Photo: Megan White
What does it mean to be a man? The It’s On Us Etown club explored this question through “The Mask You Live In” movie showing and panel discussion Tuesday, April 3 from 5 to 7 p.m. in the Esbenshade Gibble Auditorium.
“The Mask You Live In” is a 2015 documentary which argues that the United States’ definition of masculinity harms boys, men and society as a whole. It follows boys and young men who struggle with pressure from media, their friends and adult role models to hide their emotions, avoid intimate friendships with other men, objectify women and use violence to solve their problems.
The documentary also includes interviews with experts and academics. It explains the “boy crisis” and ends with advice on how to raise a healthier generation of men.
Vice president and digital organizing captain of It’s On Us Etown sophomore Darby Keller said that the club picked the documentary because it aligned with the campaign’s national goal to include more men. The event also took place during the national It’s On Us campaign’s week of action.
“It really fit in that sense,” club president and junior Hannah Burleigh said.
The movie started by discussing how boys are told at a young age both directly and indirectly to “be a man” and not to cry in public. They learn not to talk about their emotions, which can lead to mental health problems like depression. The film cited statistics, such as that three or more boys commit suicide every day.
According to the documentary, masculinity and femininity exist on a spectrum and many of the traits overlap.
Hyperfeminity and hypermasculinity happen when the extremes on either side of the spectrum are treated as the expected traits of the respective gender.
The stereotype that women are more emotional and in touch with their emotions than men is an example.
The movie talked about how hypermasculinity and other factors like violent male role models in media and early exposure to porn are part of the reason boys are more likely to flunk or drop out of school, receive special education and be expelled than girls are.
Associate Dean of Students and Director of Residence Life & Student Activities Allison Bridgeman witnessed the emotional difference between boys and girls firsthand when her son was two years old.
She noticed that the boys were less emotional than the girls at her son’s preschool and felt that the boys had already learned to hide their emotions.
After the movie showing, Bridgeman led a panel discussion with associate professor of social work Dr. Andrew Dunlap and assistant professor of psychology Dr. Ian MacFarlane.
In the beginning of the event, It’s On Us Etown said they chose Dunlap to be a panelist because of his specialization in late adolescence and early adulthood, the age of the boys and young men featured in the documentary. They said they chose MacFarlane to provide a psychologist’s perspective.
“Changing the system around can often be a helpful way to turn all this around,” Dunlap said about the negative effects of the United States’ definition of masculinity discussed in the movie.
Dunlap said that Americans need to be intentional in order to change how masculinity is viewed. He suggested starting conversations about how boys cry and teaching boys “what it means to be a full person, not just a ‘man.’”
MacFarlane added that this change needs to start early and at home. He said he has seen how his nieces and nephews are learning family values but are also affected by what they see at school and on the Internet. He suggested teaching boys how to be resilient and bring what they learn at home to school.
The film’s director, Jennifer Siebel Newsom, has worked on other award-winning documentaries like “Miss Representation,” “The Invisible War” and “The Hunting Ground.” She also runs The Representation Project.
For more information about the film and the American “boy crisis,” visit http://therepresentationproject.org/film/the-mask-you-live-in/. “The Mask You Live In” is also currently available on Netflix.
