This document contains historical context on the themes and sub-themes of the Imagining Ourselves online exhibit (), for January and February 2007. You’ll also find here a list of films and recommended readings on these topics.

Please feel free to email us at if you have suggestions to add or feedback. Enjoy!

Historical Context for Young Men

Relationships

Introduction

Young men’s relationships, like young women’s, include relationships with the opposite sex, with parents and other family members, with other men, young and old, and with children. Historically speaking, relationships between young men and young women have included friendship, sexual relations, marriage, and parenting, as well as relationships in the workplace. As family styles move from extended families to nuclear families, relationships between spouses have become more central. During the last few centuries, individual attraction and love have become more important factors in the choice of mates than family lineage and property considerations, for example. And the ages of young men and women who marry has become subject to legislative control, usually to raise the age at which marriage is permitted. Today in several western countries, young men are pairing up with other men (sometimes older) and insisting on the same legal privileges as the more conventional heterosexual couples. Virtually every society has developed rules and regulations, sometimes religious and sometimes civil, that govern relationships, both to property and to other persons, and prescribe mutual obligations and duties in those relationships. These rules govern and sometimes obstruct as well as facilitate love and sexual relations between women and men in particular, since the production and upbringing of children is vital to the survival of every society on earth. What kinds of relationships will this generation of young men form?

Did You Know?

1. Historically, the purpose of marriage in China is to maintain connections between the parents and children, especially sons—less about individual connection between the spouses. Confucian philosophy influences this tradition with marriage ranked fourth in the five relationships.(SOURCE: Ellen Efron Pimentel, “Just How do I Love Thee?: Marital Relations in Urban China,” Journal of Marriage and the Family, 2000).

2. Today, men in Japan face the idealism of Japanese women and the “three H” criteria: height, high salary, and high education. Most men do not believe that love and passion are essential components to a successful marriage in contrast to women who do believe these are necessary and inevitable. (SOURCE: Kalman D. Applbaum, “Marriage with the Proper Stranger: Arranged Marriage in Metropolitan Japan,” Ethnology, 1995).

3. In the culture of the Maya, after the traditional wedding mass, the grooms are typically told, “Here, son, you are married with the girl, but you must love one another. Don't dishonor one another. Don't say bad things to your spouse. Don't be spying on your spouse. Don't spy on your wife because it's bad. Because jealousy…it brings bad things.” (SOURCE: Ana Maria Juarez, “Four Generations of Maya Marriages: What’s Love Got to do With It?” Frontiers, 2001).

4. Beginning in the late 18th century, ghataks were male matchmakers in India. They maintained elaborate genealogies, and influenced the high-caste Bengali society. In the late 19th century, they were replaced by ghatakis—their female counterparts—who had easier access to households and women. (SOURCE: Rochona Majumdar, “Looking for Brides and Grooms: Ghataks, Matrimonials, and the Marriage Market in Colonial Calcutta, circa 1875-1940,” in The Journal of Asian Studies, 2001).

5. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, formal school activities (such as athletics) reinforced a heterosexual structure in the high school environment. Extracurricular activities put the sexes on display for one another and helped increase high school attendance. (SOURCE: Patrick J. Ryan, “A Case Study in the Cultural Origins of a Superpower: Liberal Individualism, American Nationalism, and the Rise of High School Life, a Study of Cleveland’s Central and East Technical High Schools, 1890-1918,” History of Education Quarterly, 2005).

6. Men from Shanghaiconvey different perceptions of gender roles and are far more willing to share domestic activities than other men. This is the result of women’s exposure to Western values in the mid-19th century and entering the workforce in the early 20th. This is also true for men from Shanghai after they emigrate. (SOURCE: Wei-Wei Da, “A Regional Tradition of Gender Equity: Shanghai Men in Sydney, Australia,” The Journal of Men’s Studies, 2004).

Quotes:

“For most men friendship is a faithless harbor.”

Sophocles, 497-406, B.C.

“What men call friendship is no more than a partnership, a mutual care of interests, an exchange of favors—in a word, it is a sort of traffic, in which self-love ever proposes to be the gainer.”

Francois La Rouchfoucauld, Moral Maxims and Reflections, 1665-1678.

“It is natural to believe in great men. If the companions of our childhood should turn out to be heroes, and their condition regal, it would not surprise us. All mythology opens with demigods, and the circumstance is high and poetic; that is, their genius is paramount. In the legends of the Gautama, the first men ate the earth, and found it deliciously sweet.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Uses of Great Men.”

“Think of the importance of Friendship in the education of men.... It will make a man honest; it will make him a hero; it will make him a saint. It is the state of the just dealing with the just, the magnanimous with the magnanimous, the sincere with the sincere, man with man.”

Henry David Thoreau, “A Week on the Concord and MerrimackRivers” (1849).

“Between men and women there is no friendship possible. There is passion, enmity, worship, love, but no friendship.”

Oscar Wilde, “Lady Windermere’s Fan.”

