Masculinity is a gender role that emphasizes strength, dominance, competition, and logical thinking. Masculinity is directly influenced by movies and television. This is especially true of adolescent boys and young men. Music is a form of media that contributes to the male gender role and the idea of masculinity. I believe that the two most effective forms of music in terms of promoting masculinity are rap and heavy metal.
Gangster rap is super masculine; and while not the only type of rap, it has become the most important to attempting to influence young men's image of what they believe their masculinity needs to be. It often tries to convince of the importance of the lifestyle and the quest for power and dominance, and if circumstances are right, appealing to a newly formed/forming sense of masculinity in a young man can be enough to make that influence felt. There are all sorts of cultural elements that go into how effective the message of gangster rap can be, but the language it is using is that of traditional masculinity and the male gender role.
Metal's agenda, while different from gangster rap, is no less masculine. Metal in any number of its sub-genres concerns itself with risk taking and convincing the listener that to take risks is to achieve beyond what non risk takers could (very masculine indeed). A little bit of drugs, women, a lot of the devil, maybe riding a dragon or leading a space rebellion. All of these risks have their rewards. Pleasure, power, and independence; it all fits with in the traditional masculine frame work. While less realistic, this agenda can powerfully affect young men, because only a small portion of it needs to be realistic for it to be worth the risk.
I guess these boys have their own way of expressing masculinity in music.
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