Nature or nurture Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Nature or nurture - Essay Example This at least seem possible conclusions that may be drawn from the work of Michael Kimmel, a sociologist, teaching at the University of New York at Stony Brook. Apart from having written on gender in general and men in particular, he has also produced numerous books and journal articles that deal specifically with the issues of masculinity, particularly that of teenage boys and young men under the age of 30. In a recent book (2008), Kimmel discusses the ‘code of masculinity’ these young men are socialized into, usually from an age earlier than even puberty, and the fear that is created by enforcement tactics used by others around them to ensure that the socialization process is successful. It is not only Kimmel but also others like Kindlon and Thompson (qtd. In Kimmel 2008) who point out that young men are not comfortable with the denial of personal needs and with living in emotional isolation. The cruel treatment they suffer at the hands of their peers leaves them beref t and is the reason for many teenage suicides. The fact that so many young boys and men appear to be extremely ill at ease with ‘wearing the mask of masculinity’ (Pollack qtd. ... nowledges the recent pre-occupation with biology in the area of human identity, and the apparent demise of theories of gender as a social construct, she also points to the fact that the difficulties so-called ‘transgender’ children experience, appear to have been exacerbated by parental indulgence. These children take on role-playing at a very early age – usually the role of the opposite sex – and persist with it, without a sign of change in sight. In A Boy’s Life (November 2008) Rosin maps the options that are open to these children and how their parents agonize over choices they are ill equipped to make. Both Rosin and Kimmel offer a disturbing view of the motivation of peers, parents, communities and professionals, those involved in the negotiation of gender and identity, and how a mix of fear of rejection, a need for normalcy and peer approval, parental weakness and professional ambition can lead to a single-minded homing in on only those solutio ns that serve these purposes. As Kimmel points out, it is not surprising that a system that is held together by fear and constant peer affirmation should selectively look to nature and nurture to justify itself. Like many other ambiguous intellectual constructs, it uses contradictory justifications. Thus, masculinity is described to be the result of evolutionary and chemical processes – biologically determined, unalterable and unassailable (614). It would appear that men come into the world, fully ‘wired’ for masculinity. This is indeed biology at work. Yet, curiously, it is vulnerable. It must be re-enforced by toughening up or it is in danger of lapsing. As Kimmel points out, if it is indeed hard-wired, nothing whatsoever would need to be done to preserve it. But that is clearly not the case, otherwise men