My U.S. History class has been talking about the effects of industrialization on American society in the late 1800s. Now, let’s stop here and all get on the same page. I’m not prepared or willing to write a long history lesson. So let’s just take that cursor off the Facebook tab at the top of the page, set our hands in our laps, and sit quietly for a second.
For now, I’m going to be talking about men. Er, boys if you’d rather. See, my history class goes on and on about some topics, but the one we went pretty well into today was the loss of masculinity in many men during industrialization. Men were put in factories and were set on schedules, not out in the fields with their own control over their life. And so, during that time many men relied on sports to let out their pent up testosterone. Makes sense.
What’s interesting to me is this: how is that continuing? We don’t all have farms or work in mines, do we? And we still have men I assume; I think I’ve seen quite a few of them today. So what do they do in this new society to fulfill that need?
Many are, of course, still involved in sports. In Colorado in particular there seems to be some craze over football, what with these so called “Broncos” being on every other Colorado sweatshirt. Here, we also have a unique opportunity to hike, rock climb, and go skiing or snowboarding. (The operative word being “or”: there is never both.) In fact, many shirts that boys wear, if you’ll notice, either have a sports team or some sort of logo printed on it. No flowers or butterflies like girls’ clothes, though we’ll talk about them later. This might be to emulate “coolness”, a popular imaginary term.
Those who want themselves to become popularized, a trend setter, or just want to have lots of friends to talk with put themselves in spotlights of loudness, humor, and even social drama. Even those who aren’t boldly being a class clown are always boldly stating something, whether it’s the music heard through their headphones or the number of homework assignments they choose to complete. There’s even a certain boldness in the way people walk and how they treat strangers; weather or not they hold the door open for you can tell a story. People are always trying to propose an image of themselves to others.
Now, let’s take this idea and set it into a universal scale.
Girls do it too, you know. Clothing is especially key to how girls tend to paint themselves. The types of clothes girls wear and how conservative those clothes are announce to anyone they meet, particularly other girls, who they are and how they want to be seen.
Now, here’s the good part: girls and boys are constantly rewarding and punishing each other for how they prepare themselves. Girls who act or dress alike will likely be treated similarly by their male peers, because they are seen as practically the same girls. And for a boy who keeps his head down and chooses to wear a shirt of a band no one’s heard of, they are likely to be cast aside or ignored by those who are looking for peers who fit “the norm”. And the thing is, this is often purposeful.
There is a great distinction between people who are willing to be anybody and everybody’s friend and those who are maybe a bit pickier about their friends. Those who are willing to have and be broader friends tend to wear more generic outfits; there are some things that anyone could wear. In contrast to a boy or girl who is only interested in making a certain type of friend; he/she will consequently choose to wear a T-Shirt with a specific video game or brand on it to attract a specific peer type.
And all of you who are reading this and going, “Pfft! I don’t choose my clothes every morning to make people think something about me!” you’re not off the hook either. Indifference is a unique form of boldness. I truly believe that those who just “throw on clothes” in the morning are being apathetic on purpose. It’s a form of coolness, shows thick skin, it might even be a form of masculinity. Which brings us back to boys.
If nothing else is taken from this article, know this: You can’t lie to us, boys. We know you’re being indifferent on purpose.
EDIT: This article was written on January 22nd. The very next day, I was openly mocked in the school hallways for wearing a Keep Calm shirt that no one understood. My point has been proven in painful thoroughness.
I’m not out to attack the students of Fossil Ridge; this goes for all teenagers. Yes, it was only a very small group of outspoken friends trying to impress each other, but it’s how many people are in essence. There is a natural need for humans to impress, to show superiority and masculinity—even the girls—and there are those unfortunate few who give into the pressure.
Luckily, not everyone is like that. I’m proud to say that humans are a strong race and, condemn me if you must for being cheesy, I believe in people. Even boys.
