I found this video on YouTube.  Its from the comedy series 'That Mitchell and Webb Look'.  In class it has been discussed that there are different expectations and stereotypes for women and men.  Men are depicted as violent and cunning while women are supposed to just be beautiful objects with only certain tasks such as homemaking and pleasing men.  It was even said in the article From "Knockout Punch" to "Home Run": Masculinity's "Dirty Dozen" Sports Metaphors in American Combat Films, "A woman is what she looks like, and a man is what he does."  I don't believe that women have it worse than men do by any means but I thought this video offered a bit of comic relief and over exaggerates stereotypical attitudes.

Hitting You Makes Me Manly

The media seems to help define masculinity as a series of violent acts.  Men are depicted as tough, violent individuals.  In the APA Congressional Testimony on Media Violence and Children: Testimony of Jeff J. McIntyre on Behalf of the American Psychological Association children are discussed as a whole as being affected in negative ways by violence in the media.  In any of the media I have been exposed to I have rarely seen women shown as violent.  It is safe to assume boys are affected and may have more violent tendencies when they see that that is the proper way to be masculine like their adult celebrity idols.  In the video "Tough Guise" Katz states, "In fact, some of the most serious problems in contemporary American society, especially with those connected with violence can be looked at  as essentially problems in contemporary American masculinity."  This effect is every one's problem.  Boys who grow up thinking violence and masculinity go hand in hand may grow to be violent men.  Perhaps the media should change the connotation of masculinity.

This Isn't Competition. This is War.

Men are expected to take an intense liking to sports.  If they don't they're masculinity may be questioned.  When discussing what can be considered if a male does not want to participate in sports Ralph Donald states, "The alternative, say the mainstream voices of American socialization, is too dreadful to consider: life as, at best, an un-manly male, or at worst, a suspected homosexual." (From "Knockout Punch" to "Home Run": Masculinity's "Dirty Dozen" Sports Metaphors in American Combat Films)  When men do participate in sports they are expected to behave violently and seriously.  As Ralph Donald's article discusses, they learn violence early and the language they use is similar to what can be heard on a battlefield.  This is evident when most of the terms used in football could directly link the players with being soldiers.  We as a society keep promoting sports so strongly to men because they're masculinity is so significant to us.  This is why perhaps people will go so far as to question they're sexuality if they lack interest.