The New Wave of American Masculinity -- Vice, 2016, 22:11 -- https://youtu.be/jzgDtmAGeBg
A humorous look into how modern American men negotiate the pressures of the traditional masculine ideal. This video gives us a glimpse into more nuanced displays of manhood-- competitive eating, stay-at-home dads, gay masculinity, and even a male-bonding retreat. The host provides us with a valuable outsider perspective, or to appropriate a term from Patricia Hill Collins, a perspective from an outsider within.
There are so many goodies in this video: Jump to 6:09 to see what a biological determinist thinks of sociology (..."The idea of gender roles comes from the degenerate discipline of sociology"). It makes me giggle every time.
If you want to take this a step further with your class, analyze the comments left on this video's YouTube page. For some reason, men do not react well when masculinity is critiqued. For in the words of one particular commenter, enlightened discussions of manhood result in the "pussification of our dignity" ... #FragileMasculinity
From the video's description: VICE UK Correspondent Gavin Haynes has come to the United States to determine what masculinity means to the American man. Though stereotypically masculine acts like fraternity hazings, monster truck rallies and food competitions still persist, there is a growing movement of men who are coming together to challenge these conventions and redefine machoism. Gavin meets with a host of these men, including a competitive eater, a troupe of stay-at-home-dads and a radical men's group hosting a slumber party in the woods, to survey the evolution of American masculinity for himself.