Honestly, I really liked the article What Are Little Boys Made Of? by Michael Kimmel. Growing up I was always around "the boys"... not only did I idolize my big brother (Bubba), but I remember much of childhood being spent with him and a group of his friends that I now call my, "other brothers", as they killed hundreds of people in online battles, or spent what seemed like forever at soccer tournaments at first and then later airsoft tournaments. I watched them grow up and in my mind become stereotypical boys, especially my brother who graduated from the Air Force Academy in 2009, created an airsoft league at the Academy, and is now stationed at Almendorf Air Force Base in Anchorage Alaska and owns more guns than pairs of shoes.
"Gurian argues that our educational system forces naturally rambunctious boys to conform to a regime of obedience." (157)I do agree with that statement, because there are always the classes in schools where rowdy boys are placed in order to be kept away from the other students.
Then when I was 15, my now step-dad and his son (Aaron) moved in with my mom and I. Now Aaron was completely different from my older brother because he LOVES playing violent video games. Now, don't get me wrong, Bubba does too, but Aaron can play for hours. Which in why I was reminded of him when I was reading:
"From an early age, boys learn that violence is not only an acceptable form of conflict resolution, but one that is admired. Four times more teenage boys than teenage girls think fighting is appropriate when someone cuts into the front of a line. Half of all teenage boys get into a physical fight each year." (159)And then when I was 17, I started dating my boyfriend Matthew, who is the opposite of both of my brothers in the sense that he is not violent what so ever. Maybe it is because he had a rough childhood, and lost his father at a young age, I'm not sure. But just because he isn't violent, does that not make him a man?
"The belief that violence is manly is not carried on any chromosome, not soldered into the wiring of the right or left hemisphere, not juiced by testosterone. (Half of all boys don't fight, most don't carry weapons, and almost all don't kill: are they not boys?)" (159)
One quote that also really sticks out to me was:
"I'd rather be wanted for murder than not wanted at all" (159)And I'm still not sure what to make out of it but it was one of those things that really struck me as interesting while reading this piece.
Hi Noelle,
ReplyDeleteI didn't start to read the article yet, so I just wanted to check around and see what other people are saying about it. I ended up on your page first. WOW you made great connections. which makes me have an idea of what the article is going to be about. I like how how you connected the article to your family, it made me have a visual image of what it must have been like for you being (not sure)the only sister in your family. I think you helped me get the gist of what is going to be expected in the article. :) Thanks
Hi Noelle (: I just finished the article and was searching around before I was going to publish it to see if anyone had posted, and I read yours. I really enjoyed reading this, you brought up things that made me think more into my own life and not just the article. Im going to use yours for an extended comment. Hope you dont mind!
ReplyDelete"But just because he isn't violent, does that not make him a man?"
ReplyDeletehi! I really liked this quote/piece of your blog.
I was just with my cousin and we were talking about this article and I asked him if he thought all boys were violent/aggressive and he said something along the lines of what you're implying (I think). he basically said that just because a boy isn't violent or aggressive or act in an obnoxious way doesn't mean he's not a man--he just has a sense of who he is--he's comfortable in his own skin
I liked the connections you made to your own life :)