Boys to Men in Reverse?

It's no secret that men have changed through the years. Where once was a tough, man's man, breadwinner man, has been replaced with a nurturing, dependent man. In his article, The Commercialization of Masculinities: From the "New Man" to the "New Lad", John Beynon points to the 1980s as a major point of impact for the way masculinity was treated and viewed. He's saying that men have gone through phases from "new man" to present day "new lad". Beynon first explores "new man as nurturer", talking about the impact feminism had on some men, causing men to desire to develop a more nurturing attitude. This included becoming more involved in "domestic arena (particularly in respect of child-rearing)" (200). He also talks about the men who were seeking to live a non-sexist life because they wanted equality. Beynon cites a study done that targeted these men to find the reasons behind this decision, and found that many of their early influences were parents who did not "conform to traditional roles", groups of girls primarily hung out with or the influence of feminism (201). Beynon then moves on to discuss "new man as narcissist", "the son of his father's 1950s and 1960s rock and hippy generation, with its interest in clothes and pop music and far removed from the demob-suited, carbolic soap and Old Spice-scented generation" (202). Beynon then moves on to discuss the "loss of the industrial man" talking about women coming into the work force, taking on more industrial jobs, experiencing "the feminization of labor, more like a smack in the eye" (208).

Beynon throws in the term "yuppie" in, as another representative of masculinity in the 1980s. "At his ,yuppie's> heart, was conspicuous consumption and a ruthless, cut throat determination to be seen to be successful, all 'driven by an excessive desire to spend money. Whether it was property, cars, clothes or personal artifacts, consumption was a dominant feature of the yuppie lifestyle" (205).

Now that the "new man" has been established, Beynon talks about the movement in the 1990s into the "new lad". He talks specifically about the men's magazine Loaded which largely highlighted "laddism". "Laddism was a celebration of the irresponsible, of unreconstructed young-men-running-wild reduced to their crude basics and promoted in Loaded through jockstrap humor and 'bikini style' photography" (210). Where earlier decades had highlighted the strength of the working man, Loaded brought a new man into the spotlight: one that had no responsibility, one who looked only to women and sex for fun, one with no morals, basically one who acted more like a boy (lad) than a man.

Men have drastically changed since the 1930's. To make this point, I am going to contrast John Boy Walton of the Waltons with Chuck Bass of Gossip Girl.

John Boy was the eldest of 6 siblings, placing him in a role of responsibility and expected maturity. He was a writer, and very dedicated to that line of work. Anything that he wanted needed to be earned, nothing was just handed to him. In terms of women, he was the utmost romantic and very respected and caring of any woman in his life.

Chuck Bass is a spoiled and selfish typical teenager. He gets whatever he wants when he wants it and it does not matter who he has to trample over to get it. He views women as mere sex objects and goes from girl to girl, sleeping with any that are willing. He treats his sister with less than respect. He is lazy and unmotivated.

I guess I would not call John Boy a man's man but he is characteristic of the hardworking, family man of earlier decades. Chuck Bass is the media's portrayal of today's man. Is this true for today's generation of boys? Are they more like Chuck Bass and less of a man because of it? What is the characteristic of today's man? Do we expect less out of men than we did back in the times of the Waltons? I would dare to say that it is different for everyone because there are so many more facets today than there were in the past. Feel free to agree or disagree, I'm still struggling with this myself.