Masculinity with Dr. Jackson Katz

Man up. Take it like a man. Boys will be boys. Boys don’t cry. Don’t be such a girl. These familiar phrases reinforce long-standing patriarchal tropes about what it means to be a man. Those ideas about masculinity are constantly being modeled back to us in our media and are introduced into our psyches at a very young age - a recent study found that in children’s television the most prominent stereotype depicted about masculinity is of boys and men as violent or aggressors - continuing to normalize these problematic narratives. This episode, we are going to be talking with Dr. Jackson Katz about the concept of masculinity, how it’s been defined to us, and how he believes it needs to change. Jackson is a thought leader in the growing movement of men working to promote gender equality and prevent gender violence. He is co-founder of Mentors in Violence Prevention, which focuses on gender violence prevention, and is the first major program of its kind to engage with sports culture and the military. In addition to his two books, Jackson has produced a slate of films examining culture, masculinity and violence, including the award-winning documentary, Tough Guise, and has also appeared in numerous popular documentaries, including Miss Representation and The Mask You Live In. And at the end of this podcast, you should watch his viral TEDx talk, Violence Against Women Is a Men's Issue.