Why is there no Men's Studies major?

Parents Forum
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<p>Gender Studies most definitely includes what some might call "men's studies". I second Marite's point about Women's Studies growing out of social science disciplines. Women's Studies is a child of the seventies. Women coming out of the anti-war movement noticed we were always doing xeroxing (or mimeographing as we did then) while the guys debated policy and gave speeches at rallies. Voila! (Sorry Marite, no accents on this keyboard), the second wave of feminism began. These same women noiticed that their conclusions from their field research differed markedly from those of their male colleagues. Women's Studies is not so much the study of women as it is viewing the world through a different lens. I could offer many examples of this, even in the "hard" sciences. Most "knowledge" has objective and value-laden components. Women's Studies seeks to explore some of these unconscious biases.</p>

<p>I do think men would benefit from Men's Studies, and there are many male theorists looking at issues that concern the liabilities of the male role in society. The leading causes of death for young men result directly from these roles: vehicular death, homicide and suicide. Men do not fare well in custody battles, even when mothers are unfit, and when drafts are instituted only men must serve. My position as a feminist does not blind me to the difficulties of being male in our society. The problem is that most men do not want to explore the secondary gains of their gender roles, though many do.</p>

<p>Although my PhD is in English, I have taught Women's Studies courses for 27 years. When I began there were no Women's Studies departments to study in. We created the discipline from many different other disciplines. I have taught thousands of women and hundreds of men, and I think 90% of them would say their studies were worthwhile. We read both female and male writers and entertain all points of view. I have taught tough audiences: one class was all retiring cops needing degrees for the next phase of their lives. Our dialogue was fruitful.</p>

<p>I myself would not want to major in Women's Studies because I love literature too much to devote many credits to anything else. However, like any other social science discipline, there are outlets in terms of the job market. One of my students, whom I'm very proud of, is a three term state representative. One Women's Studies student spent years as an advisor to the CT legislature on Women's issues. I gave expert testimony before the US Congress and revised the way rape kids were stored (now hospitals can keep them) and which precincts a rape victim can report her crime in (any) for the county I'm in. I gave a yearly class to the police academy and gave training sessions to family court judges.</p>

<p>However, most Women's Studies students go on to fields like law, business and medicine more empowered, just as I have. When I submitted my doctoral dissertation as a single, pregnant woman writing on the very masculine Thomas Pynchon my committee (largely composed of men who had tried to sleep with me subtly or not) tried to block its acceptance. The female Dean of the Humanities settled the matter by voting in favor of my thesis. University Microfiche (copies and binds all dissertations) awarded my work "Best Thesis of 1987". I won't say who was biased.</p>

<p>My son has no interest in the social science. His interests are classical music, Latin texts and biology. However, if he did choose to study "Men's Studies" or "Gender Studies" I would not be perturbed in the least. Oh and BTW my daughter is not interested in this major either, though I would not view it as just an easy major if she were.</p>

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<p>Mythmom: You got to write your dissertation. In London, I met a Japanese student who was married to a Scandinavian man. She wanted to pursue a Ph.D. in Japanese studies. But the only prof at SOAS who could guide her dissertation was a Japanese prof who was adamant that her job should be to take care of her husband full time (he did not ask the opinion of her husband who was very supportive of her ambitions) and refused to take her on as a student. I found out later that she and her husband went to the US specifically so that she could pursue her Ph.D.</p>

<p>Women's studies have come a long way since the 1970s with their victimhood perspective (adopted from African-American studies) or, contrarily, their "I am Woman, hear me roar" approach. Men's studies, coming later, are, in my opinion, methodologically sounder than the early work emanating from women's studies, more modest in their claims and more balanced in their conclusions (as are today's work in the women's studies field generally--of course, there are always some nutcases who get a great deal of publicity).</p>

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<p>Eloquently put, myth.</p>

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<p>Well a few colleges require the study of dead white guys- I think they're called * the classics*
much more PC ya know ;)</p>

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<p>marite, that story about the female student going in in jeans really made me laugh! </p>

<p>The last college at Oxford to go mixed was Oriel - and some of the history tutors there were such relics of the age of male supremacy that they actually wore BLACK ARMBANDS to protest at the 'death of the college'. Huh. </p>

<p>(Off topic, but my BF attended a boarding school that chucked all female students out at one point in its history because of their 'demonic influence'. They were only allowed back in the 1990s. Nice.)</p>

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<p>
[quote]
Why is there a "Women's Studies" major?

