Our young men are growing up in a society that, in many cases, reinforces unhealthy connotations of masculinity. Boys are often taught that ‘being a man’ means placing little or no value on caring, relationships or empathy, and that respect is linked to violence. The media frequently backs up the view that ‘being a man’ means emotions should be repressed and women are sexual conquests as opposed to equals and friends. As a society, it’s crucial that we enable our boys to question and reconsider this definition of masculinity. Schools must play their part in this. To address this issue, BGS has developed a term-long compulsory unit, Rethinking Masculinity, as part of our Year 10 boys’ wellbeing curriculum. Initially, the boys view the US documentary The Mask You Live In, which probes the big questions facing young men and their definitions of masculinity. After watching this, at times, confronting film, the boys engage in a number of activities and discussions based around the film’s major themes, including:
• Man-up: masculinity as a performance: where the boys reflect on their own values and what ‘being a man’ means to them. • The men that men look up to: masculinity in popular culture: a discussion of how media can distort the positive values of masculinity. • Gender differences: masculinity and femininity as social constructs: exploring how the 90% psychological similarity between men and women is misrepresented by society’s constructions of gender.
• The whole self: developing healthy masculinity: boys work together to construct their own healthy version of masculinity. While the Rethinking Masculinity deliberately takes our young men out of their ‘comfort zone’, the primary learning intention is for the boys to see through social constructs of gender and develop their own interpretation of what it is to ‘be a man’. The lessons revolve around building healthier perspectives of three key areas:
1. their roles and responsibilities as men 2. the character strengths that make up positive role models 3. the values that good men live by. Many of the boys were challenged by the ideas, issues and themes raised by Rethinking Masculinity vindicating its important role in their education. The discussions were at times confronting and passionate, but simultaneously curious and engaging. Ultimately, this is a conversation we must have with our boys if they are to emerge as men who see ‘success’ as the good they bring to society, and leave behind for the next generation. After all, our future, and theirs, depends on it.
Alex Sylvan 2015/16 Senior School Student Growth and Wellbeing Co-ordinator
SUMMER 2016/17
5