In this very personal and compelling sociological narrative, Victor Rios describes the problems facing black and Latino youth as they come of age. Rios, as it turns out, is a former gang member who grew up in the Flatlands section of Oakland California. He went on to earn his Ph.D. at the University of California, Berkeley.
The book finds Rios returning to his old Oakland neighborhood to shadow 40 young men as they dealt with poverty, violence, and institutionalized racism. Rios recounts the life stories of the boys, carefully balancing ethnographic analysis with anecdotal stories of his time spent with educators, parents, and police.
According to Rios, what happens is that from elementary school on, teachers and law enforcement mark these boys as “dangerous” or “difficult,” and harshly punish them for petty infractions. Once they accumulate “negative credentials,” the young men are subject to increased surveillance—and are consequently more likely to end up in prison.
Rios terms this criminalization “the youth control complex,” and he explains how boys who get caught up in this system are systematically deprived of their dignity and their ability to succeed at school or in the job market.
The cycle of criminality and justice operates in such a way that institutional representatives (police, teachers, social workers, probation officers), even when they mean well (and this is not always the case) engage in practices that have the effect of pushing young men into the very criminality that the punishment is meant to deter.
Rios makes a compelling argument that better financed social programs and positive reinforcement could make all the difference.
Proving Manhood
In his book, Rios goes into great depth as he describes how not only the boys but others, including the police, are together caught up in a social process, where they are all performing and enacting rituals of proving manhood.
Rios discusses what it means to be a black and Latino boy in Oakland. In doing so, he uses a lot of terms that you might be familiar with if you’ve ever taken courses in sociology, race & ethnic studies, and gender studies. So let’s break it down and discuss:
- Masculinity
- Masculine Values
- Masculinity-making Resources
- Gendered practices
- Hypermasculinity
- Toxic Masculinity
In his article “Stealing a Bag of Chips,” (based on the book), Rios talks about the boys’ experiences of looking for work and living in Oakland, California.
Looking for Work
As Rios explains, “despite their attempts to present themselves with good manners and good morals, their idea of professional behavior did not match mainstream ideas of professional behavior. This in turn created what I refer to as ‘misrecognition.’ When the boys displayed a genuine interest in “going legit,” getting a job, or doing well in school, adults often could not recognize their positive attempts and therefore criminalized them.
The boys had grown up in an environment which had deprived them of the social and cultural capital they needed to progress in school and the labor market. Therefore, they developed their own alternative social and cultural capital, which they used to survive poverty, persist in a violent and punitive social ecology, prevent violence, avoid incarceration, and attempt to fit into mainstream institutions.
Looking for Respect – Stealing a Bag of Chips
As Rios explains it, “breaking the rules” for the boys “meant resisting a system; criminality was one of the few resources the boys could use in response to criminalization.”
Critical Questions:
What parallels can you draw between the enacted practices of masculinity described by Rios, when he writes about the boys in Oakland, and your own upbringing?
Did you ever find yourself doing things that were likely to hurt you if you got caught for reasons that you wanted to assert yourself to be respected?
Victor Rios explains how Black and Latino boys in Oakland struggle to earn respect and prove themselves. They’re often labeled troublemakers early on, leading to more punishment and close monitoring. This makes it harder for them to succeed in school or get jobs. Rios calls this the ‘youth control complex,” where even adults with good intentions can end up pushing these boys toward crime instead of guiding them in a positive direction. Growing up as a Mexican American from my experience, I and other Latino students were stereotyped by other students at my high school. Me and other Latino students were also labeled as troublemakers similar to how Rios talks about being stereotyped. I can honestly say I’ve never done anything that could hurt me to prove myself. I was raised to understand that doing something like that would only get me in trouble. I was expected to behave differently. I wasn’t seen as dangerous by teachers. I had to act in a way that kept me from being judged negatively.
From what I’ve read, it talks about the struggles and challengers that black and Latino boys had to face just to prove that they are not what they are labeled to be. Starting from when they were young, they got labeled as “dangerous” or “difficult” everywhere they were including school and would be punished severely for minor infractions. They were given this label no matter even if they tried to present themselves as having good morals and manners. I grew up in a similar environment where there were the “good” people and there were the “bad” people. Even when the so called bad kids would attempt to do something polite and with good intentions, they would be shunned and blamed for a different incident right away. Since I grew up with the same situations, I kind of understand the difficulties. Kids who are given these stereotypes usually don’t grow out of it if there are authority figures constantly holding them back. Rios calls this as “the youth control complex” where boys who get caught up in the system are deprived of their true potential in the future due to adults constantly criminalizing them.
