for their fanboy obsessions with comic books, video games, and…

“Dungeons & Dragons!”

Often the punchlines aren't really jokes per se. Instead laughs are derived by simply

referencing something that sounds vaguely nerdy.

Sheldon: "Did you just shut the TV off in the middle of the classic Deep Space 9, Star Trek

the Original Series Trouble with Tribbles crossover episode?"

I suspect this is one of reasons why so many people involved in geek subcultures

tend to dislike the show so much. It's essentially one long joke at their expense.

But I'd argue here's something more pernicious going on just under the surface.

Leonard: "So it's cool if I cry a little?"

Penny: "Yeah, I probably wouldn't." Leonard: "Yeah..."

Beyond its general mocking of geekdom, the show is relentless in making fun of

its male characters for not living up to traditional expectations of manhood.

On the surface it might seem like these nerdy nice guys represent a welcome

alternative to the macho archetypes that we've all come to expect from Hollywood.

But on closer inspection we find that, despite their status as nerdy outsiders,

these guys are still complicit in many of the most destructive aspects of toxic masculinity.

Leonard: "Yes, but our society has undergone a paradigm shift. In the information age, Sheldon,

you and I are the alpha males. We shouldn't have to back down.

I'm going to assert my dominance face to face."

In my previous video essay about the Adorkable Misogynist trope I discussed

the creepy, entitled and often sexist ways in which these geeky guys treat women.

Howard: "Get it? They're laughing. We're laughing. Then we get them up to about

.15 blood alcohol level, and tell them we're millionaires."

But I think it's also worth examining how they treat each other...

Raj: "The first thing we need is a theme. I'm thinking...turn of the century Moulin Rouge."

Leonard: "I'm thinking you need a testosterone patch."

...and by extension how the show's writers end up reinforcing a whole bunch of

regressive ideas about what it means to be a “real man.”

Leonard: "Beer, wings, sliders. We can watch the football game. I even painted my stomach."

There's a running gag on the show about how Leonard doesn't understand sports or

other activities that are stereotypically associated with men.

Penny: "Go sports?"

Leonard: "Well, in case you were in the mood for baseball, I didn't want to look ridiculous"

Leonard: "Go, go, go, YES! Are you people watching this? Is this amazing or what?!"

Penny: "Sweetie, that's a highlight from the '98 championship game."

Leonard: "Oh. I did not know that."

The joke relies on the assumption that all men are supposed to like sports,

and therefore it's inherently funny and absurd if a guy doesn't.

Now sitcoms are, of course, supposed to be funny

but as with all comedy, it's important to ask: Who are we meant to laugh with?

And who are we meant to laugh at?

Howard: "Hey."

Notice the laughter in this scene stems almost entirely from seeing Howard

wearing an apron.

Raj: "What's with the gloves?"

Howard: "They complete my ensemble. What do you want?"

The humor relies on the sexist idea that domestic tasks like cooking and cleaning

are women's work, and therefore, Howard's masculinity is somehow diminished by

being forced to clean the house. This reductive mix of sexism and emasculation

is really at the heart of the show's comedic formula.

Sheldon: "When I fail to open this jar, and you succeed, it will establish you as the

alpha male. I'm not strong enough, Leonard, You'll have to do it."

Sheldon: "Go ahead. It's pre-loosened."

Notice that these jokes aren't designed to challenge or subvert the limiting and

often toxic ideas about what it means to be a "real man."

"Do you want some help with that?" Leonard: "No, no, no."

Instead, the punchlines reinforce this notion that guys who aren't physically strong,

tough, or athletic are unmanly.

Leonard: "That's enough cardio for me. I'm gonna stretch out before I hit the weights."

And therefore worthy of ridicule.

Howard: "Hold on. Pause. Something doesn't make sense."

In order to move forward in this discussion, we're going to have to get academic just

for a minute, and very quickly define a couple of terms. Those are

Hegemonic Masculinity and Hypermasculinity.

