Masculinity Through Media

In Advertising and the Construction of Violent White Masculinity, author Jackson Katz explores the role that advertising plays in shaping male cultural identity. He says that advertisements geared towards young men succeed by stressing gender differences by “constantly reasserting what is masculine and what is feminine” (352). He says that, “One of the ways this is accomplished, in the image system, is to equate masculinity with violence, power, and control” (352). He goes on to argue that there are two main subjects that advertisers use to capitalize on this effect: the military and sports. These ads inherently capitalize on characters with traits associated strongly with masculinity, whether it is a soldier demonstrating leadership or fearlessness, or a football player demonstrating strength, toughness, or teamwork. These advertisements succeed because, as Katz says, they utilize “male icons overtly threatening consumers to by products” or “exploit men’s feelings of not being big, strong, or violent enough by promising to provide them with products that will enhance those qualities.”

This topic of defining masculinity is the same one driving the film Tough Guise: Violence, Media & the Crisis in Masculinity. In it, the narrator explores the many facets of popular culture that have helped instill violence, toughness, big muscles, etc. as essential to “being a man”. The narrator shows a large number of heroic figures from movies that have been portrayed as desirable: nearly all of them are violent and ripped, and commonly rewarded for killing and beating up other men. Similarly, in sports, he shows that the biggest stars, he uses the example of Mark McGuire, are celebrated not for their kindness or charity, but instead for their brute strength and toughness. The result of all of this inaccurate portrayal of masculinity in the media, the narrator argues is terrible, “violence becomes an accepted cultural norm” amongst men and boys. He argues that this leads to everything from school shootings to gang violence. In many ways, the effect of this widespread representation of masculinity can be summed up in the statistic pulled forth by Katz: “approximately 86% of violent crime is committed by males” (349).