Canada: Uni set to kick-off Healthy Masculinities Campaign

Submitted by Mastodon on Fri, 2015-10-16 12:34

Article here. Excerpt:

'The Sexual Assault Support Center (SASC) is starting a program this month to facilitate the exploration of masculinity.

The “Creating Healthier Masculinities Leadership Program” seeks to question social expectations of men through conversation, training and eventually whatever program participants decide that UBC needs.

To kick off the project, former BC Lions player JR LaRose will discuss his own relationship to the hyper-masculine stereotype.

“Men, this isn’t a women’s issue, a trans issue, [or] a gender non-conforming issue — it’s your issue.... We’re trying to contextualize it more than just, ‘Stop screwing up, do better,’” said AMS President Aaron Bailey and soon to be participant in the training. “This could make you healthier, make you better able to deal with things.”

The goal of the campaign is to help men overcome the harmful societal expectations that prevent them from accessing counselling, exploring male privilege and other personal issues.'

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That's what a lot of these sounds like: men should be more like women.

The real problem is what I usually call the "social contract." At one time, men fulfilled certain roles and women fulfilled certain roles. Men usually provided and protected for women and return she provided him with family and a support system. Now, men are still expected to fulfill their part of the bargain but women have been given a pass on fulfilling their part of the bargain. So a woman can easily divorce a man, take his children, and still demand he pay her. She gives nothing in return. Divorce ends her part of the bargain, but enforces his part with the full weight of the law.

The question to ask, is: Is it fair to keep expecting men to keep their part of the bargain if women don't keep theirs? Are men being treated fairly and justly? Even counseling for men often turns out to be a lesson in how the man is wrong, the woman is right, and the man should change or learn to adjust.

Men turned out to be the way they are because of what they're expected to do--and today because a lot of what happens to them is unfair. If a man is divorced and loses everything, he's just supposed to buck up, pay the money, and shut up. No one has sympathy for divorced men, except other divorced men. They're typically treated like criminals and blamed for what happened. Women are never to blame. And most counseling reflects this mindset.

And, speaking of criminals, men are still expected to initiate sexual contact or dating. But if you're the wrong guy for her, it's sexual harassment or even sexual assault. The male role is now a criminal role, as we see how men are treated on campus. Get a "yes" every step of the way or be expelled and perhaps go to jail.

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Submitted by el cid on Sat, 2015-10-17 13:04