What Is Love. Books. Whichbook | A new way of choosing what to read next. The Top 20 Things Oprah Knows for Sure. Untitled Document. Masculine, feminine or human? Posted on SleptOn.com, June 2, 2008. by Robert Jensen In a guest lecture about masculinity to a college class, I ask the students to generate two lists that might help clarify the concept.
For the first, I tell them to imagine themselves as parents whose 12-year-old son asks, “Mommy/daddy, what does is mean to be a man?” The list I write on the board as they respond is not hard to predict: To be a man is to be strong, responsible, loving. When that list is complete, I ask the women to observe while the men answer a second question: When you are in all-male spaces, such as the locker room or a night out with the guys, what do you say to each other about what it means to be a man?
The students, both men and women, laugh nervously, knowing the second list will be different from the first. When that process is over, I step back and ask the class to consider the meaning of the two lists.