Growing up, I definitely did do things that I knew were going to hurt me in order to gain some respect. I wouldn’t hurt anyone nor had the intention to do to assert my respect but there were things that I would’ve gotten in severe trouble for. For example, when I transferred schools in the 4th grade, I changed myself to fit in with the crowd of people. At the time, they saw me as the goody Asian girl who couldn’t do anything wrong and gave a lot of stereotypes. Although, I did endure as much as the rios boys, while they were trying to change for the better, I was trying to change for the worse because I thought that was what I had to do to gain some respect. I didn’t do anything that was extreme but there were some things that I really regret doing and it was all cause I wanted to be respected and treated as an equal. You shouldn’t have to change yourself or get yourself in trouble just to fit in or get any type of respect.
A parallel I can make between the boys that Rios described and my upbringing is that people always want to label children at a young age, and you never fully leave that description, no matter how hard you try to. The boys that Rios described were labeled as “troubled” from a young age, and because they were labeled that way, no amount of good they did in their older years did them any good. Granted I was not labeled as troubled, I had a label that stuck with me throughout my years from elementary school up until the present day. When I was younger I was labeled as the kid who never did any wrong in or out of school. While sometimes that label had its perks, after a while it got very exhausting. I was never taken seriously if I needed help on any type of work cause I was seen as one of the students who never needed help on anything. Another type of label I had as a young child was babysitter. While that may not seem like a bad label to have, for me it got very overwhelming. I was always asked to babysit, and I never felt comfortable saying no. This resulted in me always babysitting someone because people knew I would never say no to watching their child.
Victor rios is a former gang member who worked with young black and Latino boys as they come of age. He found that teachers and law enforcement classify these boys as dangerous or difficult and punish them unfairly, and once they have negative credentials their lives are basically ruined and probably will end up in prison. Victor calls this “the youth control complex” which he explains how these boys are getting caught up in the system and hows it ruins all their chances of having a successful career and life. As a Caucasian man who lives in a white suburban area, I cannot say that I went through the same hardships as these black and Latino boys. I still had some pressure put on me to become successful. I felt as the oldest child I had to be an example for my younger brother and show him how to act in order to be successful. Overall, I did not experience what these boys experienced but I do understand how these black and Latino males and instead of treating them like criminals’ people they should push them to be successful.
I remember moments when my friends and i took risks like doing reckless things such as skipping school, etc.. not to fit in but rather live our teenage years even if those actions weren’t harmful, they were stupid. It felt like a way to assert our identities in a world that often overlooks us teenagers back then.
Rios’s exploration of masculinity and the challenges faced by black and Latino youth in Oakland highlights the intense pressure young men feel to prove themselves. In my own experiences, I’ve seen similar dynamics where many guys felt the need to act tough or rebellious just to gain respect from their peers, or family.
The concept of “misrecognition” really resonates with me, I’ve observed friends trying hard to show their ambition and good intentions, only to be unfairly judged or dismissed based on stereotypes. This misinterpretation often leads to feelings of frustration and isolation, that could lead to loneliness and personal issues.
Rios’s insights challenge us to rethink how society views young men and emphasize the importance of support systems that recognize their dignity and potential. Its so crucial to create environments that uplift and encourage youth, rather than push them into harmful behaviors. This perspective highlight the need for more understanding and resources for young people and not just only black and Latino kids to try to navigate their identities.
When Rios discusses how boys in Oakland feel pressure to demonstrate their masculinity, I can relate to my own experiences as a young Black woman. Even though I wasn’t attempting to display my masculinity, there are still societal norms that accompany being a Black woman. Many times, there is an expectation for us to be silent, compliant, or conform to societal expectations, and this burden can weigh heavily on us. Similar to how those boys had to navigate their surroundings and demonstrate their worth, I too have had to combat stereotypes that suggest I should not be vocal or driven. It is intriguing how, whether it pertains to masculinity or femininity, we encounter obstacles in proving our value and gaining respect in environments that may not acknowledge our true selves.
It’s tough for both of us as we try to find our own place and express who we are, despite societal expectations on behavior. I understand the impulse to take risks in order to prove oneself. I have not taken anything, but I have certainly challenged authority figures when they were showing disrespect. I could have faced consequences for those moments, but I believed it was important to speak up and gain respect. Similar to how the boys were pressured to disobey the rules in order to fight against being labeled as criminals, there were times when I had to make a stand to demonstrate that I would not be silenced.
Victor Rios’ work highlights how Black and Latino boys in Oakland face challenges when trying to prove themselves and gain respect. These boys often get labeled as “trouble” from a young age, leading to increased punishment and surveillance. This makes it hard for them to succeed in school or get jobs. Rios calls this the “youth control complex,” where even well-meaning adults can push boys toward criminal behavior instead of helping them.
