Origins
The extent to which masculinity is due to socialization versus inborn factors has been the subject of much debate. Some have argued that it is based largely on biology as masculinity is inextricably linked with the male body. In this view, masculinity is something that is associated with the biological male sex and having male genitalia, for instance, is regarded as a natural aspect of masculinity. Others have suggested that while masculinity may be influenced by biological factors, it is also culturally constructed. As such, masculinity is not restricted to men and can, in fact, be female as women frequently display behavior, traits and physical attributes that are considered "masculine" in a given historical and social context. Proponents of this view point out that women can become men hormonally and physically and that many aspects that are assumed to be natural are linguistically and therefore culturally driven. Facial hair, for instance, has been linked to masculinity through language in such forms as stories about boys becoming men when they start to shave.
Masculinity does not have a single source of origin or creator such as the media, certain institutions, or certain groups of people. While the military, for example, has a vested interest in constructing and promoting a specific form of masculinity, it does not create it from scratch and masculinity has influenced the creation of the military in the first place.
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Famous quotes containing the word origins:
“Compare the history of the novel to that of rock ‘n’ roll. Both started out a minority taste, became a mass taste, and then splintered into several subgenres. Both have been the typical cultural expressions of classes and epochs. Both started out aggressively fighting for their share of attention, novels attacking the drama, the tract, and the poem, rock attacking jazz and pop and rolling over classical music.”
—W. T. Lhamon, U.S. educator, critic. “Material Differences,” Deliberate Speed: The Origins of a Cultural Style in the American 1950s, Smithsonian (1990)
“Grown onto every inch of plate, except
Where the hinges let it move, were living things,
Barnacles, mussels, water weeds—and one
Blue bit of polished glass, glued there by time:
The origins of art.”
—Howard Moss (b. 1922)
“The settlement of America had its origins in the unsettlement of Europe. America came into existence when the European was already so distant from the ancient ideas and ways of his birthplace that the whole span of the Atlantic did not widen the gulf.”
—Lewis Mumford (1895–1990)