For this assignment we will explore the intersectionality between sexuality and masculinity. You are required to pick 2 out of the 3 questions listed below. The entire exam should consist of TWO answers and a total of 5-6 typed pages (1250-1500 words)

Sexuality and masculinity.

Write a 2.5-3 page response (approximately 500-750 words) for EACH answer. You are required to pick 2 out of the 3 questions listed below. The entire exam should consist of TWO answers and a total of 5-6 typed pages (1250-1500 words), double spaced, 12 point font. Answer ALL parts of each question in a well-crafted analysis that cites relevant class readings and media. When citing readings in the body of your paper, include the author’s name and page number. Be sure to adequately contextualize your citations (use the quotes by explaining them and NEVER leaving a quote to speak for you) and follow up on their significance as they relate to your answer.

Sexuality and masculinity.

No bibliography/works cited page is required unless you reference a source outside the course reader. Put your name at the top of each page. Clearly indicate which question you are answering. The following section asks you to do two things: One, read the passage and, if it is a quote, explain the author’s meaning (i.e. place the quote in context). Two, use the passage or the example illustrated in the passage, to answer the related question. In his essay “Masculinity as Homophobia”, Michael Kimmel notes, “Men’s feelings are not the feelings of the powerful, but of those who see themselves as powerless.

Sexuality and masculinity.

They are the feelings of men who were raised to believe themselves entitled to feel that power, but do not feel it” (149). First, discuss the significance of this quote in relation to Kimmel’s discussion of the intersectionality between sexuality and masculinity. Second, using Richard Dyer’s, “Male Sexuality in the Media”, discuss how the representation of the phallic symbol works to both maintain normative expectations of masculinity while also revealing patriarchal (normative) expectations of masculinity to be damaging to men. Hint: think about the way that dominant narratives serve to mask the fragility of patriarchal privileging of dominant masculinity.

Sexuality and masculinity.

In his chapter, “The mediated Society”, Larry Gross writes about the relationship between media visibility and power. In his writing, Larry Gross notes that while media invisibility sustains powerlessness, “When previously ignored groups or perspectives do gain visibility, the manner of their representation will reflect the biases and interests of those powerful people who define the public agenda” (4). First, discuss the significance of this quote.

Sexuality and masculinity.

Second, using Guillermo Avila-Saavedra’s “Nothing Queer About Queer Television: Televised Construction of Gay Masculinities”, discuss how mainstream representations of homosexuality both challenge heteronormative notions of masculinity all the while sustaining the normativity of the heterosexual social order. In her essay, “Can a Woman Harass a Man,” Susan Bordo argues, “Women are not angels and mean are not devils, and both are capable of abuse of power. But men and women are still generally subject to different instructions on how to be in the world, and these may help us to understand harassment. https://youtu.be/cKNa83G5XI4

Sexuality and masculinity.

The capacity to harass is not written on the Y chromosome. But this doesn’t mean that masculinity, as a cultural ideology, plays no role in the social production of harassment” (155). First, discuss the significance of this quote and explain how she characterizes masculinity as a “cultural ideology” in this essay (155). Second, analyze the constructions of masculinity in a media advertisements. Identify a media advertisement and using Bordo’s essay, discuss whether the ad works toward OR against establishing a clearly defined “ideology of masculinity.”

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