“Sooner Scandals” is a theatrical production put on every year by the Greek society. I’m not sure that a piece about amateur musical theatre is what this newspaper needs, but the subject of grown men dancing around on stage sparked some ideas about masculinity, so I’ll talk about that instead.
Society — specifically American society — works very hard to instill certain concrete beliefs and archetypes. One such archetype is masculinity—the generally accepted “form” of a man. In other words, society sets certain expectations for men (and women) to meet; masculinity is the degree to which men (or women) meet that standard.
On the surface, this isn’t such a bad thing. A successful society demands that role models exist for us to judge ourselves against. But beyond providing role models, the standards of masculinity can be harmful to our society.
It takes a lot of guts to dress up in a ballerina outfit and dance across a stage in an auditorium packed with thousands of spectators, but it takes a lot more if that ballerina is a guy. Now, most guys don’t want to be ballerinas, and that’s fine with me, but setting such rigid standards for masculinity restricts the creativity and individuality of many men. Sure, as Americans , we are free to pursue any career or hobbies we choose, but society pins men down into certain molds that exclude some very fulfilling activities such as musical theatre, dance, art, poetry, and even teaching.
To explain why these particular exclusions exist would take more than a single opinion column to explain, so let’s accept on faith that these stereotypes do exist. The point is, through the role models provided by film, television, and even the newspaper, men are discouraged from engaging in the aforementioned activities simply because they are not considered “manly.”
Stop for a moment and think about what dance really is. Dance is a carefully choreographed series of movements aimed at entertaining an audience. What about football? Well, a football play is a carefully choreographed series of movements aimed at making your team more successful and thus entertaining the audience and selling more tickets. True, football also involves 300-pound men running into each other, but the point is that the mechanics behind these two activities is not so different, it is merely the perceived masculinity that separates the two.
The result is that creativity is stifled and men cannot express themselves in all of the ways they might want to. Our society assumes that any man who rigorously engages in dance or musical theatre must be either homosexual or just lonely. The truth is that male dancers and performers have a lot more courage than I could ever muster. It certainly takes courage to stand up to a defensive line set on breaking every bone in your body, but it takes a different kind of courage to admit to yourself and others that you enjoy some “unmanly” things.
I’ll say it: I love the “Powerpuff Girls.” That song is really catchy. At any rate, this ties in well with what I discussed last week; accept who you are and don’t be afraid to share it with others. Masculinity is a meaningless word that society has created to help solidify stereotypes. But I believe that “manliness” comes from being brave enough to stand up against such social stigmas and embrace your inner Zac Efron.
Fighting, a concept of masculinity that has existed for hundreds of years is difficult, but it always starts with you. Be the brave one and check out that salsa dancing class—worst case scenario: you might actually like it.
-Joshua Wesneski is a College of Education junior.
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SoonerGuardGirl 2 years, 11 months ago
A fair piece about "amateur musical theatre" is EXACTLY what this paper needs.