Masculinity Project combats gender norms

The Masculinity Project hosted a discussion titled The Psychology of Masculinity and Sexuality on Monday, Oct. 18. The project, which was piloted this semester, is a collaboration between the Gender Equity Office and LGBTQ Life and aims to host events throughout the year, including film screenings and student-led discussions.

The Masculinity Project was created to facilitate the discussion surrounding masculine gender norms and provide a safe space for student discussion on the topic.

Jeannine Heynes, the director of gender equity, spoke about why it is important to talk about the issues surrounding masculinity.

“A lot of the times the topic of gender is focused on women, so we wanted to give space and permission and allow dialogue for all gender identities to talk about masculinity,” Heynes said. “We put a lot of effort into not talking about it in our society, so we wanted to give permission to students to be able to question it, celebrate it, identify with it, but also deconstruct it.”

The project hopes to encourage students to challenge the norms and stereotypes of male gender roles. It also aims to foster critical thinking in the role that masculinity plays in femininity, power and privilege.

“I think we think a lot about gender norms for women, but there are gender norms for men that can be very limiting,” Heynes said. “If we put effort into not talking about something, it’s because we are afraid what will happen when we start talking about it. I think masculinity in our culture sort of prides itself on being normalized, and if it’s normalized then it doesn’t change, and nobody questions it.”

Heynes elaborated on why it is important to question gender norms.

“I think a lot of people looking at gender and gender identities need to call into question masculinity because hyper-masculinity or hegemonic masculinity is really about keeping other masculinities and femininities down. It’s hierarchical,” she said. “It’s about getting students to be authentic, and to accept or reject different pieces [of masculinity].”

Heynes hopes that in the future, the Masculinity Project will help relieve the need to oppress stereotypically feminine attributes.

“Very often, masculinity is that which is not femininity, and so to be more masculine, you have to keep the feminine down, and that’s where that hierarchical abusive power comes in,” Heynes said. “We want to break that up, and [explore] how [you can be] masculine... without devaluing women.”

The Psychology of Masculinity and Femininity discussion held Monday was led by Chris Kraft, director of clinical services and a member of the LGBT+ community. Kraft began the discussion by explaining the biological dispositions of gender and sexuality.

“We come into the world with biological dispositions, our makeup is not black and white,” Kraft said. “Gender is really performed and scripted and you’re taught how to be a gender. We’re taught from our families, we’re taught from our cultures and we’re taught from the media. There’s a lot of categorization and stereotyping, and there’s a lot of indoctrination. That’s the sort of ‘nurture-nature’ influence that affects our gender.”

Kraft also discussed the tendency of humans to categorize people so that they meet gender norms.

“We’re really quick by instinct or by survival to want to categorize and put people in positions... because we’re uncomfortable when things don’t fit this box. It may be out of safety or challenge of power, or it might just be the only frame of reference we have. It’s hard to be fluid or in-between,” Kraft said.

Kraft highlighted how his parents supported his ballet career and concluded the discussion by encouraging others that the confidence to be different comes from the environment people are immersed in.

“It’s the environment you’re in, how you empower yourself and how you choose to be around people, places and environments that validate you and acknowledge you,” Kraft said.

Some students thought that the discussion served as an important safe space and as an opportunity to think more deeply about the implications of masculinity.

Senior Darin Johnson thinks The Masculinity Project is a step in the right direction for Hopkins.

“I thought [the discussion] was really productive; It was good just to be able to have a safe space to talk about gender and particularly masculinity which aren’t spoken about a lot,” Johnson said. “{The Masculinity Project] shows that Hopkins is trying to start to more critically think about gender, that Hopkins is trying to become more inclusive and foster a little bit more diversity. I think that there’s still a lot of work that needs to be done. But I think it’s a good first step.”

Junior Sarah Harrison believes that this initiative will have positive effects, especially because it takes place on a college campus.

“Masculinity can be both formed and redefined on campuses in particular,” Harrison wrote in an email to The News-Letter. “Historically, masculinity was enforced at colleges due to fraternal organizations related to Greek Life or athletics. However, in the future colleges may provide unique opportunities to rewrite the masculinity script, since revolutionary social ideas often germinate on campuses.”