Dr. Andrew Smiler argues that Men’s Studies is necessary and the logical complement to Women’s and LGBTQ Studies.
A few weeks ago, the New York Times pondered “A Master’s Degree in…Masculinity?” The headline itself suggests the NYT is not convinced this is a good idea. Placing the article, written by Jessica Bennett, in the Fashion & Style section implies this might be a passing fad, not an ongoing scholarly pursuit.
Programs designed to better understand men and disseminate that knowledge are long overdue.
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Readers answered the question, offering more than 750 responses so quickly that the paper reprinted some of them on Monday. Some were in favor, others opposed, and yet others were guarded about the idea.
Quite frankly, programs designed to better understand men and disseminate that knowledge are long overdue. A growing number of academics agree, joining organizations such as the American Men’s Studies Association and the Society for the Psychological Study of Men and Masculinity. Their work, and the work of many others, supports at least seven academic journals devoted to the study of boys, men, and masculinity.
Men’s Studies could have a broad impact, as illustrated by a few simple statistics. Males are diagnosed with Attention Deficit Disorders at least four times more often than females, commit 90% of homicides—including almost all mass shootings–and make up 75% of homicide victims, and are four times more likely to complete a suicide attempt. Men typically defer seeing a doctor until they are very sick, leading to more expensive treatments and a lower likelihood of full recovery. A better understanding of men and their needs might change this.
Research shows that most men do not fit our stereotypical notions or engage in these behaviors, despite near constant encouragement to do so that starts in boyhood.
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Some people argue these behaviors are inherent to being male, that being XY instead of XX leads to these behaviors. Yet research shows that most men do not fit our stereotypical notions or engage in these behaviors, despite near constant encouragement to do so that starts in boyhood. The reality is that most men quietly go about the business of being male without ever throwing a punch, trying to have a horde of sexual partners, or being a jerk.
Men’s studies isn’t just about changing the statistics. It also sheds light on the current generation of fathers, many of whom are trying to be more involved and connected than their fathers were. Men’s studies can help us understand who these men are and why they do it. Despite decades of efforts to recruit male teachers and nurses, men still make up small minorities in these fields. Men’s studies can explain why. Attending to men would help us understand the plight of the approximately 40% of boys and men who are sexually assaulted or raped, giving us responses better than Bill Maher’s “that’s not getting raped, that’s getting lucky.”
Men, or at least heterosexual white men, are often positioned as the enemy. Feminists (and others) have long recognized that these men are also trapped by the patriarchal system, but that message has yet to reach men. Perhaps it’s the stigma of listening to women or taking a women’s studies course, perhaps it’s because questioning the definition of masculinity is considered un-manly, and perhaps it’s because our culture is not yet convinced that men have “gender.” Or maybe it’s because men are supposed to get degrees in “practical” fields that will lead to high-paying jobs in order to support a family, not degrees in areas that might enhance their personal well-being.
Taught to compete in every realm, become a breadwinner, and follow the rules, many men can only understand race-based hiring as reverse discrimination.
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Without a men’s movement to explain it, and with only a small number of men’s studies courses and activists, how can men understand the way cultural prescriptions of being a “real man” shape their behavior? Lacking a conceptual framework or socially acceptable alternatives, men defend the only role they have. And so they engage in extensive online trolling and harassment of female activists, blame women’s menstruation for …whatever, and otherwise impede women’s societal progress. For some men, like the Isla Vista shooter, this means killing women.
The lack of understanding impacts racial attitudes as well. Taught to compete in every realm, become a breadwinner, and follow the rules, many men can only understand race-based hiring as reverse discrimination. Homicide is one result, as is the absurd scenario of three white male students filing a racial discrimination case against their black professor after a class on structural racism.
Men’s studies is the missing piece.
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At the cultural level, we accept the need for programs that study women, sexual minority members (LGTBQ), and specific ethnic minority groups (African American, Native American, etc.). All these are positioned as “corrective” to mainstream courses that focus exclusively on white heterosexual men. Programs typically engage in, or at least encourage, efforts to create change. Without complementary programs to study men and masculinity, these programs are necessarily limited. Men’s studies is the missing piece.
