Masculinity and Mental Health - No Comment

Glenn Ricketts

A columnist for the UMass/Amherst Daily Collegian recently posted a piece about the crisis of traditional masculinity which, he argues, is very bad for a man's mental health:

Men’s assumed and undeserving position in society is coming at a huge cost to our health. The performance of hegemonic masculinity is forcing men of all races, classes and education to sacrifice their mental and physical health.

The universty is aware of the  problem, and has provided help through its health services via Phallacies, a program for assisting men burdened by their masculinity.

But the writer has also taken a proactive approach to the crisis beyond just producing opinion pieces. During this past spring semester he offered a course, “Mosaics in Masculinity” (syllabus here), sponsored by the university’s Women’s Studies Department, with the following objectives:

Learning Outcomes: Masculinity is a powerful and vulnerable identity with both positive and negative affects [sic] on society. Through an introductory understanding of Western hegemonic masculinity and the many variations of the ways boys are socialized to become “men” students will learn how men can become leaders and participants in the feminist movement and set a positive stage for the next generation. Some specific  components of the course will be able to understand and explain the intersectionality of race, class, and gender within the social construction of masculinity. By bringing in wide ranging subjects relating to masculinity, students will be able to piece together the ever-changing mosaics of masculinity. Throughout the course, contemporary readings will take students into the inner workings of boyhood and manhood. The end of the course will use the pop culture icon Fight Club, both movie and book, to analyze the internal and intersections of the destructive consequences of performing masculinity.

It isn’t clear at present whether the course is being considered as a possible Gen Ed requirement.

  • Share

Most Commented

March 24, 2025

1.

A Reckoning for Higher Education?

Are American colleges and universities finally getting their comeuppance?...

March 31, 2025

2.

Keeping Watch

Columbia's descent into chaos is by its own hand. Actions to right the university must be swift and tough....

January 27, 2025

3.

Exclusive Documents: UC-Boulder Breaks Civil Rights Law to Advance Racial Preferences

New FOIA documents grant a window into how the University of Colorado-Boulder, in the name of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, discriminates on the basis of protected class and upholds a co......

Most Read

May 15, 2015

1.

Where Did We Get the Idea That Only White People Can Be Racist?

A look at the double standard that has arisen regarding racism, illustrated recently by the reaction to a black professor's biased comments on Twitter....

April 15, 2025

2.

Fighting Harvard and the Other Cultural Warlords

The academic bureaucracies and professoriate are so deeply committed to their radical program of replacing American society with their own vision of a new order that we have no real choice b......

October 12, 2010

3.

Ask a Scholar: What is the True Definition of Latino?

What does it mean to be Latino? Are only Latin American people Latino, or does the term apply to anyone whose language derived from Latin?...