In my experience growing up as a Chinese American, I also faced pressure to prove myself, though not in the same way as the boys Rios studied. Sometimes, people had certain expectations of me because of stereotypes about Asians, like the “model minority” myth. Even when I tried to show respect and work hard, those efforts were often misunderstood, similar to how Rios talks about “misrecognition.” Though I didn’t face the same challenges as Rios’ boys, I can relate to wanting to break free from stereotypes and prove my own identity, sometimes by acting out or pushing back in small ways.
I didn’t have an experience in school that related too similarly. However, there were a few kids in my classes who would always get in trouble. They would always find a way to get the teacher’s attention. But, every now and then, they would do the tiniest things to get in trouble. For example, one of their phones may have gone off in the middle of class and the teacher would accuse them of purposely disrupting her class. They would get yelled at even though they simply forgot to turn off the sound on their phone. Just like Rios, these kids were trying to change, but they were constantly held back by authority due to their past. I worked extra hard at my job at a diner because I wanted to make a good impression with all of my co workers as well as my boss. I was working so long and hard that I did not realize that I was doing certain things wrong around the diner. My boss had to tell me what I was doing wrong and I got in trouble. But, I eventually got a few raises. Most of my co workers like working with me as well because I help them to clean off their tables and I help them deliver food to their tables.
Comparing my own upbringing to Rios, I would not say we were raised in similar areas but I would say I have a general idea of the importance of masculinity and how it is required. Growing up in Cortland Ohio there wasn’t really many problem considering I basically lived in the middle of nowhere. However, when I attended Youngstown State for my undergrad the living habits for Youngstown seemed very similar with the city Rio describes, they didn’t have good schooling for local schools, the town was in the top cities for poverty in Ohio and there was a lot of violence. Going to school here I got to see a lot of gang violence and people struggling with poverty when I would be off campus. Looking at people who were born in this city were judged from the start and were easily put behind bars because they did not receive proper education and easily got caught up in the wrong actions to try and gain respect from others. I never had to experience having to do anything criminally to gain respect because I personally never felt that threat.
Did you ever find yourself doing things that were likely to hurt you if you got caught for reasons that you wanted to assert yourself to be respected?
I can definitely say that I have been in situations where I knew something was gonna hurt me but I wanted respect so I went about doing it anyways. I wouldn’t say that I have done anything to really harm myself or others but could for sure get in trouble if caught doing it, I would either change the way I was acting when someone or a group was around or even do things that I knew I didn’t wanna do just for that little ounce of respect from them. Although I wouldn’t certain things were for respect but maybe to just seem more of a “badass” or to be “cool”. With that being said I feel like people do this more than they might think and didn’t even realize it. At the age of 20, I know there are times when I still do these things and don’t even think about it now. As much as I want to say that I stopped the more I look into it I know I haven’t. Although when thinking back on these things that I did when I was younger or even some things now I think to myself was that really worth doing that to seem cool? Did you really even wanna go about doing that? The answer for me is no, why the hell did you do that, most of the time it came back and bite me in the ass. Don’t put yourself in a scenario to get in trouble for any amount of respect.
Comparing the enacted practices of masculinity described by Rios and my own upbringing, the importance of masculinity was something that you can say was required. Growing up in North Philadelphia, the living habits are the same as how the young men dealt with poverty and violence in Oakland. However, growing up in a house full of women, masculinity looked different for me. Instead of creating an identity of myself by getting caught up in the wrong actions, I was looked at to do the complete opposite. To not necessarily be looked at by teachers and family as “dangerous” or “difficult” but instead be the one everyone dreams to be. This was required of me so that I wouldn’t be given that negative look or worry about the type of problems that are described of the boys in Rios’s book.
I can honestly say that I have never found myself doing things that were likely to hurt me if I got caught for reasons that I wanted to assert myself. I grew up not only being told that doing something like that would place myself in trouble but asserting myself positively would bring myself to a better outcome. It hurts to hear that there are young men my age or even younger out there doing something like this just to have that recognition and escape from the environment that they are struggling in. More importantly, it makes me question how masculinity is supposed to be achieved in this way.
I personally have most definitely found myself doing things that were likely to hurt me if I got caught for reasons that I wanted to assert myself to be respected. Although it has been a very long time since, I know for sure that I did some stupid things when I was a kid trying to earn respect of people I hung out around. It is so easy to be caught up in trying to be respected and accepted by your peers growing up that it leads you doing stupid things that can get you in trouble if you get caught. I believe this idea may be brushed off and overlooked as “typical child behavior”, however this can be very dangerous to minority children who are at a much higher risk of heavier charges, incarceration, police brutality, and racial discrimination when caught for these actions. I am sure it is very difficult for young latino boys to transition into adulthood and feel like men without feeling lost or without a purpose, which can most definitely lead to instances of them doing things that can hurt them if they are caught in order to gain respect from others.
