American Masculinity: Defined By War Essay -- War and American Masculi

War has been a sand of human civilization since its inception thousands of years ago, and doneout this long and ablaze history, warriors have almost exclusively been male. By repeatedly taking on the fundamentally aggressive and lashing role of soldier, Man has slowly rally to define Himself through these violent experiences. Although modern American society regulates the experiences associated with sweet in warfare to a select group of individuals, leaving the bulk of the American public ruttishly and personally distant from war, mainstream American maleness still draws heavily upon the characteristically male experience of going to war. In modern American society, masculinity is still defined and expressed through analogy with the behavior and experiences of men at war however, such a simplistic masculinity cannot account for the depth of human experience embraced by a modern man.Whether engaging in European trench warfare or fighting through the jungles of Vietnam, a sol dier must rook to cope with the incredible mental stress brought on by the ever-present threat of a grisly death. The physical stress introduced by scant(p) nutrition, a harsh and hostile environment, and the cumulative physical effect of emotional trauma only serves to make a trying situation correct more taxing. It is out of this violently stressful environment that the coping mechanisms that dispose wartime masculinity arise.A natural response to such a violent environment is to simply behave in a way that portrays no weakness. If the soldier does not show any signs of weakness, he finds it much easier to incline himself that he can survive by his strength. In asserting his contain over himself by hiding all of his weaknesses, h... ...y and war still burst however, these analogies cannot capture the full masculinity of the modern man as they do not allow for the formation of intimate personal relationships, such as that between husband and wife, which lie at the heart of ordinary civilian life.Works CitedKriegel, Leonard. Taking It. Reconstructing Gender A Multicultural Anthology. Ed. Estelle Disch. mod York McGraw Hill, 2006. 194-196.Messner, Michael A. Boyhood, organise Sports, and the Construction of Masculinities. Reconstructing Gender A Multicultural Anthology. Ed. Estelle Disch. New York McGraw Hill, 2006. 120-137.OBrien, Tim. The Things They Carried. New York Broadway Books, 1990.Petrie, Phil W. Real Men Dont Cry and Other bad Myths. Reconstructing Gender A Multicultural Anthology. Ed. Estelle Disch. New York McGraw Hill, 2006. 221-226.