[/quote]
It exists because people want to study it.
[quote]
What's the point and what are the job prospects of one with a BA degree in it?

[/quote]
There are many majors that do not have direct job prospects besides academia. The fact is, current employers care very little about undergraduate major beyond the student's ability to reason and write. This has been true in some sense for a while, actually. Thinking back to some of my father's best friends, who all completed a four-year "Great Books" program instead of a traditional major, they include one of the very top people in the world in advertisement, someone in finance who invests billions of dollars (each) for companies/organizations, a lawyer who has argued multiple times in the Supreme Court, a pediatric cardiologist, and more. For smart, driven people, a non-traditional major or a non- pre-professional major is not a road block. Remember that many students don't end up with a job in their field of major. How many English majors don't become teachers or writers? How many bio majors don't go to med school or go into research? How many psychology majors don't become psychologists? </p>

<p>In terms of the major being easiest, I just checked the requirements at my college, and gender studies requires 12 courses, including a senior thesis. For comparison, East Asian Languages requires 12 courses, Economics requires 13 without a thesis, Political Science requires 12, Statistics requires 12, etc. It looks to have about the same requirements as many other majors.</p>

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<p>There is such a program (actually a minor, not a major) very much along the lines mythmom described; it doesn't sound frivolous at all:</p>

<p>
[quote]
The men’s studies program offers an intellectually rigorous and coherent explanation of men’s lives, focusing on theories of masculinity, the history and sociology of men’s experience, gender and sexuality as organizing categories of men’s identity and experience, and ways of knowing and teaching about these matters.

[/quote]
</p>

<p><a href="http://www.hws.edu/academics/programs/minors/menstudies.asp%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.hws.edu/academics/programs/minors/menstudies.asp&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

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<ol>
<li><p>One of the funniest skits I ever saw on Saturday Night Live was one of their fake TV talk shows, called "Not Just For Men Only." The host said that the show's purpose was to "celebrate the lives, struggles, and accomplishments of men." They proceeded to discuss "some great composers you may not have known were men" -- Bach, Mozart, and Beethoven. The segment concluded with an interview with a guy who was courageously trying to start "an all-Black, all-male basketball team" ("These kids start out with two strikes against them -- they're Black and they're male").</p></li>
<li><p>Re careers of women studies majors: My wife went to college just as women's studies were getting under way. Had there been such a major, that's what she would have been, but since there wasn't she cobbled together the effective equivalent by double-majoring in Psychology (where her focus on psychology of gender put her into constant conflict with her departmental advisor, then-Asst. Prof. Judith Rodin) and American Studies (focusing on women's history). After college, she went into VISTA, which led to a job with a nonprofit housing developer, where she worked on building housing for low-income single-parent families. After a few years of that, she went to law school and became a legal services lawyer for 5 years, and also volunteered with a group doing advocacy on women's and children's health issues. That ultimately led to a series of management positions in government and nonprofit agencies of various sizes, over the course of which she adjusted her focus somewhat. She is extremely successful in her current field. </p></li>
</ol>

<p>It's true that most of her quasi-women's-studies friends wound up going to law school at some point, although few of them have been practicing lawyers for their whole careers.</p>

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<p>With a degree in Women's Studies you'll be fullly qualified to be a woman wherever you go.</p>

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<p>Love this discussion - brings back SO many memories, too. Cheers, I honestly think the $5k investment in men's studies, if it helped improved gender relationships and eased differences/conflicts/confusions between the sexes would be the best money invested in a young person's development and education. Of course, it would have to be designed and taught with that expectation and sensitivity.</p>

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<p>JHS--never saw that skit; that's hilarious!!!!</p>

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<p>What are some of you guys talking about? Men's Studies is on the cutting edge. I mean, you learn about why war exists, why men get involved in sports fights, why religion is biased to the male sex. Very few men are experts of themselves. It would be so nice to see guys sitting in a seminar talking about these issues.</p>

