Making Masculinities: Booty Call

    This week’s ramble has to do with how masculinities are depicted/accepted in the world today. Masculinities have been created and have changed as time as gone on. For example, a man in the late 1800s, early 1900s was considered a man when he turned 16; he worked to raise money for the family, he began to start a family of his own and he displayed “manly,” qualities (had little femininity, did hard, physical work without complaining about pain and basically did not complete tasks that a female traditionally completed).

    In the film Booty Call, (1997) we see a sort of changing of the role of masculinity for both the males and females in the film. To begin, Jamie Foxx’s character, Bunz, is very much concerned with his hair and goes out of his way to make his hairstyle unique. This is traditionally a female way of thinking, as well as the fact that men are not too concerned with their hair unless it is shaved or they would like a design; very few males in this day and age are concerned with long hairstyles. As well, when both Bunz and Roshawn are trying to sleep with the girls in the film, Lysterine (played by Vivica A. Fox) and Nikki (played by Tamala Jones), we see a gender role reversal; the men become subordinate to the women, agreeing to their terms and cooperating with what the women want, performing the tasks they want them to and travelling to the places they prefer to travel to: all qualities, actions and behaviours that traditionally women are thrust into. On another side of the coin, the guys (Bunz in particular) can be considered comfortable in their masculinity, as they can perform in this, “subordinate” role.

    The gender role reversal is not only seen in Booty Call; it is seen in a multitude of films, television shows and other forms of popular media. Take a drag queen (RuPaul) for example or even a transsexual pornstar (Kimber James); these people do not have gender questions at first glance, as they are perceived to be a specific gender, even though they are the opposite. If one were to simply take a quick look at a photo of either individual, they would both appear to the viewer as female, even though both are male.

    Masculinities have changed drastically from where they were one hundred years ago and they may continue to change as time goes on; humans are constantly changing. As time goes on as well however, we may see more transsexuals or drag queens, let alone Homosexuals, that will further skew the “male image,” or, “traditional male behaviour,” as well we will probably see more men comfortable in their masculinity that they will be comfortable with performing female tasks more often than normal. Masculinities should be in the eye of the beholder and NOT a societal-based construction.