-photo by Quinn Dombrowski/flickr used under Creative Commons 2.0 license
Andrew,
Why haven’t we met before? Thank you for this article, and for the awesome work you’re doing.
I’m a relationship coach, author, and fellow weekly contributor for GMP in the sex and relationships dept. Most of my work is focused on intimacy, sexual desire, communication, and goal planning. I’d like to get in touch. My email is [email protected]
In the spirit of balance, we may need to add heterosexual studies to that list as well.
After all, If a guy likes women, the color pink, AND pleasantly scented bath products people assume he is gay regardless of who he chooses to sleep with. The inverse can also be said of women. It all comes down to gender branding. If you’re going to have classes dedicated to one end of the spectrum, perhaps there should be some devoted to the other.
In the spirit of balance, we may need to add heterosexual studies to that list as well.
lolololol! My undergrad and grad experience (lit and ee) was nothing but one big festival of men’s studies. I remember all the male authors we read, the historical topics – about men, my russian paper I was asked to write on “The Modern Russian Man” (sovrimenii muj), all the male scientists who discovered whatever the hell we were studying, medical research – mostly on men because menstruation apparently ruins it, the engineering and math classes that were 90% men with all male professors; unless you deliberately went looking for it, everything is about men at university. The topics you are… Read more »
For far too long in the UK, men have been marginalised. It smells of grey inequality. Let me give you three examples in health, housing and education. The NHS was set up in 1948 to cater for women and children as the population needed to ‘grow’ . Today, we have health ministers responsible for Woman and Children’s issues. There has never been a minister for men’s issues. Odd that, if you look at the gender ratio in government? In housing, when there is a family or couple breakup, the men often find themselves ‘without a home’. They are in fact… Read more »
@ lauren
“can’t you let women have their own little Women’s Studies?”
They do, but that’s not your point is it? Your point is to deny men men’s studies. Sad.
I’m surprised to see several people, including the author, questioning the first comment: “Too many boys fail to become men”. This point is covered frequently on Good Men Project; I think of articles like “Is Growing Up An Ascent (or Descent) into Manhood?” It’s all about redefining modern manhood. I have to admit that I was a sceptic about the notion of “men’s studies” when it was first broached and, after hearing Michael Kaufmann speak on this idea, I’m very supportive of it.
Bravo! It’s about time. Men have been pressured to play their assigned roles just as much as women. That man box thing. And as I like to say when women complain about men in general: Well, who raised them? Big generalization there, I know, but we’re all in this together. So yes, bring on the men’s studies!
“Research shows that most men do not fit our stereotypical notions or engage in these behaviors, despite near constant encouragement to do so that starts in boyhood. The reality is that most men quietly go about the business of being male without ever throwing a punch, trying to have a horde of sexual partners, or being a jerk. Men’s studies isn’t just about changing the statistics… Men or at least heterosexual white men, are often positioned as the enemy.” Andrew, I think you’ve taken the wrong lesson from your own statement- As it would seem from such research, pigeonholing behavior and… Read more »
Andrew, I am in. Have been for quite some while. Especially in one of my classes the professor felt the need to identify men as rapists and domestic abusers. Yet, no information on avenues to help change. Her subtle opinion seemed to be that is just the way men are, oh well, they still have their male privilege. It is time for a change of perspective about men. It is time for men to see themselves differently. To pave a new form of masculinity that does not generalize men as sexually and physically violent aggressors. it is time for fathers… Read more »
Thanks John.
Andrew, I can truly get behind the idea of offering Men’s Studies at the Community and University college level. I have a M.S. in Psychology with that one avenue I am going to be pursuing is teaching at the Community College level. I would love to pick your brain about how to get a college on board to offer men’s studies to their students.
So, Andrew, you are for the “Michael Kimmel” style of mens studies, i.e. Men are broken and we need to fix them.
No. I think men (or “masculinity”) are much more complicated than that. Men do a lot of good, important, and useful stuff in ways that sometimes overlap with and sometimes are very different than what women do. I think we need to look at all of it so we can figure out what is effective and what isn’t, and for whom it is effective/not (and the combo of what & who). We need to identify, document, and understand the good and the bad (so to speak), and use that knowledge to shape society in ways that help everyone (not just… Read more »
I understand what you’re saying but would like to know if this study would include the effects that feminism has had on men, the shifting of roles and societies neglect of men which includes the indispensability of men?
