Thompson opens the article with his experience in a suburban high school as a guest speaker. In the class discussion, he learns that the most degrading insult for boys is being called a "fag," because the word "fag" explains that he does not have masculine qualities. He indicates that high school students associate masculinity with "stereotypic definition of strength"(77). Yet, he shows that this strength is only a limited definition of strength because this strength is based on dominance by disgracing inferior people. Thompson supports his notion by inserting the i

The author depicts the traditional definitions of masculinity and problems with that. "Traditional definitions of masculinity include attributes such as independence, pride, resiliency, self-control, and physical strength."(78) Sometimes masculinity is related to violence; violence became the tool maintaining their masculinity among boys. Then, he mentions the two most critical socializing forces in a boy's life: homophobia and misogyny. He explains that homophobia, hatred of feminine qualities in men, and misogyny, hatred of feminine qualities in women, put pressure on them to avoid femininity, even good qualities of femininity.

Thompson proposes that boys of this generation shall learn to accept feminine quality while keeping good phases of traditional masculinity. The author expresses this as the "new tradition."

ntroduction "Reweaving the Web of Li

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Approximate Word count = 580
Approximate Pages = 2 (250 words per page double spaced)