Men Taking Classes to Unlearn Toxic Masculinity From Rape Crisis Center, Collective Action for Safe

Stephen Hicks feels something is off. He isn't being the best Stephen he could be. His relationship ended and things started to collapse in front of him. He needs to make a change by going to therapy. But that isn't enough.

For some time, Stephen Hicks had felt like something was off. “My relationship ended, then a lot of things started collapsing in front of me,” Hicks says. He began attending therapy, which made him realize that he needed to make a bigger change: “I wasn’t doing really terrible things, but I also wasn’t being the most ideal Stephen I could be,” he says. “The bar is really lowered for cisgender guys.”

www.thecut.com...

Rethink Masculinity is a class that will help Stephen. The class is offered by a combo of groups, The Washington, D.C., Rape Crisis Center, Collective Action for Safe Spaces, and ReThink. They will teach Stephen about how social construct of masculinity harm him and people around him. It was 8 weeks of guys discussing their actions and how to be less toxic.

So earlier this year, Hicks signed up for the pilot Rethink Masculinity class, a partnership between the Washington, D.C., Rape Crisis Center, Collective Action for Safe Spaces, and ReThink, an organization that works to prevent sexual assault.

The program bills itself as a class where men “learn how social constructs of masculinity harm them and the people around them, and work to construct healthier masculinities.” Or, as Hicks puts it, “It was eight weeks of guys discussing how they can address their actions with better self-awareness and less toxicity.”

Buzz words---Stephen spoke of emotional labor, consent (wonder if Stephen has a problem that is considered a felony) violence........These courses care designed for people who identify as men, yes men. Interesting.

We spoke of emotional labor, consent, violence, communication, empathy, and vulnerability,” he adds, noting that the last subject, in particular, was a struggle for him: “[I was] trained and conditioned to be tough growing up.”

The Rethink program is the latest in a growing number of courses targeted toward people who identify as men, including the Men’s Project at the University of Wisconsin, Masculinity 101 at Brown, and the Duke Men’s Project at Duke. The goal, proponents say, is to help men examine their own biases and behaviors in order to cut down on misogyny and gender-based violence.

It sounds like this is a group of guys who have no idea on how to treat a women. Consent? Violence? What the hell are these cats up to?



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a reply to: seasonal

Toxic masculinity....

"I'll take things stupid people say for 1000 alex."

I wish people weren't so dumb, we could have done great things.

I resemble that condition PROUDLY ...

a reply to: MisterSpock

Sounds like Stephen has a rape or violence issue. The story acts like all men do and this is just how it is.

a reply to: seasonal

From the site

Rethink Masculinity is a men’s consciousness building group in which people identifying as men collectively learn

It doesn't state if this course is open to people identifying as women identifying as men.

My wife has playfully playfully assaulted me in order to get "make up sex". Will she be allowed into the course?

a reply to: seasonal
Sounds like the course is going to take him from being a capable, strong guy into an emotional, weak minded pussy.
Toxic masculinity? Ffs...

a reply to: CromCruachh

Sounds like he is a rapist who is looking for something to blame. Like all men.

I get some of it, especially after reading through that whole weinstein thread.
I do think though that there is plenty in these sorts of toxic masculinity classes and such like that is really just a lack of understanding of how men are.
Like the insistence that often arises to talk about and show your more pained feelings.

not once in my life has that ever worked well or made me feel better.

no reason to go round being a pain in someone else's neck though.

a reply to: seasonal

I remember one Father's Day, when I was little. My sister and I gave my father a "How to Fix Anything", do it your self book. He was furious that we put him in a "masculine" box, thinking that the only thing we thought of, when we thought of him was a "fix it guy".

One the other hand, I remember him going absolutely crazy on me when I told him about how I was learning about radio waves, and how they are created when photon collides with an electron. He screamed at me "No wonder you can't catch a man! Men don't like smart ass talky women!"

I do think expectation and gender roles need to be looked at more closely.

Is there a class for "Toxic Femininity"???

Door swings both ways..

What about those that identity as women?

Just saying..

a reply to: seasonal

Do they offer a class for women with toxic femininity?

Obviously none of this is Stephen's fault. It's his darn testosterone at unsafe levels. Toxic matter of fact. And since testosterone leaves a man incapable of avoiding the natural male urge to rape, murder, and pillage on a daily basis, maybe he needs to consider some hormone treatment.

How much testosterone does the average American man really need anyway? I'm just talking some common sense, reasonable restrictions on those levels. Think of the children.

a reply to: seasonal

They should rename it 'Classes to Pussify Men'... More would join up, I'm sure.

Is this a free nation or not?

Don't want to take a class on this stuff?

Don't take a class on it.

It's not like this guy is going door to door, or someone is forcing YOU to take these types of therapy-classes.

a reply to: ABNARTY

I think a suppository style monitor for testosterone levels that has easily readable digital readout located near the man's lower back for all to see.
Come'on talk is cheap. Let's get those testosterone levels down.

a reply to: ABNARTY

a reply to: EternalShadow

I think "toxic femininity" is a result of crafty females using their ever evolving wiles to make men think "it was his idea", or use guilt trips, peer pressure and manipulation to get an upper hand in societies where women have been oppressed for generations.

How much you all want to bet the males who react negatively to this are the ones most insecure about their own manhood?

Just like those guys who drive those big trucks known as "overcompensation vehicles" ...

a reply to: Kettu

No.

I react negatively to it as a woman who was strong, smart and an athlete. I wanted a man who wasn't intimidated by any of it and wasn't going to bend over and fall all over himself to stick his balls in my purse so I could wear the pants in the family.

I wanted a strong partner, not a eunuch.

originally posted by: Kettu
How much you all want to bet the males who react negatively to this are the ones most insecure about their own manhood?

Just like those guys who drive those big trucks known as "overcompensation vehicles" ...

Really? 'Big trucks' driving to feed their families?

Or are you talking about the ones 'bought' by 'boy/men' who've been trained by mass media that 'bigger is better'.

Just like young women who suffer from bulimia/anorexia to compensate for being what the media purposes to be 'beautiful?

Men are equally as subject to such mind bending.

And it's happening more and more to MEN as TPTB already have the women brainwashed.

They want NO INDIVIDUALS, NO RELIGION, NO CULTURE, etc... So TPTB can control all...

Horrid. The dehumanization of humanity on a snowballs roll from hell down a slippery slope we're all paying no attention to at all.

a reply to: seasonal

From what is said in the article it's hard to know whether this is something worth wild or not. They should give examples or something or what kinds of things are being said and taught, specifically.

Because discussing all the topics they list is pretty much a good idea for everyone to a degree. I mean you could also call the class, "Are you acting like a douche bag or a decent person??"

That would be a good class for a lot of people both men and women.

On one hand, depending upon how one reads it, it could be a good thing or a big pseudo intellectual, new agey waste of time. I would guess it's probably a little of both.

Toxic masculinity. OK, I think I can work that out.

But what the heck is "emotional labor"? I must admit that that one is a new one for me. 'course, I'm not into the new-age psycho-babble...unless it's

Alan Parson Project



Psycho-babble.