How and why is masculinity in crisis?

How and why is masculinity in crisis?Discuss with reference to psychoanalytic theories of masculinity.It is widely argued that Western Societies atomic number 18 currently witnessing a crisis of masculinity. The status of masculinity is changing and this is partially due because the society is changing economically, amicablely and especially in relation to the position of women. These changes also affect the sphere of consumption and commonplace culture.I will examine at number 1 how Freud places a great emphasis on the earlyish relationship of the young boy. This relationship will mother important consequences for development. According to Freud, this relationship is overshadowed by the oedipal conflict. Secondly I will go through Kleins theory almost the relationship between the boy and the mother. foreign to Freud, Melanie Klein emphasis the powerful maternal figure. After that I will condone how masculinity is shaped by accessible and cultural theories how and why mas culinity is changing. manlike individuality as it has been seen formerly within patriarchal cultures as evolved into a new male. The grow of a crisis in masculinity are analysed in social theories in terms of a conflict in sexual activity functions. cultural theories, which intersect with Lacans idea, are also important in how the crisis in masculinity has been studied. The eject of feminism has surely encouraged many men to question how they view women. Now that feminism has attacked the patriarchal systems of power and control, masculinity has been left undermined and unsure. Finally I will give an overview on how masculinity is view between men.To evaluate how masculinity might be in crisis, it is first necessary to examine how psychoanalytic theories assume that boys gain their masculine identity or in other words how they become men. Freuds ideas about masculinity developed in three steps. The first one and only(a) is the idea of continuity between normal and neurotic mental life, the concepts of repression and the unconscious, and the method that allowed unconscious mental processes to be read through dreams, jokes, slips of the tongues and symptoms (Connell, 1995). Freud understood that prominent sexuality and gender were not fixed by nature but were constructed through a long and conflict-ridden process. Freud places a great emphasis on the early relationships of the young boy with his parents or caregivers. It is the vicissitudes of these relationships that will have important consequences for development. In Freudian terms, this early relationship is overshadowed by the oedipal conflict. The Oedipus thickening is characterized by the desire for one parent and hatred for the other. For boys, the Oedipus entangled is the rivalry with the father and terror of castration. Here Freud identified a formative moment in masculinity and pictured the dynamics of a formative relationship.Freud argued that homosexuality is not a simple gender switch a nd a large proportion of male inverts retain the mental whole tone of masculinity. The second step in Freuds analysis of masculinity is the development to gender. He goes further by saying that masculine and powder-puff currents coexist in everyone. In his final stage, Freud developed his account of the structure of personality, in particular the concept of the superego. The superego is formed in the aftermath of the Oedipus complex, by internalized prohibitions from the parents. Freud gradually came to see it as having a gendered character, being crucially a product of the childs relationship with the father, and more distinct in the case of boys and girls. This provided the germ of a theory of the patriarchal organization of culture, patrimonial from one generation to the next through the construction of masculinity.The most important processes that occur in early life that influence the construction of the male identity is the oedipal complex. According to Greenson (1968), the idea of disidentification is divided into two processes firstly a boy must sever the emotional ties he has with the primary caregiver, usually the mother, and secondly he needs to identify with a male role model, usually the father. The role of the father in the masculine identity is seen as crucial by psychoanalysts. Horrocks (1994) sees the role of fathering as an introduction to manhood. He also identify one of the most important functions of the father as to show the young boy that it is possible to merry with the mother, to have conflict, fear and guilt. According to Horrocks, the modern damage male is seen as unfathered.The boys entry into his masculinity can only be achieved through his castration complex which sets in motion his separation from his mother and identification with his father. Freud (1925) explains the castration complex by a few stages. First, the young boy believes that everyone has a penis. Secondly, he discovers that women do not have penises and assumes that they have been mutilated. Thirdly, when he begins to masturbate, he is told that he will be castrated. Fourthly, when he finds that the breast has been removed, he believes that the penis will be next. The Oedipus complex is abolished by the fear of castration.In contrast to Freud, Melanie Klein argues that is look up to of the mother rather than rivalry with the father that impedes psychic changes. The relationship between the boys and the mother has been left undeveloped by Freud. Disagreeing with Freud, about his account of oedipal feelings in relation to the father, she argues that the first signs appear in relation to the mother. In fact, according to Horrocks (1994) the young boy is surrounded by feminine presence throughout his early childhood, and it is important for him to break away and discover a world of men where he can gain his roots of male identity. The central paradox is that men want to escape from womanhood but