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Tough Guise Learning Activities
Activities
The box exercise: Draw a box on a chalkboard. Ask students to name characteristics of a real man. Write them inside the box. When the box is full, ask for themes (e.g. strength, toughness are equated with masculinity). Then ask them to name characteristics of men who don't measure up, and write these outside the box.. When you've gotten a sufficient number of words (e.g. wimp, wuss, fag), ask for themes. Then talk about how boys/men are boxed in by these definitions, and punished if they don't fit in.
For an explanation of the box exercise see page 87 of Helping Teens Stop Violence: A Practical Guide for Counselors, Educators, and Parents, by Allen Creighton with Paul Kivel, Oakland Men's Project. Alameda, CA: Hunter House Publishers, 1992. For more information about the Oakland Men's Project write or call 1203 Preservation Way, Ste. 200, Oakland, CA 94612, tel: 510-835-2433.
Writing:
1. Ask students to find another example, like the Wizard of Oz, that features a man creating an image that is not the actual man underneath (e.g. a character in a film or a piece of literature; movie stars themselves; sports personas, young men in school, college, etc.). Have them write about whether they feel it is obvious that the persona is just an act. As they explore and defend their point of view, ask them to consider how the persona differs from what they see as the more authentic person performing it. And ask them to explain what they see as the significance of this difference - between persona or performance and reality.
2. Another option here is to show a film whose theme involves a male character whose masculine posturing creates conflict - both within himself and with others. Ask students to write about these internal and external conflicts. Have students pay specific attention as they write to the nature of the "masculine performance" involved. Some more specific writing topics might be: a) Analyze how this character-driven theme reinforces the overall meaning or theme of the film; b) Decide whether or not the film resolves this tension by reinforcing traditional, or hyper-masculine identity, or by subverting it and opening up new possibilities for male identity; or c) Write about the consequences of this conflict - for the life of the male character himself, and for others around him - and discuss how this relates to the overall theme or meaning of the film. (Possible films: Once Were Warriors; Born on the Fourth of July; Full Metal Jacket; In and Out.)
3. As a class, view the film The Celluloid Closet, a documentary that specifically surveys masculine performance throughout the history of Hollywood film, and uncovers a striking homophobic subtext beneath masculine posturing. Ask students to write about this connection between traditional styles of masculinity and homophobia, and to find other examples in contemporary films or television shows.
4. Ask students to write about a personal experience - involving themselves or someone they’ve known - in which there was pressure to conform to a rigid gender stereotype. Key here is to encourage them to look critically at this experience, and to widen their discussion by connecting this personal experience to some of the larger issues presented in the film.
For a list of the statistics cited in Tough Guise, please see Sources.
Actvitiies
1. Language exercise # 1: Youth Violence
2. Language exercise # 2 : Violence Against Women
Writing:
1. Ask students to find and cut out a newspaper or magazine op/ed column or article about violence. Have them bold the words used to describe perpetrators. Rewrite the piece using gendered language. (i.e. "A 15-year-old boy killed…" rather than "A 15-year-old youth killed…")
2. Ask students to write about an experience they’ve had in which language influenced what happened. Ask them to think about how the experience might have been different if the language involved was different.
3. Ask students to write in response to the following: Do words have power? How much? How? Why or why not? Give examples.
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Activities
1. Have students find and bring in (or use the images provided here) a full-bodied magazine picture (or video) of a male TV, movie, or sports star from the 1940s, 50s or 60s. At the same time - or for a later class - have them find and bring in an analogous star from the 1980's or 90's. (For example, you might pick a football star from the early 1960's, as well as a current NFL star.) In class, have them discuss the differences and similarities of their bodies, and offer some reasons for the difference: Better nutrition? Better weight training equipment and techniques? Social changes? Be prepared to discuss the possibilities.
2. Do the same as above with advertisements featuring females. Have students pay attention here, and above, not only to the size of the bodies featured, but to how they are posed.
3. Have students bring in an example from advertising (a print ad, a synopsis of a TV commercial, etc.) in which masculinity, or manhood, is referred to explicitly - whether used literally or ironically. Have them explain what they feel the people who made the ad are trying to do; specifically, how are the advertisers attempting to use masculinity, and gender, to sell their product? What assumptions do the advertisers seem to be making about those who will be influenced by the ad?