Andrew
It is great idea!
Thanks silke.
I’ve written an on line book on Men’s Studies.
The title of the book is “The American Gentleman”.
The URL of the webpage for this book is:
http://amerigentleman.blogspot.com/
This book is written from a men’s rights perspective.
Hi CV Compton Shaw,
I’m co-author of an intro to Men’s Studies text, with Chris Kilmartin, “The Masculine Self” now in it’s 5th edition. http://www.sloanpublishing.com/kilmartin
From the link you posted, and your statement, your book is clearly ideological with an effort to argue against feminism. That would not fit Men’s Studies as I described it (see my last paragraph).
“with an effort to argue against feminism. That would not fit Men’s Studies as I described it (see my last paragraph).” I agree that men’s studies is important (if nothing else it should close the gender pay gap). I’m not saying opposition to feminism should be the cornerstone, however, I don’t think feminism is the “lens” with which we should view the study of men. I wouldn’t rule something out simply because it opposes feminism. I’d need to see how the problems are approached. Male suicide: 1. Men are violent and need to change. 2. Men are taught to not… Read more »
Thanks John, I completely agree with you. In particular with “I’m not saying opposition to feminism should be the cornerstone, however, I don’t think feminism is the “lens” with which we should view the study of men. I wouldn’t rule something out simply because it opposes feminism.” It should be expected that at this point of the studies of gender dynamics, feminism needs to be taken into account in studies about masculinity. But requiring a feminist view on masculinity – thereby excluding anything that criticizes feminism – is not only shortsighted but plainly wrong. Why do we need to think… Read more »
Well said, Andrew. I would suggest that the folks most inclined to oppose men studies are the ones most likely to benefit from it.
Thanks Mark.
“Men cause most of the problems in the world.”
Excuse me, Tony, but women inhabit this world as well and are perfectly capable of harm and sin like men. Like any human being in general. Let’s not push this “Women are wonderful” stereotype. Got it?
“We treat women horribly.”
So do other women.
“Too many boys struggle and fail to become men”
And what is a “Man” to you?
Great questions which leads me to ask what perspective would these “men’s” study have?
I think it’s a great idea. But i also think that it should be mandatory for those who take gender studies, to take gender studies for both genders so that there is a more well-rounded perspective instead of just focusing on one or the other. Female gender studies tend to be dominated by women when men would really benefit from it as well. And I suspect that male gender studies would be dominated by men when both men and women would benefit from it too. And part of the point of it isn’t just educating one gender about their own… Read more »
I don’t know. Women’s studies are about how women are victimized by men. Men’s studies are about how men victimize women. Only difference.
T.E.
If you think I’m arguing for Men’s Studies that is based on demonizing men, then you clearly didn’t read the article. Men’s Studies, as I describe it, looks at changes in how we think about what it means to be a father, understanding why boys are diagnosed with ADD 4x more often than girls, understanding why men are much more likely to be (both) perpetrators and victims of homicide, why men are more likely to kill themselves via suicide, among others.
Is this based on Kimmel’s work? If so, and considering the fact that he basically handwaves female perpetrated violence as being not terribly important, you’ll excuse me, I hope, if I’m just a little skeptical over the intentions here.
No. please see my response to Zygor, below.
Good point Erin. There definitely should be mutual understanding by students and faculty, as well as the mandated crossover.
I have been advocating for years that we need a men’s studies program. I can get a BA, MA, and PhD in women s studies. Men cause most of the problems in the world. We treat women horribly. Too many boys struggle and fail to become men. Its time we fix this.
Tony, I don’t believe ‘Men cause most of the problems in the world”.
It makes me disappointed to read this comment in the GMP.
I do believe that men can treat women horribly as you say, but the reverse is also true.
I also believe that it is about time there is a course in Mens Studies.
Thanks for the support Tony.
I’ll pass on the “men cause most of the problems”; that could be debated forever in various ways.
But I’m not sure what you mean you say “too many boys…fail to become men”. I don’t think you mean that they’re dying in childhood, but I’m not sure what you are trying to say.