Post: #1

Good thing Hillary lost or these re-education camps would have been mandatory for all men:

The Cut Wrote:The Men Taking Classes to Unlearn Toxic Masculinity
For some time, Stephen Hicks had felt like something was off. “My relationship ended, then a lot of things started collapsing in front of me,” Hicks says. He began attending therapy, which made him realize that he needed to make a bigger change: [Comment: Make sure to read the following quote in a lispy effeminate voice...] “I wasn’t doing really terrible things, but I also wasn’t being the most ideal Stephen I could be,” he says. “The bar is really lowered for cisgender guys.”

So earlier this year, Hicks signed up for the pilot Rethink Masculinity class, a partnership between the Washington, D.C., Rape Crisis Center, Collective Action for Safe Spaces, and ReThink, an organization that works to prevent sexual assault.

The program bills itself as a class where men “learn how social constructs of masculinity harm them and the people around them, and work to construct healthier masculinities.” Or, as Hicks puts it, “It was eight weeks of guys discussing how they can address their actions with better self-awareness and less toxicity.”

“We spoke of emotional labor, consent, violence, communication, empathy, and vulnerability,” he adds, noting that the last subject, in particular, was a struggle for him: “[I was] trained and conditioned to be tough growing up.”

The Rethink program is the latest in a growing number of courses targeted toward people who identify as men, including the Men’s Project at the University of Wisconsin, Masculinity 101 at Brown, and the Duke Men’s Project at Duke. The goal, proponents say, is to help men examine their own biases and behaviors in order to cut down on misogyny and gender-based violence.

There’s no doubt that the problems these classes aim to tackle are pervasive ones — a reality that’s been made especially, painfully clear in recent days and weeks, as the Harvey Weinstein revelations have pushed discussions of sexual assault and harassment to the forefront. But can a class really be enough to chip away at something so deeply entrenched?

“It’s a promising approach,” says Eric Mankowski, associate chair of the psychology department at Portland State University and head of the school’s Gender and Violence Intervention Research Team, “but we don’t know whether they prevent sexual violence. Some studies show promising effects on attitudes and behavior intentions, but a single class is unlikely to undo years of socialization in toxic masculinity.”

For the past 25 years, Mankowski has taught a course titled Psychology of Men and Masculinities, which, he says, “deconstruct[s] how masculinity is socialized as a performative mask rather than a biological imperative.” He argues that the concept of “toxic masculinity” has four main components: suppression of anything stereotypically feminine; suppression of emotions related to vulnerability, like fear, sadness, or helplessness; male domination over women and other men; and aggression.

“From those four distal expectations come the proximal attitudes and behaviors, like ‘I deserve to have access to women’s bodies,’” he explains. “What we don’t know is if it’s more effective to address the distal or proximal ideas and behaviors.” Mankowski says alcohol abuse is a perfect example. “It numbs feelings and allows men to act aggressive. We can effectively address it, but we’re not addressing the underlying issue. It’s functioning to help them display their manhood, so why would they stop?”

“We’ve spent many years addressing survivors and victim behavior, but ethically, and in terms of efficacy, that’s incomplete,” he adds. “We have to address the roots.” And while course evaluations show that his students typically absorb what he teaches, Mankowski notes, that doesn’t necessarily mean that the class is making a real-world difference: “It may change beliefs about gender,” he says, “but does it change behavior?”

It’s not a given, but it’s not impossible, either. Research consistently shows that holding sexist attitudes is associated with gender violence, for example, so it’s not unreasonable to hope that better beliefs can lead to better behavior. Studies have also demonstrated that bystander intervention training — a subject covered in Rethink classes — can be effective at reducing the incidence of sexual assault.

On the other hand, though, these classes are taking on a lot. Trying to undo a lifetime’s worth of lessons about how to act at home, in the workplace, and in public — it’s a lofty goal, especially when so much of what participants encounter outside the classroom contradicts what they learn within it. And some of the desired outcomes — increased vulnerability, more emotional openness — are difficult to measure.

But Hicks argues that these problems don’t negate what the classes can accomplish; the program, he says, isn’t designed as a fix for anything. It’s a step. Granted, it’s a step with limited reach — there’s probably a self-selection bias at work — but it’s a step nonetheless.

Since the class ended, Hicks says, he feels he has “been more deliberate about expressing emotions and making space for people.” (Over the summer, the class facilitators asked Hicks to become a co-director of the program, noting that he had been one of the most vocal participants.)

“You won’t be transformed by a ten-week class, but you’ve got to start somewhere. And ten weeks is better than no weeks,” Mankowski says. Those who are really committed to making a change, though, shouldn’t expect a one-and-done scenario: “The key is continued examination. You will have a difficult time maintaining anything unless you continue working on it.”

https://www.thecut.com/2017/10/the-men-t...inity.html

Post: #2

It would be funny to troll the girls in the class with Stanley Kowalski game. I imagine that by the end of the course, you'd pull their digits and get the bang.

Post: #3

I'd say they aren't quite there yet on the cuck faces. The second one on the left definitely has the open mouth toothy grin, but none of them have verizon "Can you hear me now?" guy glasses yet.

Post: #4

Enough internet for a couple of days

Post: #5

You know, there's a surprisingly good lean mass calculator developed by the Navy that uses your waist, hip, and neck measurements to find your body fat and your lean mass.

If you play around with it, you'll quickly notice that neck thickness is the most influential factor in determining muscle mass.