Did you ever find yourself doing things that were likely to hurt you if you got caught for reasons that you wanted to assert yourself to be respected?
I personally have most definitely found myself doing things that were likely to hurt me if I got caught for reasons that I wanted to assert myself to be respected. Although it has been a very long time since, I know for sure that I did some stupid things when I was a kid trying to earn respect of people I hung out around. It is so easy to be caught up in trying to be respected and accepted by your peers growing up that it leads you doing stupid things that can get you in trouble if you get caught. I believe this idea may be brushed off and overlooked as “typical child behavior”, however this can be very dangerous to minority children who are at a much higher risk of heavier charges, incarceration, police brutality, and racial discrimination when caught for these actions. I am sure it is very difficult for young latino boys to transition into adulthood and feel like men without feeling lost or without a purpose, which can most definitely lead to instances of them doing things that can hurt them if they are caught in order to gain respect from others.
Policing black and Latino boys is such a good and interesting book. Its relatable in a way how hard becoming a true man is. If you do something to assert your dominance it could be dangerous. For example, you are trying to be a man and once you have a family you have to do whatever it takes to be considered a man to make money and support the mom and baby. Thus, why in lower societal places these young men have no choice but to sling drugs from time to time. They are put in a rough position from the start. Becoming a man is a lot to deal with. That stereotypical masculinity starts even in middle school. “Oh, you play soccer!!!!, what a wimp”. A man or boy doing something he likes just to be judged. Victor Rios made a compelling story and shining light on the struggles of becoming a man as a Latino or black. It was rough and not easy to obtain. But most did through crime simply to have respect. This could lead to a life being cut short or a life spent behind bars, all this just to make it in society! This simply shows a huge boundary between whites and other minorities. Minority groups must worry about these types of things, meanwhile whites due not. They have those societal and economic advantages. I have never been judged when I walked into a store. Unlike those boys were in part of the book. I never had to do anything criminally to gain respect anywhere because I never felt that threat. Unfortunately, this is the harsh reality between higher ups and minorities
My life has been filled with many instances in which I’ve felt the need to act in a certain way in order to earn the respect of others. I never did anything that could have put myself or others in harm’s way, but I did adjust my behavior to be more considerate of others around me. I was raised around a lot of individuals, and I was able to get along well with all of them. There were many times when I would say particular things to particular people just because I knew they would find it hilarious. It’s the fact that the only reason I did that was to try to appear more “cool” or more liked to those people. The majority of the things I would say don’t even strike me as particularly funny. Simply for the sake of other people and to earn their respect, that was the only reason I did it. Although I didn’t intentionally hurt anyone else, it may seem to others that I have caused disappointment to myself as a result of my actions. I spoke in a way that, if I had been my true self, I never would have done so in order to give the impression that I was someone other than who I actually was. I recognized that I needed to assert myself in order to be respected by my peers, and I came to this realization after I heard myself saying things on occasion. It seems to me that I have changed who I am for the sake of other people in order to fit in, yet in reality I should be able to feel comfortable being my genuine self.
I can’t say I’ve ever found myself trying to do things that could’ve hurt me to gain anyones respect. I feel as if maybe police officers aren’t understanding the situation with black or latino boys as maybe they are trying to impress friends or a girl they like or something or whoever is around. The best solution to this would be to try to understand the kid and maybe talk to him once he’s in the car so its a 1 on 1 conversation and then he has nobody to impress. The article even states that the cycle of Criminality and justice operates in such a way that institutional representatives such as police, teachers, social workers, and probation officers, even when meaning well (this isn’t always the case) engage in practices that have the effect of pushing young men into thee very criminality that the punishment is meant to deter. The boys would use these situations as a way to show manhood and masculinity. I can’t say I’ve ever faced these situations but i can only imagine what it is like to be in them or face them. Also to grow up in a neighborhood where this is what you know and what you gotta do.
