The video Tough Guise presented by Jackson Kats gave a compelling look into male toughness and power as a way for them to survive and gain respect in society. He talks of how men mask themselves with a tough exterior because being weak is not a hegemonic male trait according to stereotypes. He makes sure to mention that these stereotypes are enforced by the popular culture that surrounds us every day and I would completely agree with this. A connection I would like to link to this is the army as well as video games. Clearly the army trains you for combat, violence which is considered very masculine. Even their slogan points to this in saying you should be "army strong." They are appealing to this guise that men wear to create toughness for respect. Video games do this as well for they tend to have much violence as well as strong masculine characters. They teach you to fight and be tough and kill anyone that stands in your way. What I find interesting is in a class last year we watched a video on how some army recruitment centers were transforming into video game centers. They are using this pop culture phenomenon to interest young boys into joing the army. It is supposed to show them how accepting and fun this violence can be while gaining a sense of respect from others as well as masculitiy. Is this a smart tactic on the army's part to use something so popular to aid in recruitment or is it decieving and wrong to push this false sense of self onto young boys?
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