At forum, students debate the CC macho man

“I tend to think of masculinity as a performance,” said sociology professor CJ Pascoe when she introduced a discussion last week on masculine attitudes. She believes that traditional masculinity is not real, but rather a show of power.

On April 27, students gathered in Slocum Commons to engage in the forum regarding masculinity and its place on this campus. Feminist Collective and the Sexual Assault Response and Prevention hosted the talk, which drew some 50 people, only about 15 of them men.

Pascoe, who has observed masculinity and its place in the high school setting, and Wade Roberts, another professor of the sociology department focused on macro-sociology, facilitated the event. 

The focus of the conversation investigated the idea that people, through gender roles, were following a script that society had set out for them. 

“I’m here to learn what the script is that I’m following,” Roberts said. 

What is masculinity? What does it mean to be a man? These questions pushed people to consider how they act and whether or not their actions could be portrayed as masculine and what parts of those actions were due to this script and social constructions. 

Despite the fact that women outnumbered men in the group, male contributions to the discussion were frequent and vocal. The talk intended to bring to light problems that exist on campus because of gender roles. Discussion participants debated the idea that men are inclined to show their “power” and “dominance” in public due to this idea of masculinity, thus separating men and women into roles. 

“[This issue is] hushed as soon as its brought up on campus,” freshman Elijah Doresseau said. 

Some discussion centered around whether masculinity leads to sexism on campus, as participants questioned if men are raised to believe they are unstoppable, and if power is given to them at an earlier age than women. Others questioned whether gender roles are different depending on race, with the suggestion that men of color have to show power primarily through physical means.

The group said it is possible for the gender roles to be different based on the context of experiences. One student in the group brought up the fact that, in a locker room setting where male dominance seems to be key, he will not confront other men about homosexual comments that he feels are inappropriate. He said bringing up the issue would transform it from a simple joke to something more serious and so he ignores it in order to not “disturb the calm of the shower.”

“We need to start developing the vocabulary to talk about this on campus,” sophomore Joey Glick said. 

Masculinity has long been a much-debated topic on campus. In 2008 a pamphlet mocking the Monthly Rag was posted around campus to question the macho-man stereotype. The school’s controversial censorship of the flier earned CC national recognition as one of only six “worst of the worst,” “red-alert” schools for violating freedom of speech, as ranked by the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education. This year, a great number of discussions have been set up to trigger conversation on gender, race, sexuality and other issues.