assessment

David Gauntlett has argued against the idea that masculinity is in crisis. To what extent do you believe that masculinity is in crisis.


Centuries ago , the ideology of what men should be like and how they should act was quite stable and certain. Men only had one definition but recent changes have proved this to have changed. In this modern age , men have more freedom choose who and what they want to be which has caused confusion for men since they are unsure of their place in society and no longer can look up to an ideology that has been ingrained for centuries in men that they have to conform to being a hyper -masculine male. For example, in the 1960s score hair Cream advert , the expectations of a masculine male were quite clear. The male was portrayed as a superior since he was above a group exploited and sexualised women, he was the only one who held a weapon to indicate that he was the saviour and strong enough to fight , he was also posed in a masculine manner to catch the womens attention. This advert outlines typical stereotypes of males that they had to portray themselves as manly, strong and had to catch the attention of women which reinforced  the ideology of heterosexual relationships between a man and woman. As Stuart Hall states, representations in the media have different readings    which can either be positive or lead to a moral panic. The score hair cream advert received more preferred readings than oppositional readings due to the ideologies of a 'masculine' man which was the only ideology of men at that time making it easier for the 1960s audience to agree on one particular reading of the representation of the male in the advert. Moreover , if this advert was released to an audience in the modern age, it would receive more oppositional readings due to changing ideologies of males over the years. They may perceive this advert as ignorant since it sexualises women and belittles them which would create a moral panic due to the feminist movements becuase it reinforced a patriarchal society where men were more dominant . It also prevents men from having freedom to express themselves and explore their sexuality.



However on the other hand the changing ideology of men has benefited males in a sense. It has given them more freedom to explore their identity and sexuality without fearing scrutiny and backlash from an audience. The audience in the modern world have become more accepting of changing doctrines of what males should be. Gauntlett has pointed out that this change poses more pros than cons because it has put males in a position to be able to search for their place in society which means progress is being made. This is due to the fact that the old stereotypes of males consisted of superficial ideologies that members of society put together which males conformed to without question. Males found it hard to oppose these stereotypes back then and now can openly oppose them whilst gaining support which shows how far males position in society has improved since they have the power to be more outspoken and critical. For example, in the Maybelline advert, Manny MUA (who is a social media influencer who specialises in the makeup category) collaborated with another female celeb to advertise the Maybelline mascara. Manny Mua openly portrayed his interest in the mascara and being a male his ability to openly use makeup is quite unexpected. Although he received quite a lot of supportive comments for being the first male to feature in a makeup branded advert. This portrays the benefits of the changes in male stereotypes since  males have a powerful status in society since they will be supported no matter what stereotypes they conform to.


In conclusion, I agree with David Gauntlett that masculinity is in crisis because although men have more freedom to explore their identity and different stereotypes , these multiple stereotypes have caused a confusion on what males should be and has conflicted with their stability. These different sexualities and identities has caused males to feel excluded because they are unable to conform to these stereotypes and therefore are unsure of their place in society. They can no longer express themselves as dominant and strong without facing backlash from a modern audience that consists of feminists and feminine males . So, in that males are unsure of how to present their masculinity without violating the new stereotypes of males in modern society