The Media Research Center reports that the university’s Women’s Center is set to host a week-long event that will focus on lecturing men about a concept sponsors are calling “healthy masculinity,” whatever that is.

The lectures are part of “Healthy Masculinities Week”, in which the women’s center claims to be devoted to “Celebrating Women” while “Empowering All”.

The Media Research Center continued:

The mission of the Women’s Center is to affirm a “space for all members of the Vanderbilt community that acknowledges and actively resists sexism, racism, homophobia, and all forms of oppression while advocating for positive social change.”
 

“The Macho Paradox”

“Core values” of the women’s center to be showcased include the notion that “progress toward gender equality calls all of us to be champions for change” while simultaneously claiming to “celebrate the unique differences among all persons and work to build community in diversity.”

The Healthy Masculinities Week lecture series additionally seeks to encourage men to “[e]xplore health masculinity through various lenses,” such as “American society, the gay and bisexual community, fraternities, and more.”

MRC noted that the first event of the week-long series is called “The Macho Paradox: Why some men hurt and how all men can help.” The title references a book by Jackson Katz, a self-proclaimed “anti-sexist activist” and the event’s speaker.

The full title of Katz’s tome is actually The Macho Paradox: Why Some Men Hurt Women and How All Men Can Help. MRC said it wasn’t clear why the word “Women” was removed from the Vanderbilt event listing.

A review of Katz’s book says: “Katz explores those aspects of American culture that promote violence against women, focusing separate chapters on pornography, prostitution, and other sex-related businesses as well as sexual violence in the military, the music industry, and athletics.” It also “offers advice on how men can ally with women to curb violence and change those aspects of the ‘boys will be boys’ attitude on male aggressiveness and masculinity that can lead to violence and abuse.”

In 2012, Katz gave a TED talk entitled ”Violence against women – It’s a men’s issue,” in which he asserted that society needs to “change the socialization of boys and the definitions of manhood that lead to these current outcomes [violence against women].”
 

“Man up”

There is no doubt that the Vanderbilt event aims to perpetuate the so-called “rape on campus” myth that has been roundly debunked.

As MRC further noted:

Other events as part of “Healthy Masculinities Week” include “Maintaining ‘Bro’ Status: Fraternity men discuss masculinity and mental health,” “Masc 4 Masc: Policing masculinity in the gay and bi communities,” “Masculinity XXL? The portrayal of manhood in Magic Mike,” and a screening and discussion of the film, “The Mask You Live In.”

An advertisement for “Healthy Masculinities Week” emailed to members of the student body includes a portrayal of a man with a thought bubble; he is thinking, “Don’t cry,” “Have sex,” “Major in business,” “Play sports,” and “Man up”, all of which appear to be examples of so-called unhealthy masculinity.

“In addition to the Margaret Cuninggim Women’s Center, ‘Healthy Masculinities Week’ is also sponsored by a host of other departments at Vanderbilt, including Vanderbilt Athletics, Dean of Students Project Safe Center, Women’s and Gender Studies, Martha Rivers Ingram Commons, Office of Greek Life, Office of LGBTQI Life, Bishop Joseph Black Cultural Center, and the Interfaith Council,” MRC reported.

Sources include:

MRCTV.org

Vanderbilt.edu

Amazon.com

USAToday.com

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