Spring registration is here – bringing with it the stress and excitement that awaits next semester’s academics. Although the University’s course offerings are close unending, there is a notable lack of courses focused on healthy masculinity. There is only one course at the University covering the subject, called Men and masculinities — the course is not even offered next semester. While I have no doubt about the usefulness of this course, just as a single history course would not be able to cover all of history adequately, a single 2000 level course on the challenges facing men face is insufficient. The University should allocate funds to create an additional course on the most terrible battle men face: mental health.
Men today face an epidemic of mental illness and are not equipped to combat it. Almost one in ten men suffer from some form of depression or anxiety, but less than half report it and men are unlikely to do so. ask for help for mental health problems. To understand the barriers men face when seeking help, University of London led a series of focus groups comprised of male students. The results were clear: men believe that asking for help is unmanly.
This disconnect between high rates of mental illness and low rates of help-seeking is not innate. This reflects a patriarchal society that imposes a DIY attitude on men. It begins with but goes far beyond the childhood comments of “men don’t cry.” When asked what “masculinity” meant to them, a 2019 investigation conducted by GQ Magazine found that more than half of those surveyed considered the word “muscular” to be masculine, while only 7 percent said “vulnerable” had the same connotation.
Faced with complex illnesses like depression and anxiety, as well as a society that tells them they are weak because they need help, many men engage in harmful behaviors like drug addiction. Men are more likely to suffer from alcoholism and die of overdoses. Even more so, with seemingly nothing else to turn to, men are more likely to choose the unthinkable — suicide. If there was a panic button, it would have been pressed long ago.
Education continues to prove effective in alleviating the narrow images of gender that contribute to this unfortunate reality – and education is a solution to which the University can directly contribute. In the late 19th century, suffragettes, faced with the difficult task of convincing narrow-minded white men of their mental faculties, relied on biology and sociology to convince them. dismantle pseudo-scientific arguments that deprived them of their rights. The same can be said for early civil rights activists who began the process of dismantling systemic racism by overturning the “science» which supported the system. The pen is as mighty as the sword. Education may not be a silver bullet, but it has proven capable of triggering cascades of societal change by correcting widely held misconceptions.
A course on men’s mental health could take many forms. Following a class structure similar to Hoos connected, allowing men to break down barriers in a personal setting would help give them the tools to manage their big feelings and navigate challenges that may arise. A more traditional class structure examining the origins of societal stigmas that promote toxic masculinity and showing moments where men broke these stigmas in a way that resulted in positive change would help normalize men seeking help.
We would not be the first to use education to solve the problems facing men. Stony Brook University began offering a master’s degree program in “Masculinities Studies” in 2017. The idea of a degree dedicated to men and masculinity may conjure up images of problematic men’s rights activists – but that couldn’t be further from the truth. Much of the work done in these courses attempts to undo much of the damage caused by the views that misogynistic men typically hold. The program offers a complete package course on toxic masculinity, an issue that affects everyone, regardless of gender identity. Although a full program may not be feasible at the University, especially with the current lack of funding reward In gender studies courses, offering a more diverse selection of courses on the topic of healthy masculinity is a great place to start.
Go back and click on the links that detail rates of alcoholism, suicide, and depression among men: the stakes are too high to do nothing. Masculinity is too important an area of study to have just one course at university – not only to help men with their mental health, but also to help deconstruct patriarchal ideologies and practices. In a liberal arts education, there should be no limits to what or who we study and where we find connections. Masculinity and men is an area of study that needs its own space so that we can better serve these purposes, but more importantly, to better help others who are too often overlooked in vulnerability and care.
Dan Freed is a senior associate who writes about academics for the Cavalier Daily. He can be contacted at opinion@cavalierdaily.com.
