Sex and gender are attributes of our identity. Sex describes the physical and biological factors we are born with, for example male or female genitalia, as quoted by Blackadder “A boy without a blink is a girl” (Elton and Curtis 1998). Whether we have estrogen or testosterone hormones also tells us whether we are men or women. Gender, however, is related to stereotypes of masculinity and femininity and expectations about what characteristics men or women should represent. Anyone given the opportunity to describe a man would say words like dominant, unemotional, macho, aggressive and as the one who provides and protects his family. This essay aims to examine whether masculinity is socially constructed and to do so theories of gender, media, historical societies and even sexuality will be analysed. Sigmund Freud's theory of masculinity is based on the presence of male genetics and a concept that "anatomy is destiny" (2013), leading to a theory of biological determinism and this theory was supported by Talcott Parsons (2013) , a functionalist theorist. Parsons believes that, alongside the natural element of gender identities, males and females have scripts linked to their sexes and that these scripts are learned through adequate socialization. Parsons believes that male roles are influenced on boys through positive and persuasive language, such as “what a big, strong boy you are” (Bown, 2013). Raewyn Connell (2002) explains that boys are typically not expected to care about their appearance or taught to; however, persistence and control are encouraged to become primary personality traits. Children are encouraged to play competitive sports such as football and basketball by both the school and the media, with the promise of joy...... middle of paper ......ll, R., (2002 ), cited in Sociology of Gender, Bown, D., (2013:5), Unpublished.Cornwall, A., & Lindisfarne, N., (1994, p13 & 105), Dislocating Masculinity, London, Routledge.Elton & Curtis , (1998) , Cited in Sociology of Gender, Bown, D., (2013:7), Unpublished.Francis, B., (2011), Cited in Sociology of Gender, Bown, D., (2013:10) , Unpublished.Freud, S., (2013), Cited in Sociology of Gender, Bown, D. (2013:7), Unpublished.Kimmel, M., (1994), Masculinity as homophobia, http://faculty. ucc.edu/psysoc- stokes/masculinity.pdf [accessed 30 October 2013]Let Toys be Toys, (2013), About the Campaign, http://www.lettoysbetoys.org.uk/about-2/ [accessed on 19 November 2013]Parsons, T. , (2013), Cited in Sociology of Gender, Bown, D., (2013:9), Unpublished.Sarkeesian, A., (2010), You Tube, Toy ads and learning gender, https://www.youtube. com/watch?v=rZn_lJoN6PI [accessed October 31 2013]