Writing:
1. After sharing ideas on one or two of the discussion topics above, ask students to write a paper analyzing masculinity in a TV or print ad, or other media image. Ask them to focus specifically on a) the way masculinity is portrayed, especially as related to the body; b) what that portrayal signals about what kind of man is pictured; and c) what effect(s) this is designed to have on those looking at the image.
2. Have students write an essay about "strength." Ask them to look the word up in the dictionary, and to come up with as many takes on the word as possible. The key to the assignment is to have them offer as complete a definition of "strength" as possible, using examples from the dictionary, their own experience, literature, films they’ve seen, etc. To provide more specific focus, you might ask them to consider and examine the breadth and nuance of their definition against the common association of strength with physical size and ability.
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Activities
1. Have students find and bring in a newspaper article that they feel illustrates a case of backlash, an example of someone acting violently when presented with a perceived threat. Ask them to be prepared to discuss the article in relation to gender, based on the ideas about "backlash" discussed in the film.
2. Have students bring in a newspaper article about politics which they feel in some way relates to masculinity - be it the masculinity of a candidate as he tries to project a certain image; the masculinity of a politician expressing views on a particular issue; or perhaps a political story written in a way that makes certain assumptions based on gender. Discuss the ways that the political realm - issues, politicians, candidates for office, etc. - often intersects with personal issues that regularly play out with regard to gender.
3. In keeping with this attempt to draw connections between the public and private realms, particularly as these connections play out politically, ask students to name political issues that they feel are more "masculine" concerns; then do the same with issues they feel are more "feminine," stereotypically or not. Talk about what they come up with, making connections to the "gender gap" that is now so prominent a part of political discussions. Also, discuss the ways in which politicians might play to the fears and anxieties of men; what kinds of politicians are more likely to do this? Is one ideology, or party, more likely to do so? Is one more "masculine" than another?
Writing:
1. Watch a film in class that deals prominently with a clear instance of personal backlash by a male trying to assert - or reassert - his authority and power, and ask students to write in response to it. Ask them specifically to examine the nature of the threat that provoked the violent response, paying close attention to how gender is presented. Was there a threat to the character’s masculinity? Did the fear of the feminine play a role? Was there any homophobia involved? And how did this incident relate to - or reinforce - the overall theme of the film?
2. Do the same as above with a short story, with special attention to the last point about relating the specific incident, and issues of character, to more general themes in the work.
3. Have students write in response to something going on in current events - something they might find in a newspaper or see on the news - which they feel represents a case of institutional, or cultural backlash. For example, a cultural movement involving students who want the biblical creation story taught in their science classes (which would be a response, of course, to fears that culture has become too secularized.) For this assignment, ask them to choose something, specifically, which they feel is significant in terms of gender, an issue or incident in which ideas about masculinity are involved.
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Activities
1. Draw a line down the middle of the board. On one side, write down qualities that students feel are "masculine." On the other, write down qualities that they consider "feminine." Talk about why it might be that we make these associations, and about what some of the consequences might be.
2. Returning to the lists made above, talk about the values we as a culture assign to these characteristics. For example, do the characteristics listed as "masculine" tend to be associated with strength or power, the "feminine" characteristics with weakness? Discuss the meaning of these associations, what they reveal about our cultural values, and ask students to think critically about the reality of such associations. Are there values - say, strength - that after further analysis seem not to represent strength at all?
3. Again using these lists, think about these terms with regard to stereotypes and perceptions about race. Look at both sides of the board and talk about these characteristics in relation to media (film, television news) stereotypes of the urban black or Latino male - and consider perceptions of white, middle class suburban males in comparison.
Writing:
1. Ask students to write an essay based on the exercises above, and the discussions they inspire.
2. Ask students to write an essay exploring their own perceptions of race. Have their perceptions changed over time? How and why?
3. Have students write an essay examining how much of what they understand about race has been learned through direct experience, and how much has been learned second-hand - through media, or others. Have there been differences between these two kinds of learning? If so, how are they significant?
4. Ask students to find a newspaper or magazine article which they believe reinforces stereotypes of African-American males. Have them write about the nature of the stereotype, with specific focus on the sort of masculinity it portrays.
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ctivities
1. Have students research coverage of a school shooting (using old newspapers, the internet, anything that provides a good example of mainstream media coverage). Ask them to read the coverage with an eye toward gender, specifically whether or not the language used in the story calls attention to the fact that the perpetrators were boys. If so, how is the issue explored and dealt with? If not, what sort of language - what words - are used to de-gender the reportage, and what effect does this have on the meaning of the story. Have them report their findings to the rest of the class.
