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====== Manliness and Civilization ======



===== Chapter 1: Remaking Manhood through Race and "Civilization" =====

Bederman frames critical conversations about masculinity through Foucaltian discourse - in other words, the theory that the hegemonic assumptions of what is true inform every conversation about "truth", even those critical of that truth. It is in this way that feminist and African-American critiques of white masculinity in the Progressive Era never made the argument that the hegemonic masculinity was something to be dismantled. Instead, white feminist critics argued that ideas of "white civilization" should be expanded to encompass white women and their achievements. Similarly, African-American critics argued that African-American men fit the mold of contemporary ideas of masculinity just as well, if not better than, white men. In both cases, critics of the hegemonic masculinity engaged with it on its own terms. (Nick Thodal)

This chapter displays that the public discourse around the match between Jack Johnson, a black man, and Jim Jeffries, a white man, highlighted racial attitudes surrounding gender at the time. For example, white men were outraged at Johnson's victory and felt it showed that he was a better man than the white Jeffries which led to race riots to erupt across cities in America. Additional salt on the wounds of these angered white men was found in how Johnson had a white ex-wife and a white lover at the time of the match making these men fell like their manhood was being undermined by him taking "their women". (Henry Prior)

This chapter claims that due to changes to traditional ideals of manhood, men started to create a new version where it would fit with their position as middle-class men. They emphasized participation in organizations like the free masons and the odd fellows. Additionally, these men sought to turn their young boys into men by making engage with organizations like the boy scouts and the YMCA. (Henry Prior)

From a conceptual perspective, G. Bederman argues against two historiographically prevalent views of manhood: as an intrinsic essence and as a collection of traits. Partially inspired by Foucauldian discourse analysis, Bederman offers a substantial critique of these approaches, insisting that they oversimplify the mechanisms of gender and power relations. Instead, he suggests that manhood should be understood as a process of producing “men” by connecting anatomy and identity to the broader discources of power and authority. - Nikolai Kotkov

In order to demonstrate use of the ideology of civilization in practice, Bederman details the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago that depicted the "White City" and the "Midway Plaisance" in both gendered and racialized ways. The White City was meant to portray the advancement of white civilization, which happened to almost entirely exclude women, invoking both whiteness and manhood as essential to civilization. Meanwhile, the Midway Plaisance portrayed the "underdeveloped barbarism" of uncivilized "dark races." This portrayal linked racialized barbarism to a total lack of manliness, contrasting heavily with White City's linking of civilization with powerful manhood and whiteness. (Noah Rutkowski) 

Civilization exists in this time as a hierarchical system which was the dominant way to distinguish groups of people, rather thsn culture. In this system, Civilization is on top, with barbarism below it, and finally at the bottom is Savagery. Civilization was largely based on non-coercive social diferentiwtion, specifically sex differentiation. Barbarism was seen as "almost civilized", as if all they needed was a bit of help to reach the point of civilized. They had gender differentiation and technology, yet they were still seen as living in a world shaped by violence and coercion. This was mostly used with Asian countries. Finally is the category of Savagery. This group was directed towards people in their "primative state", often in tribes or groups that europeans didn't see as having any structure. One of the biggest problems that Bederman lays out with Savagery is that Europeans couldn't ditinguish strict gender norms or sex differentiation. -Caroline Cochran

===== Chapter 2: "The White Man's Civilization on Trial": Ida B. Wells, Representations of Lynching, and Northern Middle-Class Manhood =====

===== Chapter 3: "Teaching Our Sons to Do What We Have Been Teaching the Savages to Avoid": G. Stanley Hall, Racial Recapitulation, and the Neurasthenic Paradox =====

===== Chapter 4: "Not to Sex-But to Race!" Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Civilized Anglo-Saxon Womanhood, and the Return of the Primitive Rapist =====

===== Chapter 5: Theodore Roosevelt: Manhood, Nation, and "Civilization" =====


Bederman explains the idea that civilization was used to argue that the advancement of humans is dependent on race instead of sex, however, discourse surrounding “civilization” always involved both race and gender. “Civilization” is a fluid ideology and can be used to reinforce differing political agendas like validating white supremacist ideas and challenging the dominance of men. In a racial sense, “civilization” is used to reinforce definitions of manhood, specifically in the late 19th Century where Theodore Roosevelt introduced frontier civilization ideology. The frontier was used to showcase conflicts between savages and civilized people. The identifying feature that separates the two is racial identity. Americans were identified as white masculine expansionists and the center of white superiority. Traits of these men included physical strength, resourcefulness, and showcased traditional gender roles as a protector. On the contrary, indigenous people were seen as brutal savages and the conceptualization of this group allowed American men to justify violence against them. The American man during this period used conquest and conflict with “savages” to contribute to the definition and portrayal of manhood. (Reiley Gibson)