Jacob Johnson
Original Oratory
Debate P.1
Masculinity
*the scene begins in a health clinic as my name is being called from a list; Doctor: “Mr. Johnson?” *gets up from imaginary chair Jacob: “right here, sir” D: “could you follow right this way” *follow doctor as he begins small talk regarding health D: “how are you feeling? Any new embarrassing injuries or awkward rashes I should know about?” J: “not this time, just a check-up.” D: “good! Could you please step up on the scale?” *steps on imaginary scale D: “perfect, and up against the dash marks on the wall?” *steps against wall D: “looking good! Alright now time for it to get super awkward for both of us, take off your pants.” *Jacob takes off imaginary pants as doctor proceeds to put on an imaginary glove, the doctor then kneels D: “could you please turn your head and cough?” *turns head and coughs J: “we do this whole naked conversation thing every time I come in, but why? What does this even check for?” D: “this is just a simple examination, I’m checking to see if you still have your MANHOOD!” *stands and faces audience on manhood
Now if only it was this easy; the actual test for manhood, in modern society, is much more flawed in its conclusions because we have the wrong idea of what it means to be a man. This leads me to my thesis; the social convention of masculinity and the opinions that are associated with being masculine are toxic, hateful and self-destructive. This is portrayed in instances of primitive displays of violence, Suppression of innermost thoughts, primary causes of bullying and homophobia.
Since the dawn of time acts of violence have been an innate animalistic behavior that shows dominance over challenging rivals. In a recent national survey by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [1], 44 percent of male high school students said they had been in a fight in the past year versus 27 percent of female students. The amount of confrontation between the two genders is relativity similar in amount, but the way those confrontations are handled is influenced heavily by masculinity. The construct is that in order to preserve manhood you have to prove dominance over challenging rival males; causing a 17% difference in the amount of fights among teens. This concept of “being a man means being tough” has continued to be taught as the accepted way to represent the male gender, and is then reinforced by social stereotyping and expectation. The issue is that violence doesn’t result in solvency. During a debate round, a competitor can’t realize they’re losing, stand up, walk a crossed the table to the opponent, punch them in the face and expect to win the round. Regardless of how hard that person can punch.
Emotions are a natural instinctive state of mind deriving from one's circumstances, mood, or relationships with others. They are expressed physically and affect the decisions we make consciously. In her book “Boys don’t cry? Rethinking Narratives of Masculinity and Emotion in the US” [3] Millete Shamir addresses the suppression of emotions by men in the business, political and social environments. In a business setting it is seen as unprofessional to address emotions and are therefore suppressed during business related occasions in a man’s life. In a political setting it is seen as biased to have emotions and is often suppressed in political occasions. In a social setting it is seen as feminine to show emotion and as a result, is inappropriate to have feelings during social occasions. So when do men display emotion? The answer is they don’t, which further leads to psychological damage. Studies in an article by mysahana.org [4] show that continued suppression of emotions results in high anxiety and depression in addition to physical stress on the body, high blood pressure, increased incidences of diabetes and heart disease. Ultimately the construct we enforce is that having emotions is a feminine activity and causes men stray away from figuring them out,