'Where the boys aren't'

Submitted by anthony on Wed, 2009-04-29 07:23

Article here. When you look at the picture you'll see a young man wearing a pink t-shirt stating: 'Women's Health Matters'. I wonder if he realizes he'll die approximately 4 years earlier then a female of the same age. Excerpt:

'In a split second the classroom air goes from composed to one thick with female solidarity. You can hear a pin drop. The women leer at the "sacrificial" male student, their eyes like heat-seeking missiles. He said that all women are "biologically engineered to nurture and mother offspring, so why would a woman ever want to deviate from that?" Soon the intellectual shrapnel flies as student after student rips this poor guy's comment (and ego) to shreds with well-honed feminist rhetoric.
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But for many guys, these classes aren't worth the intellectual commitment. Yet some men brave the good fight. Jesse Game-Brown is a 22-year-old senior at the University of Michigan concentrating in women's studies. While his early experiences in the program were rocky, he continued pursuing courses because analyzing gender and masculinity norms sparked his interest.
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Man Forum is a small but growing bunch, mostly made up of straight males from varied backgrounds — there's a feminist here, a cognitive science major there and so on. Each week sees a different theme; subjects covered include childhood, media, and deviant and predictable sexuality. It's a safe space for people to talk without offending others.

While some Man Forum participants don't consider themselves feminists, their conversation addresses themes and issues common to a women's studies classroom.

The discussion centers on domestic and sexual violence. Emotions and tempers can run high, especially when some share personal stories. But the talks mostly stay calm, with dashes of relevant pop culture references such as South Park and Deliverance.
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"To my mind, women's studies is a perfect place to be addressing those questions," Metzl continues. "Feminist models are helpful in understanding what it means to be a man as well."'

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Comments

... and that counts. Still, maybe he has the right idea but hanging around in WST classrooms is just an invitation for abuse. I think it's better on campuses to get rid of WST clases altogether or if you must have such a field, it has to be revamped entirely to give equal time to topics that are truly relevant to men's interests. (Wow, what an innovative thought!) All he can do in that classroom is fight a defensive battle, and one cannot play defense forever without eventually losing if for no other reason than he must run out of stamina against a persistent and aggressive foe, such as those found in WST classrooms. Worse still, like in "1984", they may finally get to the poor kid and he could become brainwashed by them and get converted into a manhole. That would be a travesty.

Aside from the article's topic though, the tone of the article is almost schizophrenic. It seems in the opening paragraphs it is tilted toward sympathy with the male student, then it heads toward the typical sycophantic WST-lap-dog style of writing to be found in article covering such classes. All in all, I suppose it's a good thing *some* article got written. But I wish it had something more... progressive... to say.

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Submitted by Matt on Wed, 2009-04-29 17:04