Summit Will Address Masculinity In Society

In the nationwide discussion of sexual assaults on college campuses, men are often left out of the conversation. The “Our Masculinity Matters Summit” this Friday and Saturday (April 15-16), coordinated by the Texas A&M University Offices of the Dean of Student Life and the Office of Consensual Language, Education, Awareness & Relationships (CLEAR), will take a step to change the narrative.

Ryan Jackson, assistant coordinator of CLEAR, said sexual assault is often thought of as only a women’s issue because a vast majority of sexual assault survivors are women. Although studies estimate that more than 95 percent of sexual assaults are carried out by men, only about 6 percent of men commit acts of sexual assault–so it is a small number of men carrying out such assaults. Even so, Jackson said sexual assault should be addressed as a men’s issue, too.

“It is important to engage the 94 percent of men who don’t engage in assaults so they can recognize that thinking of sexual assault as a ‘women’s issue’ is actually blaming the victim and not addressing the problem,” Jackson said. “The problem lies with this small population of men who often use excuses like hyper-masculinity and ‘boys will be boys’ to justify their actions. This summit hopes to engage these men and teach them how to step in and stand up to their fellow men.”

The two-day summit will be hosted by keynote speaker and My Masculinity Helps documentary co-creator Dr. Marc Grimmett, and Dr. David Parrott, executive associate vice president and chief of staff for the Division of Student Affairs. The discussion, open to Texas A&M students, faculty and staff, will focus on what masculinity means in modern society and how it impacts the Texas A&M community. In 2015, Texas A&M launched the “Step In Stand Up” campaign – a web-based platform that connects students, faculty and staff with the resources to report sexual violence and training opportunities to teach the campus community how to safely intervene before a sexual assault takes place.

The summit will feature sessions from Grimmett and Parrott as well as breakout sessions on feminism, social identity and masculinity’s effects on gay men in college, among others. Jackson said that by addressing the rigid cultural definition of what masculinity is and the negative behaviors it can lead to, a positive culture change will be the result.

“It’s important for men to have these types of conversations because the more we realize that no one lives up to society’s definition of a man and that society’s definition of a man isn’t a very good thing to be, the more they will be willing to drop the mask that they wear and show their true selves,” Jackson said.

To learn more about the “Our Masculinity Matters Summit,” contact the Consensual Language, Education, Awareness & Relationships (CLEAR) Office at 979.845.6241 or clear@tamu.edu. Registration is free for Texas A&M students and employees, but pre-registration is required.

To register, visit http://studentlife.tamu.edu/clear.menssummit.