there is also the desire to become close to a woman. For Klein, masculinity and femininity are biologically determined and reinforced during childhood in opposition to Freud who believes that bodies and minds are structured through patterns of cultural power. Klein assumes that the concept of the uterus envy is an important component in the male psyche. Minsky (1995) describes how the Kleinian point of view sees the development of male power as being rooted in the fear of the womb. at any rate his envy of his mothers breasts, the young boy also becomes envious of her womb and the power it give to create life. According to Minsky (1995), the phallus saves men and provides a distraction from the womb envy. Kleins concept of womb-envy is important to understand male misogyny. Boys envious of their mother have to accept that they can never have breasts or a womb. Unconscious womb-envy helps to explain the opposition between nature (identified with women) and culture (identified with men). Men have to opt for culture because nature , in the sense of giving birth and feeding children from their own bodies, is exclusively unavailable to them (Minsky, 1996).Is the notion of a crisis in masculinity new, or it is just that each generation experiences it in different ways? The evidence has been suggesting the latter. As Mangan says Crisis isa characterise of masculinity itself. Masculine gender identity is never stable its terms are continually being re-defined and re-negotiated, the gender performance continually being re-staged. certain(a) themes and tropes inevitably re-appear with regularity, but each era experiences itself in different ways. (Mangan 19974).Cultural conceptions of masculinity and femininity vary between cultures and alter over historical time. Cultural theories, which intersect with Lacans ideas, are important in how the crisis in masculinity has been studied. According to Lacan, the phallus is the central signifier of the sexual difference. The principle of masculinity rests on the repressio n of feminine aspects and introduces conflict into the opposition of masculine and feminine. Faludi (2000) described the new male as objectified and subject of a sexist consumer culture. In addition, he believes that the mans secured attachments and relationships with the workplace are no longer powerful and exclusive as they were. Now that the rise of feminism has attacked the patriarchal systems of power and control, masculinity has been left undermined and unsure. Apparently, this rise has left men broken in the way they view women. Faludi strongly believes that this crisis in masculinity can be resolved if both women and men can work together to assail it.There are a number of contributory factors to the so-called crisis in masculinity. I will be describing some of them.Maguire (1995) point out that mens crisis concerned their social role and identity. For her, these uncertainties manifest themselves in violence, increased levels of suicide and abusive behaviour towards them o r others. Men are more likely to commit suicide than women. self-destruction appears to be triggered by relationship problems, unemployment, drug and alcohol abuse, low self-esteem and mental illness. Many men remain bad at acknowledging and expressing feelings which left them trap between the old-style macho and the new-man type behaviour requiring a man to be in touch with his feelings.Social research finds that men are choosing to remain backing at home rather than move out on their own (Office of National Statistics, 2000). Whitehead (2002) found out that this evidence prove that men are failing to cope with the new challenges they are facing.Society is moving from a patriarchal culture, to give way to different masculinities. The rise of feminism, changing family patterns, social concerns about jobs contributed to these changes.The advent of post modernity has resulted in redundancy, constant job role changes and unemployment for men. According to Beynon (2001) men now suffer deep depression at the acquittance of the breadwinner role and the status that went with it. He claims that men are falling out of family life in greater numbers and may end up lonely. more(prenominal) men end up isolated socially and psychologically, finding it difficult to ask for help. At least 50% of marriage in UK result in divorce and as Beynon found out men is mostly responsible for marital breakdown.Nowadays, women have demonstrated that they can bring up children without men. Clare says that the rise in the number of single mothers suggests not merely that men are inadequate as partners and fathers, but they are simply redundant. Women are asserting that they can allure rear children on their own. They dont need men to father their childrenwomen can do without them in the workplace. Even more portentously, they can do without them in their beds. (Clare 2000100).A significant number of fathers involved in divorce leave the family home and become non-resident. The visitin g father is a shadowy, displaced figure trying to avoid becoming an ex-father, who loot but does not stay, who is no longer a man of the house, but a visitor who come and goes. (Clare 2000 150-1).Women are seen to be living more self-made and fulfilling lives, without relying on their partners. So, the loss of patriarchal authority and the equality in heterosexual relationship have left men disoriented.In other way, is the notion of a crisis in masculinity new, or it is just that each generation experiences it in different ways? The evidence has been suggesting the latter. As Mangan says Crisis isa condition of masculinity itself. Masculine gender identity is never stable its terms are continually being re-defined and re-negotiated, the gender performance continually being re-staged. Certain themes and tropes inevitably re-appear with regularity, but each era experiences itself in different ways. (Mangan 19974).