Masculinity In Precarious Manhood

Manhood is viewed as tenuous and aches for public approval. The need for public approval has been traced by evolutionary and social theories to the origin of men’s competitive nature to claim a social status (Bosson, et.al 2008). However masculinity cannot be grouped into one category. For instance, the way athletes and fraternity brothers value masculinity share similarities but their methods of achieving it differ. On the other hand masculine relations differ in terms of race since the actions that white men perform to exert their masculinity differs from those of men from minority races.The core belief for ‘real’ men however, is centered around neglecting their feminine side(Collins, 188). In accordance with the thesis in Precarious Manhood, …show more content…
One of the men asks for a song request but no one responded. He starts playing music and after that song the other men start suggesting songs to play. After giving suggestions, they get into a debate on great artists specifically great rappers who display a set of skills in both good lyrics, beats and most importantly are ‘real’ to themselves and their fans. The debate gets heated and at this point to show their devotion to their artist, they put their laptops and books aside. Those who were on the corners come closer and some end up standing. Then one of the guys who seems to be in a hurry to meet a deadline with his work, cuts the debate short by explaining to them how people will always have different opinions on music and that the beauty of it is that they are different and they should not waste their time. In respect to putting his needs as a scholar first, the guys simmer down their arguments, though some try to whisper. After a Nicki Minaj song plays, the guy that had requested silence talks about Nicki Minaj being a great rapper and another guy agrees and adds on that, “she is ‘bad’ too” while another points out that she is a good FEMALE rapper. Instead of relapsing back to their earlier conversation of the greatest artists, they start talking about ‘bad’ female artists. However the guy that brought up that Minaj is a great artist shifts the conversation to good female rappers and male rappers. Based on his tone, he was offended that they had turned the conversation from best female artist and reduced it to a contest about beauty rather than of talent. The dialogue is prime example of Patricia Collins’ idea that, “the social power granted to race and class in the United States means that sexism is not an either/ or endeavor in which all men dominate all women (Collins, 187). In this case the students could not exercise their