemployment rates and the men who are unwilling to take on a female career, the only choice left is to stay at home. Men who stay at home are typically looked down upon and stereotyped because this isn’t following the traditional behavior of a man. If a man is the partner who stays home, their considered lazy or not being able to provide for their family. Or simply feminine, why would a man choose to stay at home? The movie Daddy Day Care starring Eddie Murphy and Jeff Garlin provides a good example of how stay at home dads are not looked at as being masculine. After being laid off and opening their own day care services, the mothers of the children frowned upon them because they were men. Quite frankly the mothers felt uncomfortable with their children being around them.

Society hasn’t made it any easier for dads to feel masculine either. Men are constantly being discriminated against because of an occupation. If a man wants to work as a pre-school teacher or a nurse, he’s considered what, a pedophile or feminine. Putting this type of stereotype on a profession can cause a man’s self esteem to drop. The people who men meet outside of work are often the ones who give off the negative stereotypes. Which as a result, men began second guessing entering a female profession. The Glass Escalator: Hidden Advantages for Men in the "Female" Professions by Christine L. Williams she mentions how the suspicions that occur in the workplace often cause men to alter their work behavior to prevent any charges against them. “Unlike women who enter traditionally male professions, men’s movement into these jobs is perceived by the “outside world” as a step down in status (220)”. Men always seem to encounter the worst criticism from the public when they choose to enter female professions.

“The ideal father at mid-century was seen as a good provider who “set a good table, provided a decent home, paid the mortgage, bought the shoes, and kept his children warmly clothed (Coltrane, 436)”. The man was always seen as the one to provide for their family. However now a days since fathers are the one who tend to stay home, mothers have taken that role. The mothers become the workers and the mothers without even having a choice.

                                           Work Cited

Coltrane, Scott. “Fathering: Paradoxes, Contradictions, and Dilemmas”. Men’s Lives (2001):432-449.           Print

Williams, Christine L. “The Glass Escalator: Hidden Advantages for Men in the “Female” Professions.”

    Men’s Lives (2001): 211-224. Print

Daddy’s Day Care. Dir. Steve Carr. Perf. Eddie Murphy and Jeff Garlin., 2003

Annotated Bibliography

Coltrane, Scott. "Fathering: Parodoxes, Contradictions, and Dilemmas." Men's Lives (2001):432-449. Print

       This article is about the future fathering of America. In other words the article summarizes how the positions of fathers and fatherhood has varied. Such as men aren't the ones who work and provide for the family, the women are. Basically considering the mothers as the "fathers".
       I think the article is extremely useful and objective. It gives off important facts about parenting and how others look at the situation. Which comes from a line of sources.
       This article will be very helpful towards my topic of fatherhood and masculinity. It discusses the fatherhood proportion and gives a bibliography of plenty other sources.


Daddy Day Care. Dir. Steve Carr. Perf. Eddie Murphy and Jeff Garlin., 2003
    
       In the movie Daddy Day Care, two men lose their job and are forced to be stay at home parents when they cant find another one. Which hences the idea to open their own day care services. This falls into the speculation of parenting because the fathers have to switch roles. Also masculinity as well because the fathers are looked at as the mothers.
        Daddy Day Care gives off examples of how the men have to cope with being the parents. According to Coltrane men are only in their children's lives financially. I think the information is reliable.
       I think this film is helpful. It hasnt changed how i feel about my topic only enhanced my knowledge of it. it can help with my research because its a different point of view.
      
Hewlett, Barry S. "Culture, History, and Sex: Anthropological Contributions to Conceptualizing Father
        Involvement" Marriage & Family Review and FATHERHOOD: Research Interventions and Policies.
        (2000):59-73. Print   

     This article shows the different aspects of father involvement according to different cultures. It also focuses on wanting there to be an increasement of father involvement. It's conducted by research from all over and other articles. The US society's outlook on fathers is however completely different compared to other cultures. We look at fathers as automatically being there for the child when it is conceived.
     This source is different compared to the other sources im using because, it mainly focuses on the different cultures and how they look at father involvement. While the other sources look at how the fathers are just now becoming involved and taking over the roles of the mothers.
     The article fits into my research because it portrays a different aspect of what im discussing. Neither has this article changed how i feel towards the topic.

Proprosal

Mikayla Mitchell 
English 101.0800
November 19, 2010.

                 The topic i would like to focus on is fatherhood and masculinity. I chose to do the reading by Scott Coltrane "Fathering: Paradoxes, Contradictions, and Dilemmas". In the reading Coltrane explains the different types of father involvement, and the consequences and causes of father involvement. I agree with this reading because men are looked at the ones who go out and work to support the family, not to have a more intimate relationship towards the children. Basically he discusses how over the years things have changed and men are the caretakers.
                  The role of parenting is looked at as an interchangeable role. Its not common to see men being the ones who look after the children. They usually show there love financially. Meaning they throw money around, buying whatever the child may need with out not actually having to have a relationship with them. And with that, they look at themselves as being "good fathers".
                 I will be looking for information that focuses on fatherhood. Such sources like the reading mentioned above, and the movie "Daddy Day Care" should help me conduct my research. And the article "Culture, History, and Sex: Anthropological Contributions to Conceptualizing Father Involvement" is another reading that provides a brief overview of father involvement. 

                   

           

Quick Write

        The image of the pregnant men relates to Coltrane's chapter "Fathering: Paradoxes, Contradictions, and Dilemmas" because it basically explains how fathers are suppose to be the ones who work and bring home the money, not have the maternal relationship like the mothers. In the article Coltrane says "Because parenting is a learned behavior for both men and women, most social scientists focus on the societal conditions that create gender differences in parenting or find proximate social causes of paternal investment that outweigh assumed biological causes (443)." Meaning parenting should be upon both parents, where they each play their roles. However there roles are looked at as being interchangeable. Where as its not normal for the fathers to be the nurturing, caring, parent that looks after the child.