"About men"

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The author in the written work "About Men" emphasizes how the masculinity of men has changed over the years. Gretel Ehrlich, the author, concentrates on comparing the men of this time with the men of her time, who were cowboys. The cowboys were considered as people with a lot of masculinity because of the responsibility that came with their work. In addition, the author considers the cowboys as rude people for the lonely and isolated life that they had. On the other hand, she thinks that men of this era are fragile like women. She considers that men of this era are weak because they conform to a different type of masculinity, and not a masculinity as strict as it existed in the cowboy era.  

    My dad also uses the definition of masculinity in the perspective of his time. He wants that all the boys must act manly and aggressive when it comes to fights or tough moments in live. However, in this time, not all the boys must act like cowboys or people from that time. In this time, men and boys empathizes with the opposite sex so that the men doesn't have to show their masculinity by being aggressive.

I think that the author’s ideas about the cowboys, is a thought of an ancient era where masculinity and machismo was common in society. Currently, masculinity is an idea that has lost strength due to the diversity and open-minded thoughts that exist. An example that happened to me and connects with the theme of this essay, was my long hair. There was a time where I had long hair and during that time several members of my family liked my hair and other members did not. After trimming my long hair, I could see how some members reacted by saying “Now you look like a real man” or things like that. I did not understand why they told me that because having long hair does not make you more or less masculine, it is simply a type of cut or style.     

Work Cited

Ehrlich, Gretel. "About Men". Essay.  Literature For Composition. 11th edition. Chapter 11. page                  437. 10 February 2018.