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