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We Stereotype Men Too

By Sarah G Amaya
Each gender cannot necessarily speak for the other, but society as created stereotypes,
which are difficult to abolish. A couple of examples for instance, women are feeble, overly
emotional, and are not physically strong as men, but men provide and are seen as masculine, not
weak and definitely not a pusillanimous. Men cannot cry openly for if they do, they are weak; if
a man cowers in fear, he is not courageous or brave; if men are stay at home fathers they do not
provide for his family. Why can men not do what women do? Why do we support women to do
things that men do more, since we have twisted gender equality? Gender equality is when men
and women share the same rights, which one gender is not above the other in priorities nor is it
favored compared to the other; they are taken into the same account without discrimination.
Studies have shown that the last couple years, over 40% of men are victims of Domestic
Violence. (Hoff, Bert) Yet there are victims that do not
speak up for fear of being publicly humiliated for being
unmasculine, because they were abused by a woman,
whom is normally the gentler sex. Most cases these
stereotypes are entirely incorrect, but women do attack
in various ways that are different from men, they tend
to be more verbal or material, and threats. When men abuse it is often more physical, for
instance when two men brawl its normal, they simply got caught in the testosterone.
This stereotype can be entirely dangerous for everyone; it simply does not involve men
themselves, but those who surround them, after that anyone can be a victim. Females may

feel obligated or empowered and feel a certain drive to abuse their male counterparts. Male
victims could be in an extreme amount of danger in cause of this; they can be severely injured, if
in the worst case scenario possibly murdered. Another case, a male victim can go violent in turn,
attack back, therefore, harming others, thus not being the only victim. In essence domestic
violence may simply never end, for it stop in its entirety bother genders must come to a
consensus to not harm one another.
Genders, society, communities or ethnicity has stereotypes, some are harmless or rather
comical, and they could possibly have a harsh impact on opinions, but stereotypes none the less.
Majority, if not all gender stereotypes are entirely based off of prescriptive stereotypes,
behavioral norms that come with it, they must uphold that stereotype or risk being ridiculed. For
instance, a woman who cannot cook or be motherly is considered to be a failure to her gender
representation. Yet, as of the last couple years with women rights, society is slowly
disintegrating that assumption; the jabs at the issue still exist but its acceptable for a woman to
provide for her family, rather than raise her young and cook.
How can society continue to look the other way and let the silent victims stay silent?
There is no valid reason to ridicule a human for being a victim of abuse, regardless of gender, so
why do we attack men and covet women, when it comes to these issues? Women can be the
weaker sex, females are weaker physically, looking weak makes anyone want to protect that
person, but are they really? Yes, women are more substantially prone to be attacked, since they
can be an easy gender to overpower. Yet, what if females attack men, because they cannot hit
back? What can authorities say to that? If a man hits back he will be slashed as woman
beater, if he doesnt he is considered a weak man to be hit by a woman, yet there could be
other variables to why he does not hit back. The friend, spouse, or stranger to the victim could be

blackmailing him, threatening his loved ones. The underlying question and issue is; when is selfdefense okay for a male? What is happening here is a double-standard.
We need to change stereotypes completely or the situations can take a serious grave turn,
people can get hurt, both physically and mentally if not worse. (Prentice, Deborah and Carranza,
Erica) This can affect us in the long run with both genders trying to justify their actions to one
another, because double standards stand in the way of harmony.

Works Cited
Figure taken from MenWeb: CDC/DOJ Survey Men more often victims of intimate partner
violence. http://www.batteredmen.com/NISVS.htm
S, R. (2012, May 16). Men: The Overlooked Victims of Domestic Violence. Retrieved October
5, 2015, from http://domesticviolencestatistics.org/author/ruth-s/
Femiano, S., & Nickerson, M. (n.d.). How do Media Images of Men Affect Our Lives?
Retrieved October 5, 2015.
Ramos, V. (2014). Invisible Victims: When Men Are Abused. Psych Central. Retrieved on
October 6, 2015, from http://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2014/04/09/invisible-victims-whenmen-are-abused/
Prentice, Deborah, and Erica Carranza. "What Men and Women Should Be, Shouldn't Be, Are
Allowed to Be, and Don't Have to Be: The Contents and Prescriptive Gender Stereotypes."
CogConfluence. Blackwell, 2002. Web. 5 Oct. 2015.

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