I would argue that this notion of masculinity, and by extension “toxic masculinity”, is not necessarily new, but has rather gained more attention from scholars and researchers within the past few decades. It could partly be due to the underlying societal effect it has on many youth and police, as highlighted by Rios. With how Rios refers to the boys in Oakland, there were many examples of how the idea of masculinity was evident in my childhood. For example, between the years of elementary and middle school, my parents, especially my mother, would scold me for “acting like a girl” whenever I cried over a cut or scrape. One particular instance I can recall is that of the time when I believed it to be masculine to mask my emotions. Back then, I often believed concealing one’s emotions to be a sign of strength and masculinity, as the latter, presumably, meant weakness. In retrospect, I wish I recognized earlier in life just how damaging these mindsets were to both my mental health and the health of society at large. In contrast to what Rios covers, I never saw the need for me to do things like theft or violence for the sake of obtaining respect. Of course, this is due to a plethora of reasons, the most obvious of which being that I am a white male who grew up with two white parents, lived in a suburban environment, and whose family could be considered an upper-middle-class family. In other words, I had access to most social and economic opportunities around me, naturally due to my parents’ income but also due to the social advantages that white Americans have, something that results directly from systemic racism. Moreover, with the Black and Latino boys that Rios refers to, they were often born into families and households that could not support them due to impoverished conditions, racial stereotypes and stigmatization, and the effort to keep the disadvantaged from making any significant movement towards success in life. Thus, these boys were often limited to one of two possibilities: a) find whatever job one could access that often paid little and contributed little to one’s future and name, leaving one to suffer longer, or b) move towards a life of criminality that would often provide more economic benefits yet posed greater risks to one’s future. In a way, acts like petty theft would be a way for demanding respect, because, in the life of one who has nothing, something as small as a bag of chips can be the only symbol of ownership and power one has in their life.
There were several times in my life when I did things that could have gotten me in trouble, nothing too big just kid stuff. However, I know that most of the things were just to fit in during school. I even remember sometimes ending up in little trouble just because everyone else was doing it or because I wanted the respect it gave me to be the person who got in trouble. I stopped doing that when I got into high school but I think there are still times when I feel the need to act a certain way to fit in just because it’s easier.
Men try to assert their masculinity almost all the time. Although in my opinion men who have fragile masculinity usually grew up with men around them who needed to prove who was more “manly”. They become the target of comments or situations where they have to reaffirm that they are equal to the rest of the men who surrounded them in their childhood. So when they get the slightest comment about their masculinity they get defensive and have to assert that they are for x or y reason. I have two younger brothers who grew up in totally different environments, one grew up with my father and his wife and has always been a man who needs to prove that he is the most macho in everything. My other brother grew up with my mother and on more than one occasion I have analyzed how they are opposites, one doesn’t care what anyone says about him and the other always needs to make women less or be doing things in which he sees himself as more of a man.
I do not believe that I have ever found myself doing something that was likely to hurt me if I got caught because I wanted to assert myself to respected. The neighborhoods that I have lived in throughout my life did not have nay violence or poverty issues or issues of racism in Ohio. I have heard and learned about some insances in Cleveland Ohio in another course about a lot of these issues in their neighborhoods. The neighborhood that was talked about in this article, Oakland, did have issues of violence and poverty. Boys that are in minorities are seen to be criminals from a young age so usually enforcement wants to control them and be a powerful hierarchy to them. Luckily I am grateful and privileged to have not have this criminality attitude in my neighborhood. The neighborhood that was discussed in this article is not uncommon and is everywhere and that is not the only thing that one can suffer from, finding work can be hard in those areas as well. When one cant find work then it comes to putting a roof over your head, food on the table, and clothes on your back. Those living in poverty or in the Oakland neighborhoods are living a horrible cycle.
– This is a very interesting topic to talk about. But it makes very perfect sense, like in the criminology post I feel a lot of times when dealing with black and Latino boys their job in the end is to arrest them because the government and city makes very good money from this stuff happening. But, it ruins peoples live. In the article it talks a lot about masculinity and becoming a man. As a man this would make sense to me, but police need to realize when dealing with a black or Latino young man the young man is going to try to act tough maybe he is in front of his friends or wants to act cool, in that case the officer should talk to him 1-1 instead of escalating the situation by putting the young man in handcuffs or bickering back and forth with the young man. The difference between the boys in Rios and my upbringing is the fact that no teacher or law enforcement officer ever put a stereotype on me that I’m dangerous and you should be careful. It’s sad that even before the kids get into adulthood or manhood that already have such a negative stereotype about them.
Former gang member Victor Rios grew raised in Oakland, California’s Flatlands neighborhood. Later, he completed his doctoral degree at the University of California, Berkeley. Victor wrote an article outlining the issues that Latino and Black youth had to deal with as children. Rio visits his former Oakland neighborhood and speaks with 40 different young guys who are suffering with prejudice, crime, and property issues. Rios claims that because of their living circumstances, law enforcement and schools label these young children as “dangerous” or “difficult,” and they penalize them for insignificant offenses. Rio refers to this as “the youth control complex” and argues that boys who become involved in the system are stripped of their dignity and their potential for success in the workplace or in other areas of their lives. Even if institutional officials are intended to assist these people, they instead encourage these young guys to become more criminally inclined by engaging in actions that won’t have a lasting impact. Better-funded social programs and encouragement, in Rios’ opinion, might make a significant difference. According to Rios, when these people are really interested in these fields and are looking for work, adults fail to recognize their efforts and thereby penalize them. If no one offers males the opportunities they deserve, how are they meant to strive for improvement? These guys had to develop in circumstances lacking of the social networks required for success in both school and the workforce. Due to their inability to obtain these items, they have developed their own unique form of society that requires them to endure poverty, avoid violence, stay out of jail, and make an effort to conform to certain social norms in order to exist.