Hegemonic Masculinity is a term that's used to describe the socially constructed ideal

of manhood. It's characterized by things like physical strength, aggression, domination,

suppression of emotions, and heterosexuality.

The ideal varies somewhat based on factors like geography, but here I'm

concerned with white Western manhood as shaped by Hollywood. For obvious examples

think of Conan the Barbarian, James Bond, or Captain America.

All the guys on the Big Bang Theory are depicted as embodying the exact opposite

of that Hegemonic ideal.

Howard (gravelly voice): "I'm Batman."

So much so, that simply seeing them dress up as their favorite superhero is

in and of itself a punchine.

Howard: "Ow!...I mean [gravelly] Ow."

The important thing to understand about this manhood ideal is that it's a fiction.

It only really exists in the cultural imagination. Which means that men can

never really actually achieve it.

However, it's still a standard against which men are held and compared.

The social expectations and pressures on men to try to achieve some version of it is real

as is the social status either lost or gained based on a man's perceived proximity to

that ideal.

The term Hypermasculinity is a little different.

It refers to the set of attitudes and behaviors associated with the pursuit of that

Hegemonic ideal.

Hypermasculinity includes things like aggressive competition,

sexual conquest, and destructive or risk taking behaviors like fighting,

reckless driving, or heavy drinking.

Hypermasculinity is also obsessively anti-feminine.

Now keep that in mind because it's going to be imporant a little later.

Hypermasculine behaviors are how men are taught to perform their manhood, to prove

that they are closer to that fictional ideal than the other men around them.

Leonard: "Oh no!"

The four geeks on the Big Bang Theory are shown constantly attempting to perform

some version of hypermasculinity.

Sheldon: "Now prepare yourself for what may come."

Wil Wheaton: "Oh Sheldon, do you really think we're going to fight?"

Their spectacular failures in their quest to prove their manhood then provides

the ironic hook behind much of the shows comedy.

Leonard: "I say this one time, instead of wimping out, let's be bad-asses!"

Raj: "Ok. I'll be a bad-ass, but only if you pinky-swear to be one too."

Now you'd think a bunch of geeks who are regularly derided for being unmanly would

be supportive of each other's insecurities.

And although there are fleeting moments of compassion between the four friends

they spend much of their time mocking and humiliating each other for not

living up to the manhood ideal.

Sheldon: "I see you decided to go with pathetic and frightened."

Raj: "It's one of his best moves."

Sheldon: "I'm having female problems."

Leonard: "If you're cranky and retaining water, I have a theory."

Raj: "I have to talk to her about this."

Howard: "Geez, why do you girls always want to talk about things?"

This may seem a little counter-intuitive; why would nerds who are bullied for

not acting manly enough, then turn around and replicate that same behavior within

their own circles? Well, it's because one ways men learn to perform manhood...

Sheldon: "None shall pass."

...is by exerting power over others.

Remember when I said that one of the characteristics of Hypermasculinity was

an obsession with being anti-feminine?

Sheldon: "A girls' night? I don't know if I'm up for an evening talking about

rainbows, unicorns, and menstrual cramps."

Time and again we see the men on the show demeaning women and expressing a casual

distain for anything considered "girl stuff."

Howard: "Sex In the City? Yikes!"

Penny: "Hey, I happen to love this movie."

Howard: "Fine, let's watch it. Maybe all our periods with synchronize."

Anti-feminine attitudes are also connected to the ways that men police each other's

presentation of manhood.

Sheldon: "Because of your lactose intolerance you switched over to soy milk. Soy contains

estrogen-mimicking compounds. I think your morning Coco Puffs are turning you into a

hysterical woman."

Just so we're clear, when men insult and belittle other men by calling them women,

that is an extension of misogyny.

Leonard: "You're controlling, you're irritating..."

Sheldon: "There you go again: nag, nag, nag. You're only proving my point little lady."

Nowhere is this dynamic as clear as in the show's treatment of Raj.

