Dogs are often called man’s best friend, and you would be hard pressed to find any person who would admit to not liking dogs. On the other side of the coin are cats. There is a stigma that emerges when men and cats are together. Many of the guys I know, myself included, live in a household with a cat in it. This often results in the awkward situation of what to do when the cat comes up to you; if it had been a dog there’s no question in what I would have done, but when it is a cat, your masculinity is in question. Both teenagers and adults alike may spend hours trying to decide if one thing or action is “masculine” or “feminine.” Looking back at history the terms are bubbles of a Venn diagram floating around on a dart board. Definitions
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While not a very detailed definition, it shows how fluid masculinity can be throughout time. In present times masculinity has been associated with aggressiveness and strength. Men are expected to complete tasks of strength or at least do something aggressively. This is what would make it hard for men to do thing considered such as pet cats. One of the largest indicators of masculinity may not be actions of strength and aggressiveness but physical appearance. Although a man could be very strong and muscular, his masculinity could come into question if he was of a shorter stature. In a study over men self-reporting height, Anthony Bogaert and Donald McCreary from Brock University’s Department of Psychology found not only that “shorter men exaggerated their height more than taller men,” but also that masculine characteristics present in men lead to more of an over-reporting of height. Men with such masculine characteristics feel the need to achieve social desirability to the point that they will distort the image of themselves to achieve more desirable masculine physical characteristics (Bogaert, McCreary). In the modern day it is not just good enough to be strong and aggressive; a man should also look strong and aggressive, and height is the most efficient way to denote “looking
While not a very detailed definition, it shows how fluid masculinity can be throughout time. In present times masculinity has been associated with aggressiveness and strength. Men are expected to complete tasks of strength or at least do something aggressively. This is what would make it hard for men to do thing considered such as pet cats. One of the largest indicators of masculinity may not be actions of strength and aggressiveness but physical appearance. Although a man could be very strong and muscular, his masculinity could come into question if he was of a shorter stature. In a study over men self-reporting height, Anthony Bogaert and Donald McCreary from Brock University’s Department of Psychology found not only that “shorter men exaggerated their height more than taller men,” but also that masculine characteristics present in men lead to more of an over-reporting of height. Men with such masculine characteristics feel the need to achieve social desirability to the point that they will distort the image of themselves to achieve more desirable masculine physical characteristics (Bogaert, McCreary). In the modern day it is not just good enough to be strong and aggressive; a man should also look strong and aggressive, and height is the most efficient way to denote “looking