In both Ozbay's and George's articles, a comparative theme seems to translate masculinity as a kind of historical honor that must be maintained through strict norms, otherwise the purpose as male in all its social spheres will become non-existent. The Western influence of hegemonic masculinity grips other cultures, instilling ideas of sustained masculinity. Ozbay and George look at how the hierarchical characteristics of gender apply to various cultures, given the social institutions within which they operate. Exaggerated masculinity or “machismo” is a strong or excessive emphasis on masculine traits such as physical courage, virility, dominance, emotionlessness, and aggression. In this sense, the honor of manhood is to remain within these structured boundaries, having control over every situation that asks every male person the question, “How much of a man are you?” Both articles explain how the ideology of exaggerated masculinity is important in how we study the distribution of gender, sex and sexuality. The general idea insists that manhood is honorable and if any male falters and steps outside the binary lines then he is sanctioned, reduced to the social standard of dishonorable. So, when comparing these two articles, one might assume that the big question is: where does femininity fit into all of this and if it's not honorable, what is it? Ozbay's article follows the night boys of Istanbul, Varos. These boys, usually between the ages of eighteen and twenty-five, have become increasingly visible in Istanbul's gay social spheres as “nocturnal queers” engaging in various forms of compensated sex. Most of all, though, these rent boys are Varos; other, segregated... in the middle of paper... lture of working class families in Mumbai. The general idea for men in their environment is to be seen as honorable by their neighborhood and their families, which as George notes can become a kind of competition, another example of an interaction between masculinity that gives dominance and power to the most “honorable” of men. This public surveillance corresponds to what Ozbay observes in his article: in these environments, males police each other in their constricting social constructs of exaggerated masculinity. Through this control and focus on maintaining a masculine-structured society that validates femininity, women are free to explore the power of their own actions and femininity, which sees the discovery that women are equally capable of making their strengths and the power to take on responsibilities that are usually expected of male people.