US-Unis: Lehrveranstaltung gegen Dämonisierung von Männlichkeit, für Rollenfreiheit

There is a new class at Keene State College this semester and it is all about men. Patricia Pedroza Gonzalez, a KSC professor of 15-years, introduced the class Men and Masculinity. Pedroza Gonzalez said her goal is to change students’ perceptions of social media’s presentation of men.

"In a very basic gender education we are still thinking and feeling and perpetrating symbols like ‘Boys don’t cry,’" Pedroza Gonzalez said.

Pedroza Gonzalez explained that there is a certain danger in encouraging traditional gender-norms of the "macho man."

"We educate men to hide their feelings and vulnerability. They hide emotional stuff, which is totally allowed to women—women can cry and a woman can be emotional," Pedroza Gonzalez said.

(...) Pedroza Gonzalez acknowledged her belief of misapprehensions of gender issues when she said that many people view gender issues as solely affecting women.

"But at this time there is a misconception that gender is women’s issues," Pedroza Gonzalez said.

However, that is not true. According to Pedroza Gonzalez there is a modern-day misconception that men are violent. "I want to show people that men are not violent. I want to deconstruct that because what we see in media is that men are violent. One girl asked me in my class if I thought men were oppressed and I said yes. I think men are oppressed [and] women are oppressed," Pedroza Gonzalez said.

(...) Pedroza Gonzalez said she has ample experience with men because she grew up in a family with five brothers, whom she loves. "I know my brothers are not violent, but yes, they can be tough," Pedroza Gonzalez said. She continued when she said there is nothing wrong with idea of a man being tough. However, she also plans teach her class that men are able to express their feelings as well. "[I want people] to have the freedom and the awareness that men do not have to be closed to feelings," Pedroza Gonzalez said.

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