One part of Corbett's essay that stuck out to me was when he said "there is never just one boy, never just one masculinity..." This quote in particular I think showcases an overarching theme of what we have been learning in class over the last few months: so much of our perceptions and opinions of ourselves, the people around us, and gender constructs are colored not just by our own true opinions and thoughts, but by generational/longitudinal learning from our parents and older individuals as well as cross-sectional learning from modern media and peers with influence on us.
This quote also struck me because it shows how a boy defending his masculinity (or a girl defending her femininity) is not just defending himself, but making a case for all other supposedly "masculine" men in his life. Generations of building gender identities are ingrained in him from history at large as well as his own family's history, and this molds his own sense of masculinity rather than allowing him to completely create his own. Like we discussed in class, from the second a baby is born, his or her gender role has already been constructed for the most part, with little room for modification or deviation from "the norm." Thus, just as he is "born with" a certain gender identity for himself, he is also born with preconceived ideas of what others should be like, which is unfair to say the least.
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