Obama: Defying Hyper-Masculinity

I really enjoyed today’s lecture and discussion about hyper-masculinity in our culture, particularly hip-hop. I’ve seen Beyond Beats and Rhymes in a few of my other Film and Television Studies and Anthropology classes, yet I still have trouble completely understanding that culture. Probably because I grew up in a white, suburban, middle-class family, and we didn’t have “baggage” to the scale that Tupac grew up with. However, when we were discussing the stereotypical hyper-masculine qualities that men feel the need to portray, I couldn’t help but think of this video I saw yesterday, of President Obama speaking to volunteers at his campaign office in Chicago:

This video, which was only put online yesterday, was widely circulated on social media, and now has nearly three million views. In the discussion today, it was mentioned that “masculine” men don’t cry or show their emotion. Yet in this video, the very President of the United States is crying. It got me thinking about other ways Barack Obama defies masculine stereotypes. Physically, he does not place the same importance on body image that some of the people we mentioned today (Tupac, 50 Cent, Brad Pitt, the Jersey Shore guys) do. In fact, he’s a pretty slender man – just check out his wrist and hand as he holds the microphone in the video above. He has taken strides to end the war, a large source of violence associated with the United States. He obviously cares deeply for his wife and daughters and, as far as we know, is faithful to Michelle.

In all of these characteristics he openly defies the masculine and hyper-masculine stereotypes that were in the reading. I guess my question is: why do men still feel the need to perpetuate and fulfill these stereotypes, when it’s obvious that you don’t need them to succeed? The President of the United States – whose job could be considered the epitome of success – didn’t need to follow that path, so why do others? I guess I don’t really have an answer, other than it may be related to poverty levels and where people live, but the situation seems perpetual. Something needs to be done to start ending the cycle. But it is encouraging to me that the President, who has had the most reach into young demographics of recent presidents, is breaking those stereotypes down.