Hardness and Masculinity

This weeks reading, “Dicks Dicks Dicks: Hardness and Flaccidity in Virtual Masculinity” discusses how masculinity is seen as being hard in all aspects of life. The author discusses how society is so fixated on a hardness that it restricts masculine individuals from certain emotional responses. If you are not able to preform in bed you are seen as a weak, if you don’t show signs of toughness or being able to fight you are also seen as a weak man. The quote I decided to use for this reading is, “Society wants masculinity to be hard, from its cock to its biceps to its steely, impenetrable self-assurance.” I chose this quote to stress the point that society is the main pressure point for masculinity. The clip that I decided to include is from Family Guy where Peter is taking on the house wife role doing chores and Lois is trying to have sex with him. During sex he is not able to get hard and Lois comments, “well someone has to have sex with me.” This statement reiterates that a man is not useful if he cannot preform in bed and because Peter has taken on a “woman’s role” in the house by doing chores we can see he has lost his masculine identity and therefore is not able to get hard.