I was just going to lurk on this account, to save time for actual writing, but ...
There's two broad swath issues that you're glossing over, here.
The first is the only socialization process under scrutiny, being picked over for flaws, and seeing these kinds of classes ... is masculinity. It's pretty tough to argue that only masculinity has negative aspects to it or that socialization occurs in a vacuum, such that males and females in a society don't collaboratively engage in it. The very fact all this attention is focused on one gender and one gender only is part of the pitch, and that pitch is that masculinity is flawed and has to change. That's a sexist stance at its outset, given all the abundant flaws to modern femininity, and as we'll see when I move into my second point, it's ultimately founded on a cherry picking process.
Secondly, 'men don't cry', 'anger is the only acceptable emotion' ... these are childish caricatures. They aren't men, they are someone's cartoony, hopelessly vile portrayals of men, and as a result they cannot possible hope to capture the gamut of male contribution to society. Where in this world is there space for the reams of male literature, male art, male music, male sculpture, male dance ... the vast bulk of our historical artistic legacy comes from men and shows a simply staggering degree of emotional complexity that's getting utterly left out of this discussion.
Clearly, our forms of masculinity are flexible enough to allow for male bodybuilders at the same time as it allows for male poets, and has for most of human history. Self-selecting for just the negative aspects of masculinity, as if they were the true exemplars of the gender, isn't honest. Why are Basho or Wilfred Owens or Pollock or Glenn Gould or Nureyev not used as exemplars of the breadth of emotional depth of masculinity that already exists. It's doesn't need to be built or found, it's part of masculinity already, but you sure wouldn't know it from these classes.
And, this last point expands out into parenting ... there is a goodly number of men who absolutely love their partners and children, and who express that in myriad ways, every single day. Classes like this demean the men that coddle sick kids, who give shoulder rubs to stressed spouses, who are engaged and active in their kid's lives. Maybe because it's at the university level, and so most of the students aren't parents, this aspect of masculinity has been largely unexplored, but it's a grievous sin given the degree of love men show to their family members.
[–]BisquitBill 14 points15 points16 points (0 children) | Copy Link
[–]Tedesche 5 points6 points7 points (0 children) | Copy Link
[–]Onion_Guy 18 points19 points20 points (21 children) | Copy Link
[–]HotDealsInTexas 23 points24 points25 points (5 children) | Copy Link
[–]hottake_toothache 1 point2 points3 points (0 children) | Copy Link
[–]Onion_Guy 0 points1 point2 points (3 children) | Copy Link
[–]HotDealsInTexas 5 points6 points7 points (2 children) | Copy Link
[–]Onion_Guy 2 points3 points4 points (1 child) | Copy Link
[–]DontTrustRedditors 1 point2 points3 points (0 children) | Copy Link
[–]Canttakethewhyfromme 6 points7 points8 points (1 child) | Copy Link
[–]Onion_Guy 2 points3 points4 points (0 children) | Copy Link
[–]Adanu0 1 point2 points3 points (0 children) | Copy Link
[–]Jillian0424 1 point2 points3 points (0 children) | Copy Link
[+]Gregorian_Tree1 points [recovered] (1 child) | Copy Link
I was just going to lurk on this account, to save time for actual writing, but ...
There's two broad swath issues that you're glossing over, here.
The first is the only socialization process under scrutiny, being picked over for flaws, and seeing these kinds of classes ... is masculinity. It's pretty tough to argue that only masculinity has negative aspects to it or that socialization occurs in a vacuum, such that males and females in a society don't collaboratively engage in it. The very fact all this attention is focused on one gender and one gender only is part of the pitch, and that pitch is that masculinity is flawed and has to change. That's a sexist stance at its outset, given all the abundant flaws to modern femininity, and as we'll see when I move into my second point, it's ultimately founded on a cherry picking process.
Secondly, 'men don't cry', 'anger is the only acceptable emotion' ... these are childish caricatures. They aren't men, they are someone's cartoony, hopelessly vile portrayals of men, and as a result they cannot possible hope to capture the gamut of male contribution to society. Where in this world is there space for the reams of male literature, male art, male music, male sculpture, male dance ... the vast bulk of our historical artistic legacy comes from men and shows a simply staggering degree of emotional complexity that's getting utterly left out of this discussion.
Clearly, our forms of masculinity are flexible enough to allow for male bodybuilders at the same time as it allows for male poets, and has for most of human history. Self-selecting for just the negative aspects of masculinity, as if they were the true exemplars of the gender, isn't honest. Why are Basho or Wilfred Owens or Pollock or Glenn Gould or Nureyev not used as exemplars of the breadth of emotional depth of masculinity that already exists. It's doesn't need to be built or found, it's part of masculinity already, but you sure wouldn't know it from these classes.
And, this last point expands out into parenting ... there is a goodly number of men who absolutely love their partners and children, and who express that in myriad ways, every single day. Classes like this demean the men that coddle sick kids, who give shoulder rubs to stressed spouses, who are engaged and active in their kid's lives. Maybe because it's at the university level, and so most of the students aren't parents, this aspect of masculinity has been largely unexplored, but it's a grievous sin given the degree of love men show to their family members.
[–]Onion_Guy 0 points1 point2 points (0 children) | Copy Link
[–]JestyerAverageJoe 2 points3 points4 points (5 children) | Copy Link
[–]Onion_Guy 3 points4 points5 points (4 children) | Copy Link
[–]Sparkle-Luna 3 points4 points5 points (3 children) | Copy Link
[–]harpsichordpurr 0 points1 point2 points (2 children) | Copy Link
[–]Sparkle-Luna 0 points1 point2 points (1 child) | Copy Link
[–]harpsichordpurr 0 points1 point2 points (0 children) | Copy Link
[–]Halafax 0 points1 point2 points (1 child) | Copy Link
[–]Onion_Guy 0 points1 point2 points (0 children) | Copy Link
[–]theDmc231 1 point2 points3 points (0 children) | Copy Link
[–]Singulaire 0 points1 point2 points (0 children) | Copy Link
[+]NateRomanoff1 points [recovered] (1 child) | Copy Link
I'd like to point out that the program is called "nü men," and "nü" in Chinese pinyin is "female." So there's that.
[–]TurtleOnTheRocks 2 points3 points4 points (0 children) | Copy Link