Tough Guise

First impressions....if a girl sees a guy walking down the street, she might look at the clothes he is wearing and judge him from that, or whether he is good looking or not. Or when a girl meets a guy for the first time, they think is he good looking, is he fit, are his clothes nice, or does he look athletic? All of these questions are thought about when meeting a guy, whether a girl means to or not. If a guy wants to impress a girl, or get to know a girl better, then he is more pron to show off his good looks. Tough Guise made me think about this more after seeing it. One of the first examples the movie gave about men masking masculinity was from the Wizard of Oz. Where the wizard has this deep voice, and is suppose to be intimidating, but when Dorothy and the others look behind the mask, they find a man, who isn't like the intimidating wizard at all. This scene brought a lot of controversy at the time, because of it challenging masculinity. Tough Guise was trying to show how men shouldn't always be connected with violence, and also how many men are hiding behind this disguise of what a man should act and look like. They are hiding because from a very young age these boys were taught to only show certain parts of themselves to society, or else they would be called names, challenging their masculinity. These young boys are shown big muscles, and because they have seen those images so much, the boys want to have those big muscles. The bigger a boy is, the more respect they will get. So if all these boys/men are striving for the same characteristics, then what happens to their individuality? I agree that a lot of women want to be with men who have good, "nice fit" looking bodies, but that isn't all women want. But men can't show emotion, and have to hide behind this appearance of looking tough, and having control of all around them. So, unless a women really gets to know a man, then they all look the same. Men tend to be more violent and this seems to happen when their power or control is being challenged. In a relationship, if the woman is out of line, or starts to gain too much power, the man might beat her. All the movies, sports, and video games that have come out, all show men being violent in them, and that being acceptable. Even in situations about being gay, a lot of gay men are beaten, or killed because they are different, and this could be because the straight men fear what will happen if they accepted the gay men. I know now, things are different then years ago, but there are still men, (and women) who have a hard time accepting gay or lesbians. In the movie, it said that there was a lot of anti-gay violence, partly because  "real" men can kill, when something challenges their masculinity. I know all the time people say women have a hard life, because we are trying to gain more equal rights, and such, but we never think about how life can be difficult for men too. They have to watch everything they do, and keep their appearance up so society won't judge them. In some ways, I think this movie has a point, that men tend to mask who they really are. I am friends with a lot of guys, some better than others, and those who I know better, I can see a difference in how they act with me, and then around my other friends, or even new people they meet. It might not be a huge difference, but there is some, especially with what they are willing to share with me. I enjoyed this movie, and I hope if we don't finish it in class, I can watch it again in the future.