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Men's studies - also sometimes called masculinity studies - is an interdisciplinary academic field devoted to topics concerning men, gender, and politics. As a relatively new field of study, men's studies was formed largely in response to, and as a critique of, an emerging men's rights movement - itself a response to both the real and perceived advantages brought to women by feminism political action - and has only been taught in academic settings since the 1970s. In many universities, men's studies is a correlate to or part of a larger women's studies or gender studies program, and as such its faculty tends to be sympathetic to or engaged in feminist politics.
Men's studies programs and courses often include contemporary discussions of men's rights, feminist theory, queer theory, patriarchy, and, more generally, the social, historical, and cultural constructions of men and masculinity. They often discuss the issues surrounding the changing forms of male privilege, as well as the anxiety that men in developed countries face as a result of their loss of privilege and clear gender roles in light of the feminist movement. Importantly, scholars engaged in the field of Men's Studies tend not to agree that this anxiety is justified, and analyze the socio-historical institutions and attitudes that have led men to assume that their power and authority should be necessarily greater than, or at least necessarily different from, that of women.
The American Men Studies Association traces the roots of an organized field of men's studies to the early 1980s and the work of scholars involved in an anti-sexist organization called the Men's Studies Task Group (MSTG) of the National Organization for Men Against Sexism (NOMAS) *, which included Martin Acker, Shepherd Bliss, Harry Brod, Sam Femiano, Martin Fiebert, and Michael Messner. However, men's studies classes also pre-date AMSA, and a small number were taught in various colleges across the United States throughout the 1970s.
Due to its relative newness and the debate over the purpose or mission of men's studies, the boundaries and subjects of men's studies are always under debate and constantly changing. This is also due to the fact that many male and female scholars of men's studies have varied and often disagreeing politics, including feminism, pro-feminism, the men's movement, men's rights advocacy, the mythopoetic men's movement, and masculism. Ironically, a minority of men's studies scholars also figure the loss of male privilege as a form of male oppression, pointing to women's superiority in reproductive freedom and choice, as well as archaic attitudes towards child custody and domestic violence laws that criminalize men without a jury trial. Despite this, the majority still identify as feminist or profeminist, and hold that whatever gains have been made by women are still dwarfed by the inequalities they face in the home, under law, and on the job market. As well, some feminists contend that men's studies is unnecessary, as related disciplines such as sociology, history, psychology, political science, and literature are already dominated by the theories and texts of men.
Bibliography
Handbook of Studies on Men and Masculinities, Sage Publications, 2004 (edited by Michael Kimmel, Jeff Hearn and Robert Connell)
See also
Authors
External links
"Men's studies"