Staples And Masculinity

Just Walk on by and Masculinity as Homophobia, by Brent Staples and Michael Kimmel discuss 2 different perspectives of the woes of masculinity. Kimmel discusses the paradoxical lack of confidence Middle American white men face, and how it furthers segregation. Staples talks about the black male ego and its place, or lack thereof, in America. They both give insightful accounts of each perspective, which overlook each other. Staples, through mostly personal anecdotes, assesses how the fearful indictment of all black men affects their behavior. Instead of perpetuating unjustified fears, or even behaving indifferently, he himself chose to accommodate whenever facing prejudice. He equated his repressive behavior to a “cowbell hikers wear when they know they’re in bear country.” This is an almost accurate metaphor of 2 animals fearful and capable of killing each other. The only inconsistency comes with the lopsided rates at which one kills the other. Staples would have been more accurate if he told us that the bears started to wear bells for safety. …show more content…
Kimmel discusses different, more internal fears that come from the same place of masculinity. According to him “we’ve constructed the rules of manhood so that only the tiniest fraction of men come to believe that they are [real men]” and even when we “work to break down the isolation…to express those fears and shame, they ignore the social power [they] continue to exert over women and the privileges from which they (as middle aged, middle class white men) continue to benefit.” At the same time men who feel they are not truly men overcompensate with arrogance, leading to a cycle conflict. Black men, who naturally feel less entitled, suffer from this angst less, though it is inflamed by society more. This changes the fear of being exposed to more of a