2. Have students work in groups to come up with a plan to reduce school violence, to prevent school shootings in particular. Beforehand, make a list of the typical anti-violence measures most schools are now taking: increased security, police in the hallways, etc. Then ask them to come up with a new approach informed, specifically, by their engagement with issues of masculinity.
3. Bring in copies - or sample articles, ads and pictures - from a typical gun magazine. Have students work in groups to discuss and analyze a particular sample, with attention to gender. Given that the primary consumers of such magazines are men and boys, ask them to focus specifically on what their sample might teach males, boys especially, about what it means to be a man.
Writing:
1. After completing Classroom Exercise 1 above, ask students to re-write their group’s article about school shootings by focusing on gender. This will mean gendering any language that’s universalized, and extending any analysis provided in the article based on this new, explicit focus on masculinity.
2. Have students write up a proposal for preventing male violence in schools.
3. Ask students to write a personal essay - based on their own experience, or the experience of others they know or have known - about how gender plays into the pressures that a middle or high school student faces. Ask them to consider the consequences of these pressures, and also how these pressures might be reduced.
4. Ask students to write a short story about a school shooting, one that captures the state of mind of the perpetrator. Consider this a draft. When they’re finished, asked them to revise the story by building in a character - a friend, a counselor, a teacher, a principal - who intervenes before the violence is enacted. What made the difference?
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Activities
1. Have students work in groups to compile a list of every violent act they have seen depicted in media over the past week. (Movies, video games, television, news, sports, etc.) Discuss the lists as a class, and draw out any patterns that are revealed regarding gender.
2. Have students work in groups to compile a list of ways that kids are exposed to violence - both overt and subtle forms of violence - outside of media. Discuss the lists as a class. If No. 1 above precedes this assignment, explore the connections between the two lists.
3. In groups, ask students to come up with a list of conventions typically followed by genre films known for their violence (i.e. horror or slasher films). When they’re done, talk about these conventions in the context of gender. Would they work if the gender roles as they have listed them were reversed? Do Hollywood films typically reverse gender roles and play against type? If not, why not?
4. Have students work in groups to formulate a plan to reduce the influence of media violence on kids. The catch: censoring - or changing - the media is not an option.
Writing:
1. Ask students to write up a proposal to reduce the influence of violent media, on boys in particular, not allowing the option of censoring existing imagery, or changing the media.
2. Ask students to write an essay exploring the ways that certain media known for their violence (Hollywood film, the video game industry, etc.) might be led to take responsibility for their potentially destructive influence and change how they do business.
3. Ask students to write an essay comparing and contrasting a depiction of violence by network news (e.g. coverage of a war by CNN) and depictions of violence in Hollywood film (e.g. a film such as Rambo that depicts violence in war). Think in terms of visual and linguistic issues. How are the two depictions similar? How are they different? What accounts for that difference?
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Exercises
Classroom:
Find a scene from a Hollywood movie where a man is sexually violated. Compare that scene to a scene where a woman is sexually violated (include a discussion of camera angles, music, the presence or absence of humor, etc.). Discuss some of the similarities, and differences.
Writing:
Produce a list of phrases that boys and men hear from other males that teach them the need to exercise power and control over a woman (e.g. "who's wearing the pants in this relationship?", "Are you gonna let her walk all over you?", etc.).
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Exercises
1. Ask students to bring in images of the Marlboro Man. Have them analyze the images in groups, and ask them to come up with a list of visual characteristics common to these images.
2. Have students work in groups to compile a list of values - or attitudes - that they feel are underscored by the visual features of the typical Marlboro Man.
3. Have students work in groups to explore connections between the visual characteristics, value associations (both as described above) and the image of America in the world. Why does this seem to be such a distinctly American image? And what does this say about how masculinity informs American mythology and the image of America around the world?
4. Ask students to bring in an image from a magazine that depicts male invulnerability. Have them share these images in groups and come up with a list of ways in which this image of invulnerability is conveyed visually and/or by text.
5. Ask students to bring in an advertisement for beer in which men are pictured. Have them work in groups and ask them to look critically at how masculinity is portrayed. Are there similarities between the images? Are there differences? Do women play a role in the image? Can they make connections between the style of masculinity portrayed and the kind of beer being advertised?