Did you ever find yourself doing things that were likely to hurt you if you got caught for reasons that you wanted to assert yourself to be respected?
The short answer is yes, I grew up bouncing from mainly low income neighborhoods in Virginia, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, D.C., Maryland and West Virginia. Even though I am a white man I mainly grew up in Black and Hispanic neighborhoods, obviously with me being white I didn’t face the racial discrimination from police, but they did view me as a second class citizen. But back to the question, I put myself in a lot of situations like this that caused me physical and mental damage that some have been repaired and am still working on. Where I’m from you have to earn your respect like Mr. Rios states, and the stuff I had to do or witness at first was slightly scary because you feel at a young age you have to earn that respect quickly. Some of these incidents caused me to get kicked out of my Middle School in the 8th Grade with me doing some time in a Juvenile Detention Center (JDC) even though that was not my first time being in one. Another time that happened when I was 14 going on 15 I got stabbed in my left shoulder, luckily I was ok but this all happened because I was taught that this was the only life I was destined for, and seeing how that affected me and my friends, I couldn’t comprehend how it affected them because even though we all grew up in poverty I was still white, the police never called me slurs, never insulted me because of my ace, and I can never truly understand how that affected my friends and how they felt like the only way to get respect is in the streets.
In the privileged neighborhood that I come from, I did not do anything to assert myself in terms of respect. Respect came from being of high wealth, education, or status. The difference here is that my area of living did not have poverty, violence, or institutionalized racism that the Oakland neighborhood in the article had. Minoritized boys are seen as criminals from a young age, so enforcement (or the system in general) feels the need to control them. My neighborhood did not having this push towards criminality, which is a very privileged spot to be in. Because there is poverty in a neighborhood like the one discussed in the article, looking for work is tough. Because looking for work is tough, poverty continues to exist which makes it hard to live in general, cook food for you and your family, and take care of you and your family in general. It’s a vicious cycle.
In terms of gender, toxic masculinity and “proving your worth” as a man is a real thing. One’s intersections can make proving yourself as a man even harder. For example, boys who are of color may find it more difficult to be respected in the same field, doing the same job as a white man. Like the article mentions, minoritized boys may not get the same recognition as privileged boys, and instead they become criminalized. This criminalization comes from the boys’ attempts to survive the neighborhood that they live in. This reminds me of the book “Code of the Street” by Elijah Anderson because it talks about the criminalization and how it leads to the cycle of not being able to find a job, become education, get help for a mental illness, etc. Criminality in response to criminalization makes sense as it’s just the cycle continuing.
While growing up, I cannot recall any times when I engaged in something that were likely to hurt me if I got caught for reasons where to assert yourself to be respected. Over the past couple years, I have gone through a lot of tough times; not just personally, but also with my family. Even going through those tough times, I have always cared about others and cared about how my actions would affect them. I have always wanted people’s approval in everything I do, especially my parents. In my family, I am the only niece and granddaughter, so I have found myself trying to prove to my family than I can be just as successful and strong as my older brother and cousins. This specific article discussed what young Latino and African American boys have to deal with while growing up. Within these cultures, no one pays attention to these boys who are just trying to get help. Cultures like these only see boys and young men who are considered to be trouble. Boys being trouble usually start around elementary and middle school and is usually caused from problems in the home or even underlying issues that no one is aware of, for example a form of a menta illness. Boys can also start trouble just for attention, because they want to be noticed and feel like they are being ignored or neglected. Often young boys will display how they are feeling through starting trouble. It is known that boys and even men struggle with showing emotions more than women girl.
While growing up, I cannot recall any times when I engaged in something that were likely to hurt me if I got caught for reasons where to assert yourself to be respected. Over the past couple years, I have gone through a lot of tough times; not just personally, but also with my family. Even going through those tough times, I have always cared about others and cared about how my actions would affect them. I have always wanted people’s approval in everything I do, especially my parents. In my family, I am the only niece and granddaughter, so I have found myself trying to prove to my family than I can be just as successful and strong as my older brother and cousins. This specific article discussed what young Latino and African American boys have to deal with while growing up. Within these cultures, no one pays attention to these boys who are just trying to get help. Cultures like these only see boys and young men who are considered to be trouble. Boys being trouble usually start around elementary and middle school and is usually caused from problems in the home or even underlying issues that no one is aware of, for example a form of a menta illness.
