Manhood Argumentative Essay

As a man, I know that men are just as “weak” or “fragile” as women, but I don’t think that I’ve ever heard a man admit that. I also know that statement alone, if it were somehow to be broadcasted, would draw tremendous criticism, and probably even more hatred and disgust, from many other males. But, it’s nevertheless true. However, that isn’t what we, as citizens of the United States, are taught. From early on, we have had the narrative of rugged and fearless men who make tremendous sacrifices to provide for their families, while fawning women daintily clean the house and take care of the kids, forcibly shoved down our throats. Why, you may ask, does this continue to happen in a supposedly enlightened society? Well, simply put, it’s profitable, …show more content…
I attended a co-ed private school from kindergarten until third grade, and then followed in my older brother’s footsteps and went to an all-boys private school from fourth grade until I graduated high school. According to my mom, even at that young age, the main reason that I wanted to leave my first school was because I felt like I was being sheltered. That bubble was violently burst when I switched schools. From day one, things were different. In lower school, if you turned around and happened to see another guy naked in the locker room, you had supposedly done it on purpose, and were ridiculed for being gay. In middle school, if you said you loved one of your friends, you had to immediately follow up with “no homo,” or risk being made fun of for being gay. In high school, if nobody knew if you had hooked up with a girl, you were either weird or assumed to be gay. Being gay was associated with being not masculine, and was therefore a bad thing. I don’t blame the school officials for lack of action, or the parents for not teaching their kids any better; I blame our society for excusing all of our actions as permissible because we were boys and that’s just what boys do. So, to summarize, throughout my childhood, from about every angle imaginable, I was being told that being hyper-masculine was not only good, but paramount, to …show more content…
I’m not sure how it happened, or when, but it’s actually kind of incredible. In fact, as a fun little experiment, I grabbed a tissue that wasn’t Kleenex brand and asked a few of my friends what it was called. Most replied almost instantaneously saying Kleenex, which goes to show the market dominance and brand recognition Kleenex enjoys. Anyways, why should anyone care that Kleenex made a tissue supposedly designed for men? Using the Kleenex Mansize as a microcosm for how we view masculine products and gender roles in our society, take a look at how it was marketed: “Sometimes we need a little strength we can trust. Kleenex® Mansize is designed with that in mind; it 's made to be strong so it won 't let you down.” Per that statement, the regular unisex tissue wasn’t strong enough to do the job, so they needed to create one for men that would be bigger, stronger, and reliable. Logic would then dictate that the regular Kleenex, now inferior to the Kleenex Mansize, were to be used by women. Remember that the standard Kleenex is weaker, smaller, less reliable, and overall less desirable. Furthermore, if we focus on the less reliable aspect, and use the standard Kleenex as a microcosm for female gender roles, it paints an incredibly sexist and demeaning portrait of women. I can say with near certainty that if I were at a store, and confronted with which option to get, the man-sized Kleenex or the regular one, I,