First thing’s first, I have read this article before and having reread it twice this week I am still positive that I have not fully absorbed the information it attempted to hand to me. The main definition of hegemonic masculinity that I obtained from the article is that hegemonic masculinity is the most dominant form of masculinity that a man can use to portray gender. It is the form of masculinity that sits at the top of the masculinity food chain, if you will. Often this form of masculinity is portrayed by men through the perpetuation of violence, although violence is not a natural component of hegemonic masculinity. This violent aspect of masculinity is heavily touched on and analyzed in Jackson Katz’s Tough Guise 2, which we watched in class. While violence, again, is not the only aspect of masculinity in today’s society, it definitely plays a huge role in the way men feel they must ‘do gender’.
The definition of hegemonic masculinity is constantly changing over the span of time; it does not remain constant, as the image of the idealized man is always fluctuating. The ideal man of the 1950s is not the same as the ideal mean of 2015. The article constantly repeats the idea that hegemonic masculinity is not a ‘fixed trait’. In Tough Guise 2, the example of this that stuck in my head was that of G.I. Joe Dolls (or I should use the more manly term “Action Figures”).
The appearance and bicep circumference of G.I. Joe toys have increased tremendously over the decades, and teach young boys that this unrealistic appearance is that of the ultimate man. Simple toys like these play a huge role in perpetuating the violence-based male dominant culture described in the Hegemonic Masculinity article we read for class.
NOT ALWAYS VISIBLE 
Your observations on the changes in G.I. Joe toys over time becomes even more interesting when compared with the changes that have occurred in dolls portraying females. While male dolls have become increasingly muscular and just larger overall the look of the female equivalents have become smaller and harder to obtain. Barbie’s and other dolls like this have made their proportions increasingly unrealistic, giving the doll a waist that if put on a real person would cause them to be incapable of life. The hyper masculinity of male dolls coupled with the designing of females dolls to appear small and therefor weaker just reinforces the idea that men are supposed to control women. The relationship between the fluctuations in the appearance of toys sheds a great amount of light on some of the larger problems that are being faced in our society.
LikeLike
Most of the toys that are made for boys has something to do with weapons or some sort of violence. It is shocking to see the changes that have been done to the G.I. Joe character over the years. Those major changes to the doll give boys a false truth about the norms of how men look. The female dolls are getting smaller and smaller in size teaching women that they need to be super thin. These changes to the dolls shows that men are supposed to be much larger and dominant over women. These little things do have an impact on children, more than most people think. The first G.I. Joe is the one that we would want our kids playing with these days, not the big muscular aggressive one.
LikeLike