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.

(Spring) Bystander Intervention Workshop

This week we'll focusing on developing some tangible skills that we can use to disrupt rape supprtive culture, more widely known as "bystander intervention" or "BI".  Bystander intervention uses social psycology to examine what makes one more/less likely to intervene in a potentially hazardous situation. 

On Wednesday we'll talk about this dynamic specifically as it relates to gender violence prevention and our role as men.  There are complex dynamics in every situation and we'll have the time to workshop different scenarios to hear from you all what would work and what wouldn't. 

For those of you who got to see Jackson Katz last Tuesday, he talked about how he uses BI when he works with college athletes and the military.  He explained that it's relatively rare (but by no means non-existant) to be in a situation to stop a rape in progress so we should be focusing also on how we can be effective in intervening in scenarios that constitute rape support culture (which allow sexual violence to be perpetrated).  

He used a triangle to illustrate the ways that each incidence of sexual assault is upheld/supported/enabled by different aspects of rape supportive culture, which we encounter every single day.

So for example, nearly every day I witness (and participate in) sexism.  When I hear/see sexism and I don't say or do anything about it, my silence is basically saying that I condone what's happening.  How can we begin to question and challenge the everyday sexism that works to normalize gender violence?

One of the the goals of the workshop is to have you all leave with more confidence in your ability to act upon what you feel is the right thing to do, which as we all know, it easier said than done.

Check out this video from "What Would You Do" where they try to get bystanders involved in a potential sexual assault:

 

 

And there's always Jay Smooth's advice on how to start difficult conversations: