Throughout history boys and men in general have been expected to maintain a certain
degree of formidability and provide financial security for the family's well being. This ideal man
has begun to take on a different role as changes in society's needs have caused these traditional
gender roles to equalize with the woman. For instance, it is not so much a big deal that
a husband stays at home and tends to the kids while mom goes out and works. Furthermore, there
is a great deal of pressure for young men to act tough and macho in this changing society. A new
man for the new age, he is supposed to be sensitive and caring a woman's needs, but yet at the
same time if they dare cry in public men are seen as sissies. Society has placed men in a double
In "Real Boys", William Pollack argues that because of how society thinks the way a
boy should be, young men are forced into acting tough and macho. Pollack believes that since
boys are pressured into being virile then boys are deprived of what they really need. "[S]ociety
places boys in a "gender straitjacket." Without being aware of doing so, society is judging the
behavior of boys against outmoded ideas about masculinity and about what it takes for a boy to
become a man." (Pollack 75) Since society has a stereotype of the way a man should be if the boy
does not conform to this type then he will be shunned by society and looked upon as a feminine
wimp. Throughout history men have always been the tough hunter-gatherers and warrior type,
therefore in today's society it still is not acceptable for men to have a sensitive side.
Although society has placed many restrictions on the way a boy should act, it is not always true that a boy must comply with the types in order for him to no be looked upon as a
sissy. If a boy must talk to someone it is easiest to confide in a female, but not just any ...