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<p>I wish someone would write a book collecting women's personal anecdotes about the everyday discrimination they experienced in years past. We've had several excellent examples in this thread. It's one thing to read about something in a history book and another thing to hear the voices of real people talking about things that happened to them. I don't think the young people of today can really imagine the little (and big) indignities women experienced as a day-to-day occurrence.</p>

<p>Maybe there is such a book and I don't know about it.</p>

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<p>Many texts used for Women's Studies classes are replete with essays that are based on personal experience. The text I favor is probably too theory based for the casual reader, but if you can pick up a used copy of COMPLEMENTS (eds. Katsavos & Wheeler) from Amazon or another source it is much more casual and appealing to a general reader. Sadly, it is out of print.</p>

<p>There are many others. A brief search of Women's Studies texts on Amazon should yield candidates.</p>

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<p>Ah, but Men's Studies might lead to men questioning or redefining their own role in society - and perhaps find that they are no longer fully qualified to be a "man"?! ;)</p>

<p>[yes, that earlier "fully qualified to be a woman" remark rankles just as much now as it did back in the 70s, even if meant in jest!] </p>

<p>When I was in college, all my Women's Studies professors had the attitude that women had to work twice as hard as men in order to prove themselves...and as a result those courses were NOT as easy as some would think! This wave of feminism also led to an era of Super-Mom's who could have and do it all. </p>

<p>For me, the major was not so much what I could do with it, but what it "did" for me - the person I became, which was a far cry from the person I started out as. I began college shy, naive and excited, but also very scared, passive and perhaps even a little depressed because of my home life and the limited opportunities I saw for myself. I came from a poor working class family that was WAY behind the times even for the 70s; my parents did the best they could with 7 kids (5 boys but guess who did all the dishes and cleaning?), on their limited income, but just did not know anything different. Strong female role models were sadly lacking in my life as I grew up and the role of women was pretty much predefined from birth ("but don't you WANT to get married and have children?" Yeah, Ma, 7 of 'em and live a life just like yours...) </p>

<p>I came out 4 years later, not a feminist, but a humanist. Not a bad deal for just 4 years, especially on a free ride...</p>

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<p>Skyhook, I agree. As someone who was born post women's lib, I'd read it! My mother has lots of indignant anecdotes from the 70s. My favorite is the one where she went to meet with her academic advisor after she had gotten married while still an undergrad. The man noticed her change of name and wedding ring and asked "why do you still want to go to school if you are married?" In his mind, she'd already nabbed her man, so why bother with those pesky classes?</p>

<p>At the very least, I think all of you should write down your stories so they can be passed onto generations of your families. My grandchildren will not likely ever know women who lived through that era, but I'd love for them to be able to read about my mother's experiences in her own words.</p>

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<p>STOP ERA 10char</p>

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<p>Men tend not to like to study themselves, or dwell on their "feelings", or "inner motivation".</p>

<p>They also do not like to chat, for no specific purpose. Please explain this to my wife's friends, when they call & she's not in.</p>

<p>They do tend to like to sit in the den, in their underwear, and watch mindless sports contests while drinking a beer.</p>

<p>Go study that.</p>

<p>We are pretty much single-celled organisms, and I think you know which cell I'm talking about.</p>

<p>Not much studying required, in that regard.</p>

<p>Hope this helps.</p>

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<p>While I'm displaying my sensitive/ enlightened side, here were my comments on my daughter's plan to take a women's studies course next semester:</p>

<p>"Course Overview: Men treat women like crap & women don’t like it.
Recommendation: Get over it.</p>

<p>Guess what; sometimes women treat men like crap too. But we guys don’t have to make a whole course (or, worse yet, major) about it to talk about our “feelings”. Because we’re better. No wonder we treat women like crap; they deserve it.</p>

<p>Why don’t you women just do what we do? Ignore it and put on the Yankees game. Then you won’t have to take a whole course just to wallow in your own self-pity."</p>

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<p>I'm back, Wow, who is that guy who stole my screen name while I was gone; no idea..</p>