In an effort to promote a greater understanding of gender identities on campus, male students at the University of North Carolina (UNC) – Chapel Hill are being encouraged to take part in a semester-long program designed to address issues of “toxic masculinity.”
According to the UNC’s student wellness website, the UNC Men’s Project is designed to “increase men’s involvement in gender equity and violence prevention efforts.” Founded in 2013, the program works “to promote healthier masculinities on campus and to shift the culture of masculinity toward more non-violent norms.”
Students, who participate in the program, will be encouraged to confront and address a number of issues event organizers have deemed worthy of academic consideration, including: “How does masculinity serve as a beneficial and/or harmful influence in our lives? And How does it affect our relationships with other men, with women and with people of all gender expressions?”
In short, the UNC Men’s Project seeks to “create spaces for men to talk honestly with other men and to practice healthier, more positive masculinities.”
The program also blames masculinity as a leading cause of violence among men in society. Using the logic that because men commit more crimes than women, this disparity can be blamed solely on the fact that masculinity perpetrates violence in society.
Throughout the semester, student in the program will be encouraged to explore a number of different masculine behaviors across a spectrum of masculinity, as well as to question how masculinity has shaped one’s own experiences and personal situations. At the end of the semester, participants in the program will possess the “tools and knowledge to become peer allies, leaders, and educators in violence prevention and gender equity efforts at UNC.”
UNC is not the only campus with efforts to wipe out toxic masculinity on campus. The Women’s Center at Vassar College recently launched a series of “Men and Masculinity Dinner and Dialogues,” which are designed to have students question toxic masculinity until they can “liberate the beliefs and behaviors of men.”
