From Watching Tough Guise-Violence, Media & the Crisis in Masculinity I
             have awaken to the social construction of masculine identities in our country
             during the past 20th century. I always knew of the social differences between
             males and females because these are what we have been brought up with.
             Jackson Katz shows how masculinity has developed as a "social construction, a
             performance, or role, in short, a tough guise."
             The film focused attention on the overwhelming, and overlooked statistical
             relationship between violent crime and gender in our society. Most of these
             crimes are committed by males, in fact over 90% of them are. However when a
             female commits a violent crime it is made more public and is looked upon as
             more of a shocking crime. Some examples of these crimes are: date rape,
             domestic violence, and high school massacres.
             Katz also singles out some violent male icons such as: Rocky, Rambo and
             Terminator. Also, there are clips shown of our popular feminist bashers: Howard
             Stern, Andrew Dice Clay, and Rush Limbaugh. Violence in professional sports
             and action games are all related to the male backfire against women's economic
             and social gains because they threaten traditional assumptions of male
             As the film winds down Katz also points to developments in popular
             culture which present positive versions of masculinity. These include celebrities
             like: Garth Brooks, Christopher Reeve, Mark McGwire (his personal favorite), and
             Q-Tip. I was happy to hear the positive developments even though the
             negatives do a little out weighing.
             I found myself almost angry at times during this film because of the sad
             and absolute truth in it. I think it would be very effective for every young male
             to watch Tough Guise as impossible as that sounds. I know I will be paying
             more attention to films, commercials and other forms of media and culture in our
             ...