Understanding masculinity: family and schools as promoters of masculine culture in India

Masculinity consists of those behaviours, languages and practices, actions existing in specific cultural locations, which are commonly associated with males and thus culturally defined as not feminine. The Oxford dictionary associates masculinity with a man who bears characteristics like “handsome, muscled, and driven.” There have been cultural accounts of gender but such accounts of masculinity are difficult to find. Societies from the beginning, have a preconceived notion of the dichotomy between masculinity and femininity where they have been observing the former as an inborn attribute of males and have been constructing it as an idea which consists of traits like being violent, physically strong, rude, dominating, actively interested in sexual conquest and so on. Both the concepts of ‘masculinity’ and ‘femininity’ seem to be indifferent to individuality hence it has been argued that it is built on the conception of individuality that developed in early-modern Europe with the growth of colonial empires and capitalist economic relations.[i]

In studies of sociology, there are several agencies and institutions located which are analyzed in order to understand, how they have shaped and are still shaping factors like ethnicity, culture, class which in turn have exerted influence on the construction of masculinity. Masculinity is thus viewed as a set of practices into which individual men are inserted with reference to upbringing, family, area, work and cultural influences.[ii] In common parlance, it is still believed that men and women are different and their fundamental difference lies in biological terms and it is assumed that “masculinity” and “femininity” are two polar opposites where, masculinity is treated as a divergent contrast from femininity, associating, with men who are typically assumed to be rational, practical and naturally aggressive and femininity on the other hand, is associated with women, who are held to be expressive, nurturing and emotional.[iii]Often amidst any friendly conversations, we observe people passing statements like “just like a man”, “just like a woman”. Many popular magazines have blogs entitled as “how manly is your man”.[iv] These statements are very much indicative of how the social structures as well as institutions like media have defined traits which represent masculinity and femininity. Television advertisements starring male leads especially with regard to energy drinks, body deodorants, beauty products are nearly always projected as a typical masculine figure. So it can be argued that men and women are not free agents in the society, rather they act according to the pre-scripted notions of behavior as articulated by the society.

In the Indian context also there are these similar spaces which tend to articulate certain regulations under which behaviours of masculinity are constructed. Nearly every family in India is systematically patriarchal in nature; family is the institution from which the structural and conventional inequality between a man and woman begins and it is the space where the dictums of masculinity and femininity are preached and it is the prime agency from where a child learns how to behave in accordance with his or her gender. For example, from childhood, boys are seen to be more interested in outdoor games like cricket, football, even sports which requires a boost of physical strength such as kushti (wrestling), karate, whereas, girls are seen to be more interested in indoor games, games which comprises essence of household management. But the question is, from where does such difference in interests stem from? Family can be considered as one of the agencies, which helps in the shaping of these dissimilar interests. From childhood, parents and other family members make the boy child believe that since he is a boy, he is powerful, he is someone who has to be strong, both physically and mentally; he has to be rational and cannot be emotionally sensitive. The statement “Men don’t cry” is an ideal example for this. And the boy becomes conscious of the fact that since he has the power, he has to be competitive in nature so that he can move ahead of other boys in the society. The idea of masculinity begins from here, where a boy learns that a male body needs to adapt to the ideals of masculinity so that he can be appreciated in the society, and if a male does not qualify to the ranks of masculinity established by the society, he will not be accepted rather will be systematically maligned by the society. On the other hand, the girl child in a family is often taught to be soft spoken, submissive, and sensitive. She learns, that a female body has to be beautiful and it cannot adopt the masculine characters like being physically stronger than men, emotionally stable, and possess rationality. These lessons are not always taught through any formal medium, but, most of the time these ideas are dispersed very subtly and informally;(for example, boys are given toys such as remote control vehicles, action games, toy-guns to play with and girls are given beauty dolls with makeup and dresses, jewelry etc signifying how the behavioural differences between a girl and a boy are conventionally constructed from the beginning) the child learns them by observing their parents behaviour, their family structures and hierarchies, how the father behaves with the mother, or with other members of the family.

Schools are the formal institutions where children adapt the knowledge of their basic differences based on their gender. Primary school textbooks contain certain statements like “father goes out to work, mother does household work” which makes the child believe that men are supposed to go out and work and women should stay indoors to manage household works. Children are often taught that the colour “blue” is associated with boys and the colour “pink” with girls. In other words, the colour blue signifies masculinity and pink symbolizes femininity. Hence, it is often seen that boys get bullied and mocked if they wear pink or articulate their preference for the colour pink. Another possible agency that promotes these cultural characteristics of masculinity is the media, as in blogs of magazines as stated earlier or through movies wherein the masculine and feminine tropes are reinforced.

While it has to be conceded that small, incremental changes are discernible in bridging the masculine and feminine gap as women are gradually but increasingly taking up masculine chores, indulging in masculine arts and participating in masculine sports while men too, on the other hand are gradually being sensitized to perform hitherto feminine tasks associated with the female homemaker. However, much needs to be done both in the realm of subconscious as well as deliberate socialization.

Suchandra Pal

Intern, Asia in Global Affairs

[i]Whitehead, S.M and Barrett, F.J. The Masculinities Reader. United Kingdom: Cambridge. (2001)

[ii]Abumere-Itulua, Flourish. “Understanding Men and Masculinity in Modern Society”, Open Journal of Social Science Research OJSSR 2013, 1(2):42-45. Accessed May 3, 2020. doi: 10.12966/ojssr.05.05.2013, url: at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/259693976

[iii]Beynon, J. Issues in Cultural and Media Studies, Masculinities and Culture. Buckingham: Open University Press. (2002)

[iv]Abumere-Itulua, Flourish. “Understanding Men and Masculinity in Modern Society.”

Chowdhry, Prem. “Masculine Spaces: Rural Male Culture in North India”, Economic & Political Weekly vol XlIX , no 47. (2014): 41-49.