Fatherhood

Introduction

In ancient times, men did not always understand their contribution to producing children, though they certainly understood the force of physical desire and acted on it. Societies such as those in what is now the Middle East treated women’s fertility and motherhood as a great mystery and created cults to worship goddesses such as Artemis (known also as Demeter). These cults were ultimately succeeded by phallic cults. Men established authority over women and children on the basis of fatherhood and by taking control of property and wealth. Fathers became authoritarian figures, whose commands were feared by those who were subordinate. Boys were removed from their mothers’ care at early ages. Even kingship was modeled on the analogy of authoritative fatherhood. Today, fatherhood in advanced societies is developing along the lines of participative parenting. In Nordic countries, fathers can take parental leave from their employment when a child is born just as mothers do. What kind of fathers will today’s young men become?

Did You Know?

1. Colonial fathers in 16th century America believed they controlled their emotions better than women. They held themselves responsible for self-restraint and, as fathers, tended to express approval or disapproval rather than affection or anger. (SOURCE: E. Anthony Rotundo, “American Fatherhood: A Historical Perspective,” The American Behavioral, 1985).

2. Recent research in Scandinavia determined that men are capable of involved parenting and changes to traditional gender practices when there is support from the state, and especially when paid paternity leave is available. (SOURCE: R.W. Connell, “Change Among the Gatekeepers: Men, Masculinities, and Gender Equality in the Global Arena,” Signs, 2005).

Quotes:

“This is not to say that becoming a father automatically makes you a good father. Fatherhood, like marriage, is a constant struggle against your limitations and self-interests. But the urge to be a perfect father is there, because your child is a perfect gift.”

Kent Nerburn, Letters to My Son, 1993.

“Defining and celebrating the New Father are by far the most popular ideas in our contemporary discourse on fatherhood. Father as close and nurturing, not distant and authoritarian. Fatherhood as more than bread winning. Fatherhood as new-and-improved masculinity. Fathers unafraid of feelings. Fathers without sexism. Fatherhood as fifty-fifty parenthood, undistorted by arbitrary gender divisions or stifling social roles.”

David Blankenhorn, Fatherless America, 1995.

Image and Identity

Introduction

Differentiating the sexes is a process common to most societies. Identities of males and females are shaped by intertwined notions of masculine/feminine. This is what we call “gender” and each society constructs it somewhat differently, developing gender roles for each sex and establishing divisions of labor based on sex. In earlier tribal societies and even into the twentieth century, some societies have established specific rituals to designate a boy’s arrival at manhood. As educational institutions developed in many societies around the world, they have played a major role historically in shaping sexual and gender identities. Missionaries have also exported ideas about gender from their societies of origin and attempted to impose them on colonial peoples. Today some activists and thinkers are making concerted efforts to minimize the impact of gender, preferring to focus on the development of individual personalities and sexualities. Others posit the existence of at least five genders rather than two. A few men want to “become” women, even as a few women want to “become” men or at least adopt masculine personas. Antifeminists in western societies during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries feared that educating women and allowing them careers would defeminize them, turn them into men – and provide competitors for men. What was this fear about? How did young men establish their identities at different times and places in history? How do they do so today? What images do young men today consider meaningful as they seek social and cultural identities? In what ways do employment choices and patterns become identified as masculine and feminine? How, for example, do occupational choices become gendered? How do young men bridge differences of national, ethnic, or religious background? In short, how does one become a man in the twenty-first century? What does it mean to “be” a man today?

Did You Know?

1. Victorian America viewed anger as an essential motivating emotion for men and boys. A complete change in this national opinion emerged by the 1940s. In the early 20th century, men and women began to interact more socially and professionally. Anger had been positive for males only but when women entered the workforce, anger became negative for all workers. (SOURCE: Peter N. Stearns, “Girls, Boys, and Emotions: Redefinitions and Historical Change,” The Journal of American History, 1993).

2. The overtly masculine male miners of Chile, of the mid 20th century, represent the industrialized labor force and the revolutionary working class. Their masculinity supported both the mining companies and the workers as it motivated work and demonstrated class defiance. (SOURCE: Thomas Miller Klubock, “Working-class Masculinity, Middle-class Morality, and Labor Politics in the Chilean Copper Mines,” Journal of Social History 1996).

3. Unemployment in Mozambique has forced men to enter into traditionally “lower”—or female—occupations, resulting in the “de-gendering” and “re-gendering” of these fields. The men took a female occupation (street vendors), masculinized it, and made it their own. (SOURCE: Victor Agadjanian, “Men Doing ‘Women’s Work’: Masculinity and Gender Relations Among Street Vendors in Maputo, Mozambique,” Journal of Men’s Studies, 2002).

1. (Community service/leadership): The Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) launched in 1844 in London by Sir George Williams. The World Alliance of Young Men Christian Associations formed in 1855. The organization serves 30 million people in 120 countries. (SOURCE: The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition, 2001-2005).