There were countless times in my life where I found myself doing things that could get me in trouble, just to look cool or fit in. Most of these situations were in middle school and high school, but even when I was a freshman in college I made poor decisions that could’ve hurt me if I got caught. I mean I guess today I still sometimes “show off” around my friends but nothing major anymore. When I was younger I had self image issues and I feel like thats where some of my poor decisions stemmed from. I would do anything to make people like me and to have friends.
I have a younger brother so I can relate to this topic a bit. I have seen him first hand try to assert his masculinity and make a name for himself. The article explains the social aspects of boys trying to prove their manhood and I’ve seen my brothers and his friends do exactly this. I feel bad because he’s a teenage boy and I make fun of him and call him “Mr. Testosterone” because he act like a big tough guy all the time. I feel like theres a lot of social pressure put on young boys to be rough and tough. My brother has gotten himself into a lot of trouble over the years because of stupid stuff he got caught up in trying to be cool with his friends.
This article was very powerful and I liked reading it. I cant say that growing up i never engaged in something that could potentially cause harm to myself just to have people hear me. I have been through alot in my life, but i have always been passionate about things other people could not. I always stressed about me being right to an extent. In the end this was to stop any type of embarassment that i had turned out the be wrong anyway. This article touched on the points of tthe problem that young latino and african amercan boys have to deal with growing up. They go through so much and no one pays attention to the boys who are trying to reach out and speak and get help. They only see boys who are trying to cause trouble when they can be going through a lot but no one wants to hear them. Elementary and middle school is where it starts and it will never end. The early stages of their childhood comes from either at home issues or just being a young black or latino boy n the world today. When highscool comes along a lot of negative things can affect how they act and even beyond that. Its a continouing cycle that will never end for all of the kids all over the world. Everyones senario is different in each way and each way should be taken seriously.
I personally can relate to this simply because of the environment I grew up in. I have 3 brothers I grew up with and I watched them “prove themselves” to the other boys in the neighborhood. I never felt the need to prove myself to anyone but the complex for boys are different. Similar to the boys in Oakland that got caught up. The feeling to fit in when your a boy I could only imagine is unexplainable, it’s more pressure. You have to make a name for yourself, make people respect you, etc especially when you grew up in these type of communities. Personally I know some people who got caught up in trouble without honestly even trying.
After thinking about this question for a while, I have not really came up with anything that I have done to assert myself, and gain respect that I did not have. Growing up, I was not put into the same situation as these kids mentioned in the article. The kids mentioned in Oakland and myself, we grew up in different situations. For me, I grew up in a suburban neighborhood, with parents that were together. My area was not a bad area when it came to crime and law enforcement, but there were always little bits of crime that would occur. Growing up for me, we would have the respect of others, and never really have to gain respect from others, which is clearly different from what happened to these kids growing up in Oakland, having to fight for their respect, and having to break out of the stigma and label of a “criminal”.
What parallels can you draw between the enacted practices of masculinity described by Rios, when he writes about the boys in Oakland, and your own upbringing?
Boys in Oakland are raised in a very urban society where the connection between poverty and crime is very affluent. Oakland is not a very safe area to be in and therefore things like crime seem to be expected of people from this community, especially within poor, minority neighborhoods. Alongside knowing this, it is also important to note that those children are raised believing that they will amount to nothing because their teachers and elders told them from day one that they were dangerous or criminal. There is a theory in psychology (that I cannot think of the name right now) that states that when someone is told over and over again that they will amount to nothing, they begin to believe this and they turn to these negative associations by doing this such as committing crimes. These behaviors typically start in small things like stealing from friends or family or a convenience store and progress to more severe crimes.
These behaviors and expectations are much different than the environment that I was raised in. I was raised in a very small rural town. My town was so small in fact that we did not have our own police barracks and neither did the next two towns over. If something bad were to happen in my town, which rarely ever happened, the police from 2 towns over would be called to assist and it would take them at least 20 minutes to get there. The expectations of most children in my community were low. They included taking over your family farm, working a trade job, or going to Lock Haven University, a college down the road from my house, and become a teacher or athletic trainer. Rarely ever did they expect anything more from us. This is what most students did. The most common crime in my area was drug dealing. Many people within the community knew who the dealers were, but rarely ever would they be caught or snitched on. If they were, you would expect to see them in Walmart in 3-5 years from their arrest dates. Our school and area were predominately white. Though there was a group of us who were not expected to amount to much in their lives and eventually the teachers gave up on those select students. Some dropped out, some were only there because they had to be, and some missed more school than days they were there and somehow by the grace of God graduated on time.
