Editorial: Masculinity Week brings everyone into gender conversation

As a society, we don’t discuss masculinity nearly as much as we enforce it.

We tell boys not to cry. We label pink as “salmon” in menswear, and we call toy dolls “action figures” because it’s less maternal.

But although gender expectations impact men’s everyday lives, men do not participate in gender studies courses at the same rates as women. Hopefully, a series of new events at Pitt will help turn this tide.

This week, the Interfraternity Council is sponsoring Healthy Masculinities Week, a series of events designed to break down stereotypes about what it means to “be a man.” There will be featured guest speeches and roundtable discussions, as well as a documentary screening Wednesday.

These events offer an avenue for more men to enter the larger conversation surrounding gender, and are especially relevant to those who have never participated in gender theory in an academic center. We all know the subtext behind action figures or male tears, but have you discussed the psychological and sociological theories behind them? 

Ignoring masculinity’s role in creating social norms pressures men to fit categories without question. If they act outside this binary, society then ostracizes them, sometimes leading men to overcompensate in dangerous manners — for example, fighting as a manly act.

The pressure of masculinity has shaped our entire history, but we too often accept the emotional and societal reaction at face value.

We study feminism because women are a historically oppressed group, and there is a deeper value in understanding how that experience has affected modern social norms. And, as feminist discourse shows, many of the root issues surrounding mistreatment of women link back to perceptions of masculinity.

According to social narratives, a “real man” must commit himself to a career rather than caregiving. “Real men” drink beer and watch sports, scoffing at anything associated with emotions.

The truth is that “real men” are a myth. Gender identification does not come with a qualifications list.

Masculinity itself is not inherently the problem, but how we have used limited perceptions of it to define each other is. This is about making room for all definitions of masculinity and self-identity. More importantly, it is about educating men in a field that many may think is not meant for them.

According to Todd Reeser, director of Pitt’s gender, sexuality and women’s studies program, studying gender is relevant to anyone, regardless of their own gender.

“The program believes very strongly that a balanced GSWS major and minor should include masculinity as one of its component parts,” Reeser wrote in an email. “We also believe that gender constraints affect all bodies, and that thinking about masculinity academically is important for male, female and trans* students and agendas.”

Reeser also noted that he taught an advanced class called “Masculinities” in the fall, which reached its enrollment cap, but most of the students in the course presented as women.

Promoting a larger engagement with men is crucial to creating a full picture of gender, and part of that is making the topic seem more approachable.

Both of the featured speakers appearing for Healthy Masculinities Week are men, and the documentary focuses on the lives of boys and young men. These events are specifically addressing the lives of men and how they can define what their gender means to them.

Everyone should feel like they belong at these events. The topics apply to all of us on some level because we all face arbitrary gender expectations and can benefit from the discussions.

So attend with an open mind. You just might feel something and become comfortable talking about it in the process.