Masculinity and Violence

     Masculinity for boys in our culture is a big part of their lives and they are encouraged from a young age to act tough and be able to stand their ground even if that involves a little violence. I think that to me it seems like violence and masculinity for boys has always had some affect on them and been a part of their gender role. I think that violence and masculinity are always going to be a part of the male gender role. If a boy doesn't act tough and stand their ground they are looked at as not manly and they don't want that.

     Boys also tend to play more video games and violence is shown a lot by the male characters in the video games. In violent video games like the Grand Theft Auto series the male character is always fighting people and sometimes even killing people which could teach boys that fighting is the right thing to do. Boys also see violent acts on television and in movies and the male characters are almost always acting in some sort of violent way because that is how their gender is supposed to behave. If they see all of this it could affect how they show their emotions or how they change as a person.

     I see this as both a positive and a negative force. It is a positive force because I think that it is a positive force because boys will get further in their lives if they know how to stand up for themselves in case something bad happens to them like being kidnapped. This way they might be able to get away if they know how to act violent and stand up for themselves. It is a negative force because I think that they could take advantage of acting violent and they could use it in the wrong way. They could be mad at a person and just use violence to make them pay and in that case it would be wrong.

     The APA talked about how violence could cause boys to become aggressive, not trust others, and even desensitize which goes along with what I was saying because I believe that violent video games could causes boys to become violent when they grow older. I don't believe that the ACLU goes along with what I was saying because I believe that violence on television should be monitored more and people should look into the affects is either has or doesn't have on boys when they grow older.