On May 2, 2022, a lecture was presented to University of Denver students, faculty, and staff, titled Talking Masculinity: Rethinking What it Means to be a Man. This presentation was conducted by Dr. Tristan Bridges, a scholar of masculinity who studies what people believe masculinity is. He also examines how people’s views and understandings of masculinity can endlessly transform.
This presentation led by Bridges covered an important topic, and one that has often been disregarded by the men amongst our society.
“One of the things that is challenging about studying masculinity, that as a scholar of masculinity knows, is this challenging curiosity,” said Bridges. “Masculinity has this ‘know it when I see it’ quality that it resists being defined.”
He started off the main points of the discussion by using a topic well-known by all as an example with masculinity: the Covid-19 pandemic. Bridges used multiple statistics of Covid-19 to explain the severity of the pandemic, and how masculinity played a role during the course of it.
Bridges highlighted the statistic of more men dying from the coronavirus than women. The death gap was not due to anything biological, but the behaviors of men, and how they have been treating their own health during the pandemic.
“Because masculinity structures a great deal of men’s health and behavior, masculinity played a critical role in these figures. Just as it played a critical role in political responses from leaders that invoked macho-militaristic masculinities, as they promised to protect us from a disease that was fast spreading around the world,” stated Bridges.
Bridges then shifted the conversation towards campaigns about masculinity, and challenged the typical associations made with masculinity. One of the campaigns he mentioned was the 1 is 2 Many campaign, started by the Obama administration to bring attention to violence against women. He explained how these types of campaigns push men to combat their prejudices, but it goes beyond that.
“They are not just asking men to engage in diversity and inclusion work and violence prevention, they are seeking to masculinize that work,” said Bridges.
Once the discussion changed course, Bridges recounted an anonymous survey that everyone in attendance took prior to the lecture. The survey asked questions regarding sexuality, sexism, racism, and sexual violence on the DU campus. Since the survey was taken on paper, all of the audience members then crumpled up their surveys, and tossed them across the room. Everyone received a random survey, and then we learned of the results from it together.
Some of the results from the survey varied, but one question stood out. When the audience was asked if the survey they were in posession of said that the sexual culture for undergrads at DU doesn’t support sexual diversity and consent, nearly everyone’s hands shot up, and no one in the audience seemed surprised.
After the presentation concluded, a few DU students, faculty, and staff joined Dr. Bridges on the stage for a panel discussion, addressing masculinity on campus. People shared their own experiences with masculinity, and moments when they have felt uncomfortable in the masculinity culture at DU.
Kaveya Gole, a DU freshman who is a transgender man, recounted an experience he had in the Daniel’s College of Business where he felt unsafe with the masculinity culture on campus.
“We all know the Daniel’s Business building as the ‘don’t go in there building,’” Gole said. “I had to use the bathroom and I walked in and I felt these two guys following me, and I just went straight to the stall. I just heard them talking, and they didn’t directly mention me, but I could tell that they were talking about me.”
Kaveya was choking up when telling the audience his story in the Daniel’s bathroom, and felt as if his masculinity was disregarded by the men.
“What they said was, ‘why does someone who’s 5’1” think that they could pass as a man? Or that they could pass as masculine?’ and that just made me really uncomfortable,” said Gole.
Stories such as the one Kaveya shared are the reason why the lecture and panel led by Dr. Bridges was an important one to be heard by the DU community, and Dr. Bridges’ words allowed for everyone to reflect on the roles masculinity has not only in our lives.
“The real culprit is not men, it’s not males, it’s masculinity. And that changes the conversation quite a bit.”
MFJS Reporter Spring 2022 
I thought it was interesting how the speaker tied the pandemic with the topic of masculinity. Those are two things I didn’t even think about to associate with each other. I think we’ve been hearing the topic of toxic masculinity in many Gen Z conversations, so it was interesting to read this take on this topic. The story about the bathroom was heart-wrenching to read. Great writing!
LikeLiked by 2 people
I think every quote you chose was very beneficial to your story, especially the ones by an audience member – this really strengthened the claim on how important this lecture was for some students. The quotes did a good job of telling a large part of your story for you which is important for this type of story-telling. I think you provided adequate background and detail as well.
LikeLiked by 2 people
I really liked this article because it explains more how the ideology of masculinity has caused harm more than men. I thought your story was well written and you had every part of your story flow very well together. You also chose excellent links to integrate into your story to add more information about the speech. You did really well overall!!
LikeLiked by 2 people