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.

Worst Date

            I think my worst date would have to be going to the movies with this guy. No names of course. The plan was to meet up at the movie theatre, i believe at 9 or 10 pm. Now he arrived there before me, however i didn't know. So i was standing outside the movie theatre waiting for him, come to find out he was already inside. He claimed he thought i was inside. Now the movie had already started and he had already bought his ticket so he was allowed to go inside. Me on the other hand it was to late so i had to purchase a later ticket. I didnt pay for the ticket by the way. Now i thought we were going to wait for my movie to start so we can go watch it. But instead he went & continued to watch his movie. Also taking my cellphone with him i guess that was a way for me to stay or follow him. But i didn't. I ended up going home without my phone and he had to bring it too me later that night. I did not go on a second date with him but however i did speak to him again.

First Draft - Research Paper

     Sometimes when viewing magazines, particularly men magazines we tend to not notice what the media is really trying to portray for us to see. In other words men magazines such as GQ, King, Esquire, just to name a few, provide advertisements that give off a certain message of what masculinity should be. But we fail to realize what they really are. To be masculine is pertaining to men and their characteristics. However not all men are considered masculine. In this paper i will show how GQ uses articles, features, and advertisements to promote masculinity.

     Over the years, GQ magazine has provided articles with the same pattern of trying to convey the message of masculinity.

Wedding Crashers Review- blog post #8

 

Work Cited

Wedding Crashers. Dir. David Dobkin. Perf. Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn. New Line  

Cinema., 2005

In the film Wedding Crashers, two divorced mediators spend their free time on their hobby, crashing weddings. The main male characters in the movie behave in a manner not really caring for the female or the female’s feelings. There intentions are strictly sexual, meaning they attend these weddings with the hopes of attracting women and "hooking up" with them at the end of the night. Towards each other they condone their behavior. Every wedding they attend they are portraying a different identity.  I wouldn't really consider their behavior masculine because their hiding their true identity. In my opinion to be masculine is being confident and dominant about your sexuality and your appearance. Lying doesn't portray that.

I think that the movie places more emphasis on the relationships between females, because when they attend one wedding and meet two women they learn about love and relationships. With attending these weddings they’re not looking to catch feelings or any other serious encounters. That’s going against their “rules of wedding crashing”.  I think this kind of goes with what David Grazian discusses about males’ behavior in ‘The Girl Hunt: Urban Nightlife and Performance of Masculinity as Collective Activity”. In the article Grazian basically puts that men go by certain rules that they always follow in order to get their women.

The film shows that there are different types of masculinity and different ways of viewing it. Also that you should accept life the way you are and not try to be anyone else.