Queer Immersions/Excursions--Byron Hurt and Masculinity, by Maddy Tyma

Queer Immersions/Excursions-Byron Hurt and Masculinity 

I attended Byron Hurt’s talk on masculinity last week in the chapel. I was looking forward to it and surprised to hear that he was a student of Jackson Katz whose work we read a lot about in Women and Gender Studies. He used a gender box as an example to illustrate the ways in which we are pushed by society to act in alignment with our gender. He then had people give examples of words men are called when they act outside their gender box. I had done this exercise before in other classes, but I thought it was especially powerful to do it in a large group setting. It was also powerful because there were many more men in the audience than in any classes where I have done this exercise. He at first only wanted examples from the men in the audience but then opened it up to the rest saying that women also understand the male gender box likely because they are pressured by it in certain ways as well.

I thought the talk was very powerful because he used personal examples. It made him more relatable and I think it made it easier for him to be like a role model. He illustrated really important points about how masculinity and these ideas can be harmful to both men and women in our lives. One of the biggest problems that occurs as a result of our ideas and pressures around masculinity. He touched on this with examples about his Dad’s violence against his mother. In his documentary “Tough Guise,” Jackson Katz tells us that violence has become an accepted trait for males. It is no longer outside the norms but we accept it as male behavior and even ridicule men who are not capable of proving themselves physically. This puts enormous pressures on men and can by extremely psychologically damaging if they don’t fit these norms. In an interview with the American PsychologicalAssociation, Wizdom Powell said that masculinity can make men less likely to seek help or even admit to needing help. This goes along with some of the words Hurt put in the gender box. Words like provider, independent, strong. These are not exactly concurrent with allowing yourself to be vulnerable or asking for help. It is important for us to break down norms of masculinity in order to protect men but also women. In his TED talk, Jackson Katz spoke about how violence against women is a male problem and before we can fix it we must discuss the ways in which we push people into gender boxes.

What does this mean for folks of all genders, Women and Gender Studies or Queer theory? It means that as long as we have these kinds of gender expectations for men, we will be hurting anyone who does not fit perfectly into the heteronormative gender box. This may include queer folks in general and our norms do not make being yourself, for anyone, any easier. Judith Butler wrote, “heterosexuality is always in the process of imitating and approximating its own phantasmic idealization of itself-and failing,” (Queer Theories Page 73.) As long as we try to strive for these perfect conceptions of being a man or woman, we will not only be hurting cisgender people but everyone. It is especially important for us to challenge gender norms because they are so integral to our lives. David Glover and Cora Kaplan comment on this, “..gender underpins our capacity to make decisions and act upon them..” (Queer Theories page 75).  We must study masculinity and gender norms in the context of Queer Theories and Women and Gender Studies because it can be relevant to all parts of our lives and all people.