That is what I thought of when I saw the pencil supporting guy #2's head.

(Here is the body fat/lean mass calculator: http://fitness.bizcalcs.com/Calculator.a...y-Fat-Navy)

Post: #6

That guy looks like Paul Walker's younger, low T brother.

Post: #7

You've gotta have masculinity in the first place, in order to unlearn it or lose it



Which by definition means this is a waste of time

Post: #8

(10-23-2017 04:47 PM)The PerSev Wrote:  That guy looks like Paul Walker's younger, low T brother.

I don't see anyone in that photo crushing tons of ass, well maybe the one in the blue shirt on the right.

Post: #9

How about a 100km hike? Or deadlifting at the very least your own weight? Why did they take the 10-week Soy Challenge instead?

Post: #10

Ok? So where are the men?

Post: #11

Who goes to men’s groups anyway, why cant These faggots go to a bar and get drunk like normal dudes?

Post: #12

(10-23-2017 04:40 PM)Tactician Wrote:  You know, there's a surprisingly good lean mass calculator developed by the Navy that uses your waist, hip, and neck measurements to find your body fat and your lean mass.

If you play around with it, you'll quickly notice that neck thickness is the most influential factor in determining muscle mass.

That is what I thought of when I saw the pencil supporting guy #2's head.

(Here is the body fat/lean mass calculator: http://fitness.bizcalcs.com/Calculator.a...y-Fat-Navy)

Thicker neck means you are harder to kill.

Post: #13

Is this good, as in, less competition? Or is it bad, as in, our society is fooked?

Post: #14

Neat, they get a diploma that says "we took the Man out of you."

Post: #15

Quote:more deliberate about expressing emotions and making space for people

Also known as ”being a bitchy human doormat”.

Post: #16

(10-23-2017 05:56 PM)Space Cowboy Wrote:  Is this good, as in, less competition? Or is it bad, as in, our society is fooked?

Both

Post: #17

2017, where men are paying to brainwash themselves.

Post: #18

Fill the room with uppercuts.

Post: #19

What are they doing about the horrendous toxicity of all the testosterone that woman in the picture is high on? Wouldn’t we be better served by them modelling the correct way for us to behave by healthy, feminine women instead of a troll they found under the nearest bridge?

Post: #20

From the organizers of this class...

http://www.collectiveactiondc.org/catego...reets-too/

Quote:I was on 9th St NW and stopped in front of Nellie’s to call a car. A man exited Nellie’s and bumped into me, knocking me off my balance. I told him assertively not to touch me and he became angry, he yelled ‘don’t touch me’ back at me and walked a few feet away to his group of friends. I then heard him loudly comment to them that I “looked like a fucking dyke.” I responded that I was queer but it was a slur for him to address me that way. At that moment, a bouncer stepped in and told him that he needed to leave and never come back to Nellie’s. He denied the whole incident and she reiterated that she had witnessed it and that he needed to leave. I thanked her and then left as my car arrived.

I want to specifically shout out the awesome bouncer who did not hesitate to step in and stand up for me against harassment. She didn’t question my account or ask us both to leave, she called out his behavior and told him in no uncertain terms that it was not acceptable in that space. She definitely made me feel safer in a moment when I was upset.

Why doesnt "she" just put "herself" in a plastic bubble when she goes out?

Post: #21

(10-23-2017 08:02 PM)ivansirko Wrote:  From the organizers of this class...

http://www.collectiveactiondc.org/catego...reets-too/

Quote:I was on 9th St NW and stopped in front of Nellie’s to call a car. A man exited Nellie’s and bumped into me, knocking me off my balance. I told him assertively not to touch me and he became angry, he yelled ‘don’t touch me’ back at me and walked a few feet away to his group of friends. I then heard him loudly comment to them that I “looked like a fucking dyke.” I responded that I was queer but it was a slur for him to address me that way. At that moment, a bouncer stepped in and told him that he needed to leave and never come back to Nellie’s. He denied the whole incident and she reiterated that she had witnessed it and that he needed to leave. I thanked her and then left as my car arrived.

I want to specifically shout out the awesome bouncer who did not hesitate to step in and stand up for me against harassment. She didn’t question my account or ask us both to leave, she called out his behavior and told him in no uncertain terms that it was not acceptable in that space. She definitely made me feel safer in a moment when I was upset.

I get a "things that never happened" vibe from this.

But whether it happened, or merely expresses her fantasy of what should have happened, notice the subtext in the story: the man is a second-class citizen, a literal untouchable, who should grovel abjectly over accidentally coming into physical contact with her royal person.

It reminded me of a scene in "The Children's War", in which the slave-worker protagonist arriving in Berlin is taught that he must step off the curb and into the gutter and avert his eyes whenever an Aryan passes him on the street. Or stories of similar conditions in the antebellum South.

Post: #22

Which one of these guys would be made a bitch in jail first?

Post: #23

(10-23-2017 04:27 PM)BortimusPrime Wrote:  I'd say they aren't quite there yet on the cuck faces. The second one on the left definitely has the open mouth toothy grin, but none of them have verizon "Can you hear me now?" guy glasses yet.

I know there are some even worse, but those are definitely cuck faces.

Post: #24

Their ideology is so totally unnatural that they must constantly brainwash themselves, lest the cognitive dissonance between their beliefs and the harsh truths of reality overwhelm them.

Post: #25

Remember, if the class doesn't succeed in eliminating all violence, rape, and microaggressions against women, then the class will become longer and attendance will be mandatory.