Masculinity is just an aesthetic, and we should just forget it

Masculinity Part 1

In a world of gender egalitarianism, is there a place for masculinity?

What is masculinity?

Is masculinity “being a man”?

Scholars of gender have told us that there is a separation between “gender” and “sex”. “Gender” is a social attribute; it’s how the people around us perceive us and how we identify ourselves. While sex, on the other hand, refers to the architecture of the human body; it refers to the sex organs and sex characteristics that we are born with and which develop with puberty.

This separation of “sex” and “gender” is supposed to help us to understand the differences between the biological aspects and the social aspects of gendered life. From this perspective, we should look at the social/cultural and biological aspects of “being a man” separately.

Is masculinity “being male”?

If masculinity is to have any meaning at all, we must agree that by and large, males are masculine. Obviously masculine traits include a penis, increased facial hair and body hair, male pattern baldness, increased physical strength, speed, stamina, and stature, among others.

But sex isn’t so clearly divided into two categories as people commonly think. Intersex people exist. Some people’s penises have been removed. Some males simply never grow a moustache, a beard, or much body hair. Some males never go bald, and some grow into small, slow, and weak bodies. Are they less masculine? Perhaps some males are hardly masculine at all?

Is masculinity “not being female”?

Certainly, the absence of the common traits of the female sex is an element of masculinity. After all, comparing the bodies of adult men to those of children doesn’t tell us much. Really, masculinity is all about (not being) women.

But, as we noted before, many males may not develop the physical traits associated with men, and many of these males also don’t develop the traits associated with women, leaving them in a middle space of not being masculine or feminine. Then again, perhaps this is necessary for masculinity to have meaning? If masculinity is to actually measure something, perhaps some people must be close to zero.

Is sex-based masculinity “good”?

What do we get from this measure of physical characteristics? Perhaps it helps us to understand what types of people we are sexually attracted to? But does it help us with anything else? Does it achieve anything at all? Or is it a measure only for the sake of ranking people? To create a hierarchy? Why should we want this definition of masculinity? Can we justify its relevance while accepting gender-egalitarianism?

Is masculinity cultural or social?

In societies today, masculinity goes far beyond measuring and comparing people’s bodies. The gender divide is deeply rooted in cultures around the world, creating profound impacts on the lives of nearly every person.

The libraries of gender studies are vast, containing more information than any person could hope to read in a lifetime, and yet they leave out so much. I can’t possibly hope to enumerate all the ways in which gender is intertwined with culture and society.

Instead, I will posit that a belief in gender-egalitarianism is a belief that “cultural or social values which tell people how to act, based on their gender or sex, are bad”. Then, in my view, gender-egalitarianism requires that we let go of all of these social and cultural definitions of masculinity.

To put a fine point on it, I pose the question: “what aspect of cultural masculinity is good for men to embody, and not good for women to embody?”.

Masculinity is “being male”

If you, like me, cannot answer the above question in a gender-egalitarian way, then I think you must agree that a gender-egalitarian masculinity is simply a measure of the distribution of physical sex traits. In this way, masculinity is “being male”, where some people simply have more extreme amounts of “maleness” than others.

Masculinity is just an aesthetic

So we agree, that in a gender-egalitarian world, masculinity (and femininity) are simply measures of biological differences, along a dimension related to sexual reproduction. Although its correlated with some practical differences like athletic ability, and being able to lift heavy things, it’s mostly just about appearances. In a world of advanced technology and transgender acceptance, people have the ability to manipulate the way they look. People don’t simply have to accept the body they were born in, they can change it with advanced treatments. Sometimes it’s a simple thing, like shaving, or waxing. Sometimes it’s a more complicated treatment, like laser hair removal or surgical hair transplant. Sometimes it involves drugs or hormones.

People have many ways to change how they look, and to achieve their desired masculinity. The “amount of masculinity” barely factors in to the ever-changing trends of masculine beauty. People should simply choose the features they want. Masculinity is a lifestyle that should only be adopted voluntarily, and we should give up on believing that males should naturally be masculine. We shouldn’t assume that anyone will be masculine or feminine based on their sex, and more than we would assume that someone should be goth, or preppy, or emo, or sporty, or punk, or “normal”.

In such a world, masculinity isn’t a useful measurement for egalitarians. Its only useful to people who want to divide us and impose hierarchies.