Manliness and Civilization: A Cultural History of Gender and Race in the United States, 1880-1917

Explore the way white middle-class men engage in romanticism in the process of what Bederman calls “remaking masculinity.” In context of Theodore Roosevelt’s depictions of the American West, Hall’s paternalistic and patronizing view of himself as a savior of people of color, and Burrough’s Tarzan of the Apes, how do these men communicate their value systems through the concepts they sensationalize and misconstrue?

The connection between Anglo-Saxon Americans and their historical roots in Europe varies in relevance and intensity in Bederman’s work—from the impact of Ida B. Wells’s influence in enlightening the English to the horrors of lynching to Theodore Roosevelt’s rejection of European influences on white American ethnicity as a concept that Americans have moved beyond. Using examples from the text, consider the ways in which Americans both embraced and rejected their ethnic identities and both integrated and minimized them in their conception of themselves as Americans.

Consider the lives and works of additional influential American authors and thinkers of the time covered in Bederman’s text. Choose a figure who also contributed to the dialogue surrounding manliness and civilization, and examine their works in the contexts that Bederman has explored with respect to gender, race, class, politics, economics, theoretical orientation, and personal experiences and beliefs. How does this individual compare to the four authors featured in this text? In what ways do their values and standards adhere to the common contemporary beliefs of the time? How do they deviate from the norm?

Discuss how Lamarckian and recapitulation theories relate to one another and the ways in which they were believed to work in tandem throughout the development of young middle class men as they progressed from childhood to adolescence. How did the perceived experiences of young women compare with regard to experts’ presumptions and expectations? How did neurasthenia threaten to play a role in each of these theoretical trajectories of childhood development?

How does Bederman explain how coexisting schools of thought that might, in a 21st century context, seem discordant or contradictory were in fact cohesive and complimentary during the period covered in Manliness and Civilization? Consider some examples from the text, evaluating how specific values or beliefs might be seen as inconsistent from a 21st century perspective and demonstrating how and why they were seen as logical in their historical context.

Through the lens of the millennial shift at the turn of the 20th century, trace the evolution, chronologically, from Victorian ideals and values through to the emerging distinctive set of new social standards and expectations as they pertain to what the American middle-class man of the 20th century was expected to be. What political, cultural, economic, and social changes had the most impact on the transformation of ideal masculine traits?

Bederman’s work focuses exclusively on the ideals of manliness and masculinity as they pertained to white Anglo-Saxon middle class heterosexual American men from 1880-1917. Research and explore the meaning of masculinity and manliness as it related to men belonging to different social and ethnic groups who did not enjoy the same privilege: working-class white men, immigrants, men of color, etc. From where did these men receive their influence, draw their inspiration, and measure themselves in their contexts? Who had the power to make these determinations for them? What did it mean to them to embody manliness or masculinity? How did their values differ from the values presented by Bederman, and how did they navigate the clash between the expectations of them and those of predominantly white American society?

Bederman utilizes two iconic events in American history to illustrate how social and cultural values related to manliness and masculinity were evoked in popular culture. Looking at the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893 and the heavyweight title boxing match between Jack Johnson and Jim Jeffries in 1910, explore how masculinity at these separate ends of the period she covers in her work is prioritized and valued in the broader context of American culture. How do these two examples, a symbolic prize fight and a celebration of American achievement in microcosm, illustrate the American reality at the time of their occurrence? What other nationally influential events during that time might also serve as similar paradigms?