A variety of thoughts: USA Gymnastics and Michigan State University

Source: Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images

From left: Simone Biles, Gabrielle Douglas, Lauren Hernandez, Madison Kocian and Alexandra Raisman

Something that gives me the heeby jeebies is watching the interaction between gymnasts who are women and their coaches who always seem to be men after a routine. If you lean on your empathetic observations, you'll see varying levels of comfort from the women, and often times I feel like there's waaaaaay more touching than necessary for a professional relationship. And there are times where there's visible discomfort from the women. This is a glimpse into the world of US Gymnastics and Michigan State University, where the dynamic of men in power combined with the silence and shaming of survivors of sexual violence produces one of the most terrifying sexual predators of my lifetime.

Sexual assault and sports: Reframing the Derrick Rose conversation

The sports arena, particularly men’s sports, is a great container to discuss many social issues as it relates to masculinity and gender-based violence with men. The “off the field” situations that professional athletes constantly bring onto themselves is magnified by the incredible cultural and capitalistic machine of sports media. This gives us many opportunities to discuss important issues like men’s violence against women. The Derrick Rose situation is no different.

In short, a woman has anonymously come forward with a lawsuit stating that Rose and 2 of his friends drugged and raped her in August of 2013. More details can be found by simply googling Derrick Rose. (More details here, here, and here.)

This isn’t the first (and unfortunately, won’t be the last) time that a high profile male athlete is accused of rape. We have some evidence of what conversations around these stories are like, so I would like to take a moment to respond to some of the common responses that I hear.

Man Spreading: What is it and what’s the big deal?

When we use the phrase Rape Supportive Culture, it can sometimes be difficult to know exactly what this means and what it looks like. Sometimes, men will get defensive because it implicates us as part of the problem (and we are part of the problem in a lot of ways and are trying to work against this. Either way, men benefit from Rape Supportive Culture. But that’s a discussion for another day…). Sometimes we can feel helpless when we gain a better understanding of Rape Supportive Culture. Because it’s a lot. And it can be difficult to know where to start. Ultimately, if we want to reduce rates of rape and sexual assault in our culture, particularly against women, children and trans-identified people,

#GamerGate and Masculinity

I’ll admit, I played a ton of video games as a kid. I got the Super Nintendo one Christmas and some of my fondest memories have been around those experiences. And maybe some of my most shameful. I remember turning the game off on my friend because he was about to beat me in Tecmo Super Bowl. Not cool…

Either way, I understand how video games can become part of our identity. When we pour a bunch of hours into anything and feel a sense of accomplishment, it’s impossible to deny that video games have some level of influence over who we are.

And since video games are also a form of media, it warrants just as much critique and examination as our favorite TV shows and movies. One of the most well-known critiques comes from feminist

Halloween! Have fun AND do work

Men. I know we’re action oriented. I know how you feel when you just want to DO something about the injustices and inequities stacked against women. Well it’s Halloween tonight and you have the opportunity to do just that. Tonight is typically a street harassment fest. You will hear men (and your friends) say

UPDATE: Check out our Upcoming Events page for more recent information on our open events!

Tonight is the second session of Men in the Movement's Men in Media Series! This interactive, discussion based workshop is open to students, staff, and faculty of all genders. We'll be examining two very popular TV series, "How I Met Your Mother" and "Big Bang Theory". Not only will you pick up some skills in critically consuming media, we'll have facilitated discussion about the messages we receive about masculinity from these shows. We will be in Clark C146 from 7-8PM tonight, Thursday, October 2nd. Can't wait to see you there!

The Effects of Accountability: Illuminating the Dark Corner of Male Entitlement

A recent article in The Chronicle of Higher Education (trigger warning) tells a story of something we as Men in the Movement have to be prepared to engage in conversation. The title is “Presumed Guilty: College men accused of rape say the scales are tipped against them” and I have no doubt that the recent spotlight on how Universities “handle” sexual assault cases will get students to talk about it. Which is good. And it doesn’t hurt to be prepared for when this happens with your friends.

It’s a lengthy article, but I highly suggest reading to at least the third picture. It has a lot of information that would be tough to summarize here. But one of the biggest take-aways is

Everyday Violations of Consent: The Theft (not “leak”) of Personal Pictures

Recent internet buzz is surrounding pictures of celebrities that were taken without consent. A typical headline looks like this:

“Nude photos of Jennifer Lawrence and other female celebrities leaked online”

First and foremost, they weren't leaked, they were stolen. We’ll get to that later.

I want to highlight some of the things that other writers/bloggers have said. Both Jessica Valenti and this man (I assume it’s a man…) have named that the allure of these particular nude photos is specifically that they were obtained without consent. Valenti and Erin Gloria Ryan talk about how deeply victim blaming the reaction has been.

I have to admit, the high school me would have rushed

Weighing in on the Hiring of Becky Hammon

I've always asked myself if I would recognize progress in the realm of social justice if I saw it. I tend to be hyper critical of the world around me (big surprise, I know...) so even if, lets say, in a conversation with a man who says, "In my experience, I've never heard someone say that 'boys don't cry,'" I'm not sure I would be able to believe it.

The hiring of Becky Hammon (CSU Alum!!) onto the San Antonio Spurs coaching staff marks the first time a woman has been hired as a full time assistant coach on a team in the National Basketball Association (NBA). The reaction that I have witnessed

The NFL: Is the player suspension policy broken? Or just a reflection of the values we hold as a society?

An article in the Huffington Post outlines some of the idiotic rules and regulations the National Football League (NFL) has when it comes to punishing players for off the field behavior. To paraphrase, Ray Rice, who is popularly regarded as a superstar, received a 2 game suspension for knocking his partner out and dragging her around a hotel on video (trigger warning on the link). Other star athletes around the league have been suspended for an entire season for testing positive for marijuana. The punishment for a drug that is rapidly being decriminalized is eight times has harsh as beating a women in the eyes of the NFL.

I think it’s easy to say that the system is messed up. But we as Men in the Movement have to go deeper. We have to understand why this is a reality so that we can enter into conversations about gender based violence with other men. This is a perfect example of how we can use relatable “man topics” to reframe messed up realities in our society.

In this case,

Why it’s important for Men in the Movement to talk about Eliot Rodger

On Saturday, May 24^th, 2014, Elliot Rodger killed six people and himself in Isla Vista, California outside of the University of California, Santa Barbara. The initial coverage of the incident indicated that Rodger was a White male. But according to his manifesto, Rodger identifies as “Eurasian”. Both mainstream coverage and the blogosphere did not dive into the nuances of mixed race masculinity, which in this case was an integral component missing from the overall discussion about violent masculinity and misogyny in our culture. As members of Men in the Movement, we need to bring these issues to the forefront.

However, making the connection between mixed race identity and masculinity can be difficult. My purpose today is to provide context, insight, and language around the nuances of mixed masculinity. I will do this by talking about my personal experience as well as my thoughts on Elliot Rodger’s Manifesto so that we can begin to have these conversations in our communities. To do this, I will start with basic gender socialization, then move into how that is complicated by race, while talking about how that has personally affected me. From there, I will talk about Rodger’s Manifesto from a mixed race male perspective.