"Bulging Biceps, Big Guns Advance Unhealthy Masculinity"

[Deleted]

Students warned: Bulging biceps, big guns advance unhealthy masculinity

http://www.thecollegefix.com/post/24488/

That message and similar ones were conveyed recently to students during Vanderbilt University’s “Healthy Masculinities Week,”

Athletes and fraternity members are a risk to themselves and others because of the pressure put on them to act masculine, according to other events from the week.

One event featured a screening of the limited-release documentary The Mask You Live In, which blames “America’s narrow definition of masculinity” for the deteriorating mental health of boys and men.

Gilman Whiting, who teaches a class called “Black Masculinity: Social Imagery and Public Policy,” blamed the hypermasculinized sporting culture in the U.S. for the intense pressure he faced.

Being a woman is more predictable than being a man because men constantly have to be ready to “prove it,” Whiting said.

The film isn’t without critics: A female gender-equity author said it’s “sensationaliz[ing] the issue being discussed” by taking statistics out of context and making several “alarmist” statements.

On the panel “Maintaining Bro Status,” Interfraternity Council Vice President Jay Reynolds told the audience they should all get therapy so they can better understand their own minds.

Reynolds added that he sees unhealthy masculinity in some form daily, but he didn’t elaborate on what that entails.

Jon Zacharias, a member of Vanderbilt’s Liaisons Educating & Advocating for Psychological Support, said students can see “unhealthy masculinities” in almost any social environment on a Friday or Saturday.

Bill Savage, IFC vice president of recruitment, said he hates the term “man up” or a phrase he claims is closely related, “don’t be a pussy.” In contrast to stereotypes, “being emotional is manly in my opinion,” Savage said.

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This is the second consecutive year Vanderbilt has hosted a discussion about masculinity. The Center for Medicine, Health, and Society hosted “The Politics of Masculinity” last year.

Rory Dicker, the director of the Women’s Center, told The College Fix by email that it hosted the week to “further the conversations” in response to Katz’s “provocative ideas” about masculinity.

But this year’s masculinity series was roundly mocked in national news outlets in the week leading up to the observance, including by a panel of four women and one man on the Fox News show Outnumbered.

Host Andrea Tantaros claimed the organizers were trying to “demasculinize men” and turn them into “thumb-sucking little beta males in skinny jeans.”

Asked about the Fox News pundits’ criticisms, Vanderbilt’s Dicker said they “missed the fact that … there are many ways to be masculine, but American society pressures boys and men to adopt” the version that prioritizes “being competitive, stoic and aggressive, for example.”

[Lenonis]

Looks to me like there was a mix of good advice, true statements, and such mixed in with a bunch of over-sensationalized materials which diluted an otherwise decent message.

So...about what I expected I guess.

[Techno-Druid]

I hate when people use terms like alpha or beta male. They're not even representative of instinctual hominid hierarchy.

[Malachi256]

Psh, this is just a roundabout attack on the 2nd amendment. People be scared of the GUN SHOW.

[Gamdwelf]

"But if I want to be attractive to females and they want big arm what's a guy gonna do"

[Very Tired]

Not sure what the problem is here. The big guys with bulging biceps we see in the movies act a motivation. Encouraging people to go to the gym and work out so maybe they could look even a fraction as buff as their stars.

[Revi]

I think the underlying idea is a very good one, but as usual with these things it seems people took it way too far and turned it ridiculous.

[thabris]

Not sure what the problem is here. The attractive gals with slender bodies we see in the movies act a motivation. Encouraging people to go to the gym and work out so maybe they could look even a fraction as hot as their stars.

Not picking on the guy I quoted, but lol man up right guys

[Revi]

Not picking on the guy I quoted, but lol man up right guys

I have no problem with either. If people can't handle others being more attractive, that's their own problem.

[thabris]

I have no problem with either. If people can't handle others being more attractive, that's their own problem.

I don't have a problem with it either, just making sure people who would've missed the hypocrisy realize that right now there are huge campaigns regarding/targeting women about how they're "perfect" just the way they are, and they don't need to change and muh oversize models etc.

[Blayze]

Host Andrea Tantaros claimed the organizers were trying to “demasculinize men” and turn them into “thumb-sucking little beta males in skinny jeans.”

Bingo. Women want men, not crybabies.

[Independent voter]

I feel like less of a man without my gun.

[Deleted]

I didn't read your post OP, but you certainly come across as a pussy whipped POS and I salute you.

Infracted

[Scyclone]

Bingo. Women want men, not crybabies.

I wonder how many 'men' on this forum read that quote while sobbing in their chai lattes :P

[Lenonis]

Bingo. Women want men, not crybabies.

I think it's stupid to declare that all women want the same thing -- some women want more traditionally masculine men, some don't.

The whole metrosexual thing didn't come about on its own after all.

[Crissi]

Bingo. Women want men, not crybabies.

There is a fine line. You dont want chronic complainers, but men who hold their emotions in all the time are just as frustrating to deal with. WOmen cant connect with men who are always stone faced.

[Kraenen]

I wonder how many 'men' on this forum read that quote while sobbing in their chai lattes :P

Chai lattes are delicious

[Deleted]

I really don't get the whole premise, to me it looks like this:
"Society tells you to be this way, don't be that way, be the way we tell you to."
It's repeatedly the same with the feminists.
I don't get why you would exchange one stupid pressure thingy for another. Can't you just be yourself?

I wonder how many 'men' on this forum read that quote while sobbing in their chai lattes :P

So if you want to be a MAN you are not allowed to drink anything but cheap beer and you NEVER cry.

[Gamdwelf]

There is a fine line. You dont want chronic complainers, but men who hold their emotions in all the time are just as frustrating to deal with. WOmen cant connect with men who are always stone faced.

And you can understand emotions without just complaining all the time.

[Crissi]

And you can understand emotions without just complaining all the time.

WHich is why I said fine line. You dont want too much in either direction.