Reader Response #2

 
Summary 
       In the article “Bros Before Hos”, by Michael Kimmel, the author researches and discovers the various cultural meanings to the “guy code”, which boys/men have been raised to fallow at a very early age. As Kimmel goes and investigates the different traits for the man policy “guy code" that the boys/men have been fallowing for decades: he recognized that the same rule for a guy is very alike to all other that apply; However he argues about how the homophobic acts by other peers reinforces the guy code at a supreme level.  He explains the roles of “The Gender Police” as he points out peers for always patrolling other peers to catch them on the act of something unmanly, so they can give whoever got caught negative insults for it; Moreover, Kimmel expresses how the characteristics of someone's persona and how it can define the level of manhood of that person to those so called “gender police.” For example how someone dresses, walks, and even what they eat, for they have some type of putdown towards the victim. Furthermore, Kimmel addresses how men are pressured to show no kind of emotions as they age. He explains specifically on fathers who try to manipulate their son’s feelings to not cross the manhood boundaries, and to always be tough as young as 3 years old. He states in the article about a father who took his son to the barber shop, and as the barber prepared and started the treatment using heat and chemicals that burn; the little boy started to cry by nervous reactions, but the barber instead insults him by telling the boy’s father “This boy is a wimp”.(615)
Context 
       The setting of this context is to try to inform and argue against the general public’s point of view of Manhood. The passage intents to make the reader question himself, Do all these rules of being a man necessarily have to be enforced onto men at their childhood? Michael Kimmel takes homophobia to the counterpoint, because it is a main concern he has about how men are so used to being homophobic. Homophobia fills a lot of the gaps in between the role of the “guy code” by making the fallowed policy so powerful to be able to manipulate over the boys minds. Kimmel intents to persuade the reader to closer attention to the traditional male-figure that they were raised to be and how it much it actually has changed over the years.  
Self-opinion
       Men have always fallowed the same road to teach their young one’s how to be a man. I certainly believe all of the rules in the guy code mentioned by Kimmel, have actually been enforced into most of the boys worldwide as they grew up. I experienced most of these rules throughout my childhood, and I had some different ones as well, because of my Ethnicity and were I was born-and-raised; For example, growing up with my older brothers they would tell me: "it's either him or you; don't like a certain color or number; never smile to other guys-that shows weakness, don't ever fear someone; real men smoke marijuana." By growing up listening to all my brothers' aspects that they would soak in my brain, I always thought I was taking the right decisions as I would follow their rules as if they were the law. Homophobic comments have always been present since I can remember, and I agree with another meaning existing for calling people faggots instead of referring to a homosexual faggot.  For example, Kimmel states a quote from Eminem, while he is replying about using the word faggot against guys, he states “The lowest degrading thing you can say to a man when you’re battling him is to call him a faggot and try to take to take away his manhood”.(612) I agree with this because I can recall many occasions when I got called a "fagot", and I believe it was to insult me and make me react to a fight due to taking away my manhood thru a word.