I feel that there were similarities between my community and Oakland, however, I feel that our teachers and elders tried a little harder to help these students. I don’t know any teacher that told a student to their face that they would become criminals or that they were dangerous. Our community was very helpful to the students who seemed to be going down the wrong path and sometimes it helped, and other times there wasn’t enough help aided through my school to help that individual.
I cannot say that growing up I have ever engaged in something that could potentially cause harm to myself just to prove a point. Instead, I have been very passionate about certain things growing up and at times, to prove I was something, I took stressing the fact I was right to an extreme. I believe this was to reduce any type of embarrassment had I turned out to be wrong. I almost feel as if I was always taking a defensive stance in the event I would be wrong about something, even if I was unsure about what I was talking about. I wanted to be right in the worst way, as if being right about things made me more intelligent than others or being right somehow made me fit in better with certain groups. Being right about something made you feel smart in a sense, it made you feel like you were almost better in some respects, better than the wrong person at least. If I could fit in with the smart kids and be respected on that level, at least it was something no one could take from you, no one can your intelligence from you.
I can relate to this myself in many ways. Growing up having an older brother and all his friends around, there was some sort of competition going on. Proving your manhood was a huge deal and of course someone had to be the “manly”. I have personally only one time risked myself from getting into a lot of trouble and putting others’ lives at risk but however at the moment I figured it was necessary to do because I had to prove myself to my friends. However, when I look back on it from this day I should of and will not do it again because at the time I was just young and dumb. But also, from a different point of view I have seen other people do dumb things like myself and wind up in a little bit of trouble. It could have been that the area they were in, the people that were associated with, and or the color of their skin. Each scenario is different in its own way.
This article is very relatable. Especially if you are a male. I remember countless times either one of my friends or even myself did something dumb to prove something to the rest of us. It is a tale as old as time. The constant need to prove that you are the bravest or whatever it was we were trying to prove. Now personally I have never done anything to get me in legal trouble, but I definitely have risked my physical health. For example, we used to tie a rope to the back of a truck and stand on a skateboard and try to hang on. Not the brightest idea anyone has ever had. I do know of individuals who have purposefully risked legal trouble in order to obtain something they want or to prove their “manhood”. A situation I could see being very probably would be a high school student acting out because they are not receiving attention at home. This has been portrayed in movies for years. It makes sense as to why these boys’ resort to things such as stealing. When they are deprived of natural necessities such as not being sure they will be able to eat dinner that night, stealing from a grocery store can actually be justified in their minds.
Lots of young people did this…to prove something or to combat boredom because it is fun. Boys like this, however, often end up in jail, where they become criminalized with records, set up for ongoing surveillance, and sometimes become ineligible for things like student loans. The difference is that some kids are thought of as innocents “just being kids” whereas others are looked at as potential future criminals, who must be tracked, watched, and confined, making them far more subject to be caught again. Same kids. Different outcomes. The system logic produces vastly different results, depending on your race, resident zip code, and/or socio-economic status.
Rios says that the boys in Oakland and others including the police are caught up in a social process, where they are all trying to prove their manhood. Rios explained that the boys were trying to go legit and get jobs but the adults in their lives didn’t recognize their positive attempts. Since the boys didn’t have the social and cultural capital they needed to succeed in school or getting a job they turned to their own alternative. Basically, they became criminals. Criminality, Rios says, was one of the few resources the boys could use in response to criminalization. In my own upbringing I have seen this happen with boys that I went to school with. They were all trying to prove their manhood. One boy I went to school with did not do so well in school. He went on to start hanging out with the “bad kids”. He had a few petty offenses but tried to get a job. None of the adults in his life recognized his efforts to better himself. He was denied job after job and finally got caught in a life of crime. This led him to prove his manhood by committing acts of crime to get respect from his friends. To this day he is still involved in crime and trying to prove his manhood and get respect.
I liked this little article about the book because I think it touched on the key points of the problem that young black and Latino boys have to face growing up. The book is all about the lives that the young men he shadowed have and he even reflects a little on his past growing up. I believe it is very hard for young black and Latino boys trying to transition from boys to men without feelings like they don’t fit in or feeling like people always put them in certain categories and having all these stereotypes made about them. I agree with it starting in the schools, specifically elementary school and middle school. In the early stages of their child hood, a lot of negative things can affect their high school lives and even beyond that. That’s when the police start to become apart of these young men’s lives, and unfortunately it’s like a cycle for these kids all over the world.