Assignment 3

Our most recent discussions in class have been dealing with boys and how they grow up. We have discussed the idea of "Patriarchy" which is the condition upon which young boys are taught how to be men. We watched a video in class that dealt with this. The video believed that young boys have been seeing imaged their whole life that dictate how they should live and how they should view women. Honestly, some of the points in the video seemed extreme and biased. I am not making a defense for guys, since I am one, because it would be ridiculed with bias. But I would like to say that not every guy turns out like that video points out. Maybe I am just the exception.
Like most boys growing up I played sports. Looking back I played sports because it was what my older brother did and I wanted to be just like him. I also think it was easy for my parents if I played the same sports as my brother because we would always have practice at the same place. I dont think I was thrust into sports mainly because I am a boy, and thats what boys do. As it turned out I was pretty good and played all the way up to high school and even played soccer for a different university before transferring to USM.
Growing up in the sports world, I heard all kinds of insults. One of the sports I played was baseball and a common insult in baseball is that "you throw like a girl." I can say I have used it in a joking manner and have had it used on me. At the time I never thought about what I was actually saying. One speaker in a video talks about an athlete being called a girl and how the young athlete said it would destroy him. That is a major insult to any male athlete because they seek physical superiority. But why is this such an insult? Whats wrong with women that men dont want to be called one?
Now that I have grown up and started to look at the world in a different light, I understand things a little better. There has always been this fine line between things men do and things women do. As a man, you are not supposed to cross this line. Alot of people like to joke around that men cant cook or dont like to cook or arent supposed to. Why is that? I love to cook. I usually cook dinner once a week at my house for my grandmother and mother. I enjoy cooking. It takes my mind off the real world for a little whle and lets me put my focus on what I am doing. I also bake desserts everynight for the cafe my family owns. Alot of guys I know think that is funny and say that I would make a good housewife. Whats the big deal? Im just a man that knows his way around the kitchen, and to me that is nothing to be asahmed of.
In this country we fear what we dont understand. We view something different as wrong or unnatural. This is a terrible way to view things and hopefully one day that will change. But the only way it will change is for people to continually push at the boundaries that separate men and women.