Sage Journals: Discover world-class research

Abstract

This essay reflects our collaboration on integrating the topic of masculinities into the Introduction to Women and Gender Studies course that we helped design as part of our Option in Women and Gender Studies at Raritan Valley Community College in central New Jersey. This essay argues that the integration of masculinity is essential to learning the social construction of gender and applying that lens. We designed the course to position what we call the ‘‘gender box’’ front and center (borrowing from the concepts Jackson Katz describes in his film Tough Guise). We also created a Social Action Assignment to allow students to plan and carry out a specific change in relation to gender. This essay charts our successes and observations in these areas, but it also explores challenges we continue to face, specifically the persistent lack of male students in the Intro course.

Keywords

masculinity gender studies pedagogy

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Bennet, Rick. 1995. King of a Small World. New York: Arcade Publishing.

Brod, Harry. 2002. ‘‘Studying Masculinities as Superordinate Studies,’’ in Masculinity Studies and Feminist Theory: New Directions, edited by Judith Kegan Gardiner , 161-175. New York: Columbia University Press.

Disch, Estelle , ed. 2006. Reconstructing Gender: A Multicultural Anthology, 5th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill.

Faludi, Susan. 1999. Stiffed: The Betrayal of the American Man. New York: William Morrow and Company.

Freedman, Estelle. 2002. No Turning Back: The History of Feminism and the Future of Women. New York: Random House .

Friedan, Betty. 2001. The Feminine Mystique. New York: Norton.

Golding, William. 1954. Lord of the Flies. New York: Perigree.

Katz, Jackson. 1999. Tough Guise. DVD Media Education Foundation , Northampton, Massachusetts.

Kimmel, Michael S. 2000. The Gendered Society. New York: Oxford University Press. ---. 2005. The History of Men: Essays on the History of American and British Masculinities. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.

10.

--- and Michael A. Messner ( 2003). Men’s Lives, 6th ed. Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon.

11.

Manno, Andrew J. 2004. ‘‘Male Retention at the Community College.’’ http://www.raritanval.edu/uploadedFiles/faculty/engl/full-time/Manno/Male_Retention_at_the_Community_College_.doc

12.

Pink. 2006. ‘‘Stupid Girls.’’ Youtube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BR4yQFZK9YM

13.

Pollack, William. 1998. Real Boys: Rescuing Our Sons from the Myths of Boyhood . New York: Henry Holt and Company .

14.

Putney, Clifford. 2001. Muscular Christianity: Manhood and Sports in Protestant America, 1880-1920. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

15.

Rotundo, E. Anthony. 1993. American Manhood: Transformations in Masculinity from the Revolution to the Modern Era. New York: Basic Books.

16.

Stanton, Elizabeth Cady. 1848. ‘‘The Declaration of Sentiments.’’ http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/senecafalls.html

17.

Taylor, Verta , Nancy Whittier , and Leila J. Rupp , eds. 2009. Feminist Frontiers, 8th ed. New York: Mc-Graw-Hill.

Navigating the Gender Box: Locating Masculinity in the Introduction to Women and Gender Studies Course

Abstract

Keywords

Get full access to this article

References