Why is there no "Male Studies"?

Question

There's Female Studies, but there is an incredible lack of Male Studies.

You'll never take a class regarding "Male Gender Studies in Early America". There's a Female class, but no Males one.

Please don't tell me it's because "men already dominate the world". If you look at female studies, they focus on the "domestic sphere" and sexuality. Male studies should be the same thing, with emphasis on the "Public Sphere" and sexuality.

For example, if we take Colonial America. There's plenty on what girls should be and their lives being centered on domesticity. If we look at men, sure their lives are centered on work, but how about men that do not live up to this? Black Male Slaves and their problems of feminitiy? Young men forced to work jobs just because society forces it on them. Any mental problems?

There is a complete lack of focus on the topics above this. Reasons for this?

To: Salek

I just looked at my college's courses for this semester.

There is no Male Studies.
There is however, a Women's Study all for itself.

So you can major in Women's Studies, but not Male Studies.

Answer 1

Because the only kind of acceptable sexual discrimination exists against men. Women like to argue that since everything else is "male" by default, then they should always get their own special little club where they can hang a "No Boyz Allowed" sign and feel all superior. You'll often hear the common fallacy that since men have been historically so important, women should be given more privileges NOW to make up for this Karmic deficit.

Never mind that it makes no sense. Never mind that women are not only considered "equal" under the law, but more important. Never mind that history textbooks have been re-written for more "inclusion." It's always more, more, more.

And that, my friend, is why men aren't allowed something as simple as their own space. Frankly, I'm surprised that Yahoo lets men post in this category.

I highly recommend you go to their Suggestions section and request a Men's Studies/Issues section. The more noise we make, the harder we'll be to ignore.

Oh, and as an aside to anyone who commented that "gender studies" includes men, they're technically right. Gender studies takes the stance that men are innately flawed, and they need to be "fixed" by making them more like women. Thanks but no thanks.

Answer 2

Well tell me about it if I wanted to know about BOB (the guy on the male enhancement pill commercials) sex life I would call him up and ask him. Enough about BOB already. I see why he needs the pills in the first place. He sure wasn't getting the woman by his looks that for sure. :-) To answer the person who asked why would a woman want a man who takes the pills? How can I say this an not get booted. It makes the sex life rocking harder and last longer. Whereas most guys go about 30 min to and hour or two and that's it. It's not a scam that's for sure. I know they work. Levitra works the best so far that I know. :-)

Answer 3

Gender studies encompasses both male and female. And it doesn't focus solely the "Private Sphere" - it takes into consideration how the separation of public and private spheres also separated gender and affected men and women in particular ways. Women's lives were only centered on domesticity for about a two or three hundred year period in Western history (and even then, only women with rich husbands could afford this privilege), so Women's Studies hardly focuses on domesticity.

Women's Studies classes do focus on gender - actually the courses at my university are in the Women and Gender Studies Institute. As someone said before, it's basically looking at history and society through a gender lens, which had never been done before. Women initially took the initiative to do it, and they chose to name it Women's Studies since gender construcs have mainly been detrimental to women.

P.S. We're all forced to work jobs - not by society, but by these pesky little things called the economy and potential homelessness. If you can think of some better points to raise, then good luck to you in getting a PhD in sociology and anthropology, and being the pioneer of Men's Studies as an academic discipline.

Answer 4

I agree with Scruffy,it's interesting to know what have been growing in the parallel/but not always convergent gender along the feminine.And they mostly have been misunderstood/misplaced until recently as the studies of the Human Community at large,or worst,encopassed only in the rampant development(to me,degeneration)of "macho-ism". ..
I think is not much researched and the studies remain in their infancy,like many others before(Psychology,Pedagogy,etc)but there is always a beginning.
Part of the Miss maybe not due to men bashing or detracting by destructive women,but to Men OWN pride to assume "nothing is to be known",because everything is well set by infantile social types ( John Wayne like) before as role (mainly of denial).

Answer 5

Have often wondered that myself as it is just as complicated being a guy. Men are just as abused as women, but we don't talk about rape or sexual harrassment, job discrimination as freely. Men also bond differently; through sports, hunting or fishing trips and rarely on an emotional basis.
You never hear about Saturday night poker games with "the girls," although they will get together in the afternoons for bridge and evening card games are usually when they cajole their mates to join in, maybe once a month.
Might be just as simple men are beer drinkers and women seem to prefer wine.

Answer 6

there are. they fall under the category of "gender studies." there's a general education course at my school called "Men and Masculinity." Women's studies began because all the rest of academia focused on men. Then people began to realise that looking at history through the lens of gender is an entire subject unto itself, not just a means of leveling the playing field. I took a class called "Gender and Sexuality in American History." A lot of it focused on the "crises" of masculinity during the Depression and the 50's, when men were no longer able to provide for their families alone or were no longer able to fulfill what being a "man" was. I agree that it is an important subject that I find just as fascinating as women's studies.

Answer 7

Because women are more insecure, and need the the benefit of woman's studies. But once women believe they are equal and become the more dominant sex, things will change.

Answer 8

I was kinda with you until the last paragraph. you lost me there.

I bet that if men thought of themselves as a subgroup of humanity, there would be male studies classes. I think it's a way to objectify women as something odd, deserving of study. But I think we end up benefiting from it, after all, knowledge is power.

Answer 9

Have you ever gone to college? Taken a gender studies course?

Most gender studies programs have classes on the evolution/experience of masculinity - classes with titles like "Men and Masculinities". Go look at a college catalog.

Answer 10

Could it be that Men do not matter as much as Females?