Blog 4

Some benefits of boys and men putting on the "tough guise" is that they feel more like a man and fit into society's ideals of a man. Men are exactly like women, all they really want to do is fit in. Putting on the "tough guise" can be effective when it doesn't go to an extreme. Wanting to fit in is not bad, but when wanting to fit in takes over your life and makes you do things to yourself that are harmful or do things to others that are harmful it can be a very bad thing. You should never hurt yourself just to fit in. Some men will go to great extremes in order to fit in like taking steroids, or working out until their bodies are completely beaten up, or developing eating disorders.

Many people think the very concept of "gender issues" is synonymous with "women's issues". I think this is so because people don't really think that males have many issues. Most of what you hear about gender issues is in the female community. Females being very athletic and not wanting to wear dresses or be the "typical" female. You do not see much of this in the male community. I think that because the two terms are synonymous to most people that it makes it hard for people to see that the same happens in males lives. Males also have gender roles that they are trying to fulfill. One such gender role of men is their trying to live up to society's ideal of physical size and strength Trying to live up to this has a lot of detrimental effects on males. Emotionally males trying to do this can become very beaten down. Many males just do not have the body type and makeup to live up to the norms. When a person tries extremely hard to do something without getting the results they crave it is very damaging to the ego. Many people begin to give up and feel that they will never be good enough and they can never be loved or accepted like they want to be. There are also physical effects that can occur. Because of trying to be something they aren't men's bodies are often broken down or even injured severely for the rest of their lives. Some men even go as far as to using steroids to get the body they want.

I think the media inspires change in society. I think that people are susceptible to media influence because it is always around them. Society's idea of perfect is embedded in their brains from the time they are born until the time they die. Because it is always around them and always telling them how they should look, eat, smell, dress and simply live we as a society begin to believe the media and begin to try to form into what they say we should be.