Writing:
1. Based on the lists compiled after completing 1-3 above, ask students to write an essay reacting to this quote, a paraphrased observation by Alexis DeToqueville when he visited this country in the 19th century: "America has at its heart a defining contradiction - between its embrace of individuality on the one hand, and equality and community on the other. How this nation deals with this conflict will account either for America’s greatness or its undoing." Specifically, ask students to think about this quote in the context of the discussions about masculinity and gender inspired by 1-3 above.
2. Ask students to write an essay that looks critically at a beer advertisement in which males are depicted - with close attention to how masculinity is conveyed visually.
3. Ask students to write an essay looking critically at an image that depicts male invulnerability. How is invulnerability conveyed visually?
4. Ask students to write about an experience in which a feeling of invulnerability caused problems.
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Exercises
Classroom:
1. Ask students to bring in advertisements that depict "alternative" masculinities. Have them work in groups and look critically at these portrayals. What’s "alternative" about it? What conventions of stereotypical or traditional masculinity does the image work against? Is the alternative portrayal of the male, or males, explicitly set against an image of tradition, or traditional masculinity? And what’s being sold by the ad? How might this particular depiction of masculinity work to sell this particular product?
2. Ask students to bring in a song - a CD - which they feel presents an alternative view of masculinity. Have them make copies of the lyrics and prepare to discuss the meaning of what’s being said in the song in the context of the gender issues raised by this section, particularly the idea of vulnerability.
3. Ask students to work in groups and compile a list of things they feel men and boys can get away with doing now (without repercussions from some of their peers) that probably would not have been as acceptable among males in past generations. (e.g. wearing earrings.) When they present their list to the rest of class, have them theorize what might account for these changes.
Writing:
1. Ask students to write an essay examining an advertisement they feel uses a non-traditional style of masculinity to sell its product. Have them focus on the questions posed in No. 1 above.
2. Ask students to write an interpretation of the lyrics of a song (as described in No. 2 above) that challenges traditional ideas about masculinity.
3. Ask students to write a short story from the perspective of a boy or young man their age in the 1950s.
4. Ask students to write a short story from the perspective of a boy their age in the 1950s who is transported through time to the year 2000. This can also be worked in reverse. (Both this topic and No. 3 above will produce especially interesting takes on masculinity by the female students posing as males. Their responses might provide an especially good, likely humorous, opportunity to explore differing perceptions of masculinity, and differences between the ways young males and females are socialized and come to relate to one another.)
5. Watch one of the films discussed in this section of Tough Guise as a class, and have students write an essay examining how masculinity is treated, with specific attention to how this treatment delivers or reinforces the overall themes of the film.
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Activities
1. Have students reflect in groups on a speech by Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Jr., Nelson Mandela, or another leader who practiced non-violent civil disobedience. Use a different speech for each group. Ask them to present to the rest of the class a summary of the speech, with attention to both its content and the nature of the rhetoric employed. Is there strength conveyed? If so, how?
2. Ask students to bring in a news article that they feel describes an act of male violence in response to change. Have them share their articles with one another in groups, uncover patterns between the stories, and present their findings to the class.
3. Ask students in groups to come up with a definition of courage based on the ideas in the film and their own experience.
4. Ask students in groups to compile a list of characteristics they feel are stereotypically "feminine." Then ask them to talk about, and later present, ways in which a boy or a man could exhibit these characteristics without sacrificing some of the ideals of traditional masculinity.
Writing:
1. Tough Guise mentions three great male leaders of the 20th century who achieved success by embracing - at key moments - a peaceful and non-violent philosophy, instead of the path of violence: Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Nelson Mandela. Identify a male leader from the U.S. in the contemporary era who has distinguished himself in this way. Name a male leader - on the local or national level - who has distinguished himself in the fight for gender equality.
2. Have students write an essay exploring the style of manhood modeled by Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Jr. or Nelson Mandela, using quotes from a speech to illustrate and advance their points of view. The question might be: What sort of man is this?
3. Have students write an essay talking about the ways in which men and feminism might be compatible. Ways in which the real interests of men and women are more similar than different.
4. Have students write an essay in response to a piece of literature, or a film, in which a male character demonstrates an ability to be introspective, a character who in some way achieves individuality and freedom by rebelling against the expectation that he follow a more traditional "masculine" path.
5. Have students write about any connections they see between anti-intellectualism and traditional masculinity, drawing on their own experience - as males or females - to examine how gender might play a role in encouraging or discouraging their understanding of the world.
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