Week 5 - Gender & Disasters

”Men, Masculinity, and Disasters” by Cheney Shreve expresses gender differences and stereotypes that are aimed towards men. In this article Shreve explains how it’s clear to see that women are put at a disadvantage by society during times of disasters. However, what isn’t seen is the diversity of how men and their experiences during disasters. A study was done examining the stories of different men during disasters; Shreve writes, “Different levels of individual and collective hyper-masculinity in the workplace and in disaster recovery are uncovered, reflecting the unrealistic standards constructed for men, to be stoic and physically strong, and the adverse public health  impacts of these norms.” These norms causes not only stress on men to uphold these “standards”, but they also cause pain for these me. The article writes, “...harmful gender stereotypes prevented these men from grieving, and impaired recovery.” The gender stereotypes and the confusion between masculinity and men makes life very hard for some men. While masculinity is a quality that can be displayed by anyone or thing; it isn’t attached to being a man in no way.

This article was very important and needed. Many people see and understand that there is an obvious difference in the way a woman and a man is treated in this world. However, what many people fail to see is how some men are suffering from the standards that are forced among men. Being stoic and physically strong doesn’t make you a man, and it doesn’t mean you aren’t if you don’t display these characteristics. Masculinity isn’t a gender; masculinity is a quality, a characteristic. Also it’s very important to display the factors that desperate men during times of disasters; factors such as race, age, religion, ethnicity, and class. These are only but a few of the factors, however, they show that not all men are faced with the same problems during disasters, and not all men will react the same.

Vocab:
Masculinity - Characteristics such as vigor, strength, robustness, roughness, etc.
Stereotype - “A widely held but fixed and oversimplified image or idea of a person or thing”
Disaster - “A sudden event, such as an accident or a natural catastrophe, that causes great damage or loses life”