2. The Boy Scouts Organization was founded in 1907 by Lord Baden-Powell in Great Britain. The organization has long shaped the way that boys think about masculinity and in 2000, the Supreme Court (of the United States) reaffirmed the organization’s right to exclude homosexuals. (Source: E. Nicholson, Education and the Boy Scout Movement in America (1941, repr. 1973)).

Culture and Conflict

Introduction

Since time immemorial, young men have served their societies on the frontlines of conflict and violence. Warriors have long served as cultural heroes. Twentieth-century wars, however, have diminished the image of the stalwart soldier, and heroes are no longer synonymous with martyrs in most societies. World War I witnessed the slaughter of an entire generation of young European men, and the identification of “shell shock” among men serving in the trenches. Some societies such as the Hopi have allowed for a “third sex” for men who do not wish to serve as warriors; these men do “women’s work.” During the Viet Nam war (ending in 1975) many young American men declared themselves to be conscientious objectors and fled to Canada. Other men, young and old, have become important peace activists. The Russian novelist Leo Tolstoi and the Indian activist Mahatmas Gandhi pioneered the use of passive resistance and non-violence. Yet contemporary research shows that in general boys are consistently more aggressive than girls (Maccoby and Jacklin). How can societies best channel male aggressivity into socially productive channels?

Did You Know?

1. Men accused of witchcraft in 16th century England and the New England colonies were typically members of the community who challenged social traditions within the communities—not as outsiders, like the female accused. (SOURCE: E.J. Kent, “Masculinity and Male Witches in Old and New England, 1593-1680,” History Workshop Journal, 2005).

2. In recent decades, efforts toward international gender equality have been challenged by groups commandeering the issues of men and boys to use them in antifeminist campaigns. This makes it more difficult for men in the global arena to challenge gender roles and pursue gender equality. (SOURCE: R.W. Connell, “Change Among the Gatekeepers: Men, Masculinity, and Gender Equality in the Global Arena,” Signs, 2005).

3. A labor shortage on Spanish estates, in 16th and 17th century Peru, increased the migration of indigenous male laborers. The shortage and migration allowed indigenous groups and African slaves to intermingle and share in cultural practices. (SOURCE: Rachel O’Toole, “’In a War Against the Spanish’: Andean Protection and African Resistance on the Northern PeruvianCoast,” The Americas, 2006).

Quotes:

“What of the faith and fire within us

Men who march away

Ere the barn-cocks say

Night is growing grey,

To hazards whence no tears can win us;

What of the faith and fire within us

Men who march away!”

Thomas Hardy, “Men who March Away,” Songs of Soldiers, 1914.

Book List (Alphabetized by author’s last name)

Gender and Fatherhood in the Nineteenth Century by Helen Rogers and Trev Broughton

Fathers, Families, and the State in France, 1914-1945 by Kristen Stromberg Childers

Lost Fathers: The Politics of Fatherlessness in Americaby Cynthia R. Daniels

We Fish: The Journey to Fatherhood by Jack L. Daniel

Life with Father: Parenthood and Masculinity in the Nineteenth-Century American North by Stephen M. Frank

Beyond Patriarchy: Jewish Fathers and Families by Lawrence H. Fuchs

Beyond Carnival: Male Homosexuality in Twentieth-Century Brazil by James Green

Family Men: Middle-Class Fatherhood in Early Industrializing America by Shawn Johansen

The Modernization of Fatherhood: A Social and Political History by Ralph LaRossa

Masculinity: Bodies, Movies, Culture edited by Peter Lehman

Hysterical Men: War, Psychiatry, and the Politics of Trauma in Germany, 1890-1930 by Paul Frederick Lerner

Young Men and Fire by Norman Maclean

Men and Maternity by R. Mander

Invisible Men: Fatherhood in Victorian Periodicals, 1850-1910 by Claudia Nelson

Between Men: English Literature and Male Homosexual Desire by Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick

Changing Fathers? Fatherhood and Family Life in Modern Ireland by Kieran McKeown, Harry Ferguson, and Dermot Rooney

Male Delivery: Reproduction, Effeminacy, and Pregnant Men in Early Modern Spain by Sherry Velasco

Film List (alphabetized by title)

8 ½ (Italy, 1963)

10,000 Black Men Named George (United States, 2002)

A Soldier’s Tale (France, Britain, 1989)

Bad Education (Spain, 2004)

Burden of Dreams (Germany, Latin America, 1982)

Father (Hungary, 1967)

Father and Son(Russian, 2003)

Father of a Soldier (Russia/Soviet Union, 1965)

In the Name of the Father (Ireland, 1994)

Mandela: Son of Africa, Father of a Nation (South Africa, 1998

Men With Guns (Latin America, 1998)

My Father and I (France, 2004)

My Left Foot (Ireland, 1989)

Paris is Burning (United States, 1991)

Talk to Her (Spain, 2003)

The Seven Samurai (Japan, 1954)

This is My Father (Ireland, 1999)

To the Left of the Father (Brazil, 2001)

Y Tu Mama Tambien (Mexico, 2001)

Yojimbo (Japan, 1961)

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