Raj: "Edward's only pushing you away because he loves you."

Raj: "I've got everything we'll need for the big game: low-fat turkey jerky,

low-carb beer, 100 calorie snack packs."

Leonard: "Pick up a Y-chromosome while you were there? You might be short one."

Howard: "I won't be making fun of you or the things you like, or the fact that you

[singing] just wanna have fu-un."

In practically every episode over ten seasons, the other characters on the show

make fun of Raj for acting too much like a woman.

Raj: "It wasn't a pajama party. It was just a couple of bros hanging out, giggling,

eating cookie dough, and watching Princess Bride."

Howard: "Please stop talking."

As you might expect, the jokes targeting Raj for not being manly enough

are steeped in a thick layer of homophobia.

Howard: "Wow!"

Raj: "And that's not even the best part. See, I have one too."

Raj: "Check it out, you can wear yours and we can have little sword fights whenever we want."

The humor consistently codes Raj's more effeminate behaviors and interests as gay

and that's always the punchline.

Raj: "May I have a Grasshopper with a little umbrella, please?"

Howard: "No, you may not." Raj: "Why?"

Howard: "I'm not sitting here with a guy drinking a Grasshopper with a little umbrella."

Raj: "Fine. I'll have a chocolate martini."

Howard: " Wrong! Again!"

Raj is the only one of the four guys who after 230 episodes still doesn't have a

steady girlfriend.

Raj: "Do have any idea what it's like to be the only one without a girlfriend?"

Raj: "Even if I get one someday, I'll still be the guy who got a girl after Sheldon Cooper."

All the others have had their long-term partners join the main cast.

I don't think it's a coincidence that the character most ridiculed for being the

most unmanly in a group of men specifically coded to be unmanly, is also the only

man of color on the show.

And as such, Raj fits neatly into Hollywood's long-running tradition of mocking and

diminishing the sexuality of Asian men.

At times, Raj seems comfortable with his softer, more effeminate version of manhood.

TV: "Bridget Jones' Diary." Raj: "Oh my god, I'm crying already."

But the show and the other male characters are not, and they let Raj and us as the

audience know that there is something wrong with him for not being manly enough

every chance they get.

Leonard: "What's up? Howard: "Not his testosterone levels."

Raj: "Excuse me, I happen to very comfortable with my masculinity."

Howard: "How is that possible?"

In her 1995 book, Masculinities, RW Connell lays out the theory that there's not just

one form of masculinity, but rather many different forms of manhood that all exist

within a hierarchy.

The white heterosexual hypermasculine ideal is at the top of that hierarchy, and then all

other forms of masculinity are made subordinate to it.

Forms of manhood that are in any way associated with homosexuality

or femininity are pushed further down on the hierarchy.

Sam Spade: "When you're slapped, you'll take it and like it."

This hierarchical structure then creates a social system wherein men are encouraged

to compete with other men for status and dominance,

even within their own peer groups and subcultures.

Leonard: "You want some more?"

This is why even men who are bullied for not meeting the hypermasculine ideal

often feel the only way they can be seen as real men...

Howard: "Well, come on! Get up!" Leonard: "Stay down, bitch."

... is by diminishing someone else.

Raj: "I am Shiva the Destroyer. I will have the woman."

Howard: "I'm warning you, I was judo champion at math camp."

The relationship dynamics between Leonard, Sheldon, Howard, and Raj provides us with

a microcosm of how this hierarchy of masculinities works.

Raj: "Dude, I'm glad you finally got a girlfriend, but do you have to do all that

lovey-dovey stuff in front of those of us who don't?"

Sheldon: "Actually he might have to. There's an economic concept known as a

positional good, in which an object is only valued by the possessor because it's not

possessed by others."

Howard: "It's not true. My happiness is not dependent on my best friend being

miserable and alone." Raj: "Thank you."

Howard: "Although I'd be lying if I said it wasn't a little bit of a perk."

Practically every aspect of their friendship from the personal to the professional