Power Struggle for powerlessness

"He walks a certain way, talks a certain way, acts a certain way."(Kimmel 105)
In the article Masculinity as Homophobia, Michael S. Kimmel describes homophobia as the fear that other men will unmask us, emasculate us, reveal to us a world that we do not measure up, that we are not real men.

                  Men become depressed because of loss of status and power in the society
                  of men. It is not the loss of money, or material advantages that money could
                  buy, which produces the despair that leads to self destruction. It is the
                  "shame,"the "humiliation," the sense of personal,"failure" A man
                  despairs when he has seized to be a man among other men.

The recognition of fear in ourselves is proof that we are not as manly as we pretend that we are. We are ashamed to be afraid.
The community of men is full of competition, and power struggle. The very aggression that got men to the top of the food chain is what's tearing them apart. Karma is a bitch. "As adolescents we learn that our peers are a kind of gender police, constantly threatening  to unmask us as feminine, as sissies."(Kimmel 104).
I have personally experienced this a couple of times. Since I was a child I liked wine and crossing my legs, none of which were viewed as manly traits. I had to catch myself every time I did either of the two and rectify my mannerisms."Every mannerism, every movement contains a coded gender message."(Kimmel 105)
        I enjoyed the metaphor of the chauffeur, as men, we compete to be at the top, and be the most manly only to realize that we are then encapsulated by the expectations of our beaten competition. We are indeed at the driving seat but we're not in control of the bigger picture. "American men feel powerless because of the way we've constructed the rules of manhood so that only the tiniest fraction of men com to believe that they are the biggest of wheels, the sturdiest of oaks and the most virulent repudiators of femininity, the most daring and aggressive."(Kimmel 108).
Another interesting idea brought up in this essay is the idea of exclusion. It is basically how men attempt to secure their manliness by not speaking up for equality and justice.
Overall Kimmel's repeated reference to fear is interesting, fear is one of the emotions that make adrenaline kick in and we perform better. In this case, fear has made us improve our performance as men.