Matt Uecker
Sociology of Sexuality
Fall Semester
5 October 2014
A New Man?
The social construction of sexuality, in regard to men of the twenty-first century, is undoubtedly undergoing a change. For as long as history can recall, the androcentric view of sexuality was the only one that mattered, and men, just like women, were supposed to act a particular way to fulfill this view. However due to the more liberal social context of today's world, a huge paradigm shift with male sexuality is on the uprise. This is fantastic news for many, but just as it has always been, change doesn't come without an opposing fight from traditional values. Interestingly, these challenges and new freedoms are expressed simultaneously by the media.
So what exactly does it mean to be a man today? Checking the classic masculine boxes of: being strong and tough, lacking the need to share feelings, being a bread-winner, thinking logically, never acting irrational, having natural leader tendencies, etc.,
doesn't really make you a man of 2014. This transition is known as a paradigm shift. A paradigm shift is when the dominant way of explaining the world moves from one view to another. In terms of male sexuality, this highlights the idea of a new type of man. For example, an openly homosexual man that is accepted among society. The United States has seen this kind of shift in male sexuality before, and in turn that original change has made this next one possible. Back in the early 1800's, industrialization and urbanization were reforming the landscape of America, while also redefining what was considered acceptable sexual behavior. This new process made family life transform from an all encompassing task to a more divided one since they weren't all on the farm anymore. This is the birth...