Lunch Chat (2/10): Masculinities

with Professor Harry Brod (University of Northern Iowa)

Tuesday, February 10th at noon in the International Commons (151 Coleman Hall).  

Photo Credit: Dickinson College/Carl Socolow

What does it mean to theorize about men and masculinities at the deepest levels? If I say to you that we are going to discuss gender, and what you hear is that we are going to discuss women, that’s not the voice of feminism, that’s the voice of patriarchy, for it leaves women as “marked” but men as unremarkable and uninterrogated, thereby leaving patriarchy intact because its foundations remain hidden or obscured. How can philosophy rise to the challenge of examining its gendered foundations and their ethical implications?

This discussion will examine what philosophies have to say about masculinities, the challenges of men becoming profeminist allies for gender justice, gendered aspects of the practice of philosophy itself, as in the question of why men dominate philosophy classrooms, and related issues in the history and present practice of philosophy.