Men and Masculinity Conference in Tallahassee, April 1-3, 2011!

The 36th National Conference on Men & Masculinity (M&M), "Breaking Out of the Box: Changing Perspectives & Redefining Masculinity" will address men's perception and misperception around issues concerning consent, rape, and bystander intervention. Please join us at Florida State University, Talahassee, FL, April1-3, 2011, for an exciting conference in support of local initiatives.

The conference programming addresses a broad range of issues and social norms pertaining to men and masculinity and the analysis and prevention of sexual assault.  NOMAS emphasizes the interrelated factors of societal abuse of power and domination in the forms of sexism, racism, homophobia, classism, anti-Semitism, able-bodyism, ageism and other oppressions that influence social inequalities, the construction of gender, and the perpetration of all forms of violence.

Who attends?

• Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Prevention Professionals and survivors
• Anti-Trafficking workers
• Campus Professionals
• Public Health Professionals
• Child Abuse Prevention Professionals
• Gender Studies professionals and students
• Sociology, Anthroplogy and Psychology professionals and students
• Therapists and social workers
• Students, Campus, Community, and Youth Organizers
• Male allies to the women's and ending violence movements
• Faith communities working for social justice
• Legal and Justice System professionals
• Activists and all others who are interested examining the intersections of social justice issues (e.g., gender, sexual orientation, race, culture, ability)

Teachable Moment in Tucson: Guns, Mental Illness and Masculinity

Article from Huffington post about the Tucson shootings. Definitely worth the read. Leandra

The Manslater

This is pretty funny, but there's certainly a lot going on it. Some things I found really interesting:

1. Although it capitalizes on the joke that "men don't understand their girlfriends because women are incoherent," the video is not entirely one sided. It does at the end acknowledge that men can be difficult for women to understand, too (although, to be honest, this part of the video does feel a little tacked on, and subtly reinforces the idea that men say what they mean while women do not)

2. The translation voice is completely different (naturally!) for men and women. Note how the translation for men is ungrammatical, terse, and caveman-like, while the one for women is eloquent, refined, and verbose.

3. The video only shows examples of male-female communication problems that deal with relationships; aren't there more general communication breakdowns between men and women?

4. What about male-male and female-female translation devices? Certainly we face communication barriers with members of our own gender identity every day. Why is the prospect of this kind of device not as humorous?