University of Texas to Treat Masculinity as a 'Mental Health' Issue

[Dos Equis]

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot.  I would have expected something like this in California.   

University of Texas to Treat Masculinity as a 'Mental Health' Issue
BY TONI AIRAKSINEN APRIL 27, 2018

The Counseling and Mental Health Center at the University of Texas at Austin recently launched a new program to help male students “take control over their gender identity and develop a healthy sense of masculinity.”

Treating masculinity as if it were a mental health crisis, “MasculinUT” is organized by the school’s counseling staff and most recently organized a poster series encouraging students to develop a “healthy model of masculinity.”

The program is predicated on a critique of so-called “restrictive masculinity.” Men, the program argues, suffer when they are told to “act like a man” or when they are encouraged to fulfill traditional gender roles, such as being “successful” or “the breadwinner.”

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Though you might enjoy “taking care of people” or being “active,” MasculinUT warns that many of these attributes are actually dangerous, claiming that “traditional ideas of masculinity place men into rigid (or restrictive) boxes [which]... prevent them from developing their emotional maturity.”

“If you are a male student at UT reading this right now, we hope that learning about this helps you not to feel guilty about having participated in these definitions of masculinity, and instead feel empowered to break the cycle!” the program offers.

The program is currently without leadership, but not for long. The school is in the process of hiring a “healthy masculinities coordinator” to run the program, and a school official tells PJ Media that some hopeful hirees are interviewing for the position later this week.

While many schools now have similar programs, this appears to be the first run directly out of a Counseling and Mental Health Center. Though the school seems to justify this by claiming that masculinity can cause men to lash out at other people and themselves, the school did not respond to a request for comment to clarify.

There is no evidence that masculinity itself contributes to violence. Universities that run similar programs, such as UNC-Chapel Hill and Northwestern, have admitted that their programming isn’t supported by any evidence.

https://pjmedia.com/trending/university-of-texas-to-treat-masculinity-as-a-mental-health-issue/

[Straw Man]

LOL - Bum gets duped by Right Wing Fake News (sorry - that's redundant)

Bum - you can believe all the fake new you want but please stop posting it here

In reality, nobody at the university’s Counselling and Mental Health Center, liberal or otherwise, called for masculinity to be “designated a mental illness” or treated as a mental health issue. That characterization of the new program came from the Fox & Friends TV program the PJ Media web site, not from those behind the initiative itself. The emphasis on “mental health” in all three reports appeared to stem from no more than the fact that it was the Counselling and Mental Health Center that was behind the program.

In response to these misleading and sensationalist reports, the Counselling and Mental Health Center at UT took the step of directly refuting the “mental health issue” claim in a statement posted on the school’s web site:

The MasculinUT program does not treat masculinity as a “mental health issue,” and any such statements are simply not accurate. It was established to bring more men to the table to address interpersonal violence, sexual assault and other issues.

Like other UT programs related to sexual assault and interpersonal violence, MasculinUT is housed administratively in the university’s Counseling and Mental Health Center. Its goals include helping men explore ways to reduce sexual violence, helping students take responsibility for their actions, and fostering healthier relationships on campus and beyond.

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/university-of-texas-masculinity/

[Irongrip400]

While they didn't necessarily call it a mental health issue, the program itself is real.

[Straw Man]

While they didn't necessarily call it a mental health issue, the program itself is real.

Didn't necessarily?

What you mean is that they didn't call it a mental health issue and that claim is totally bogus

otherwise known as FAKE NEWS

I wonder why Faux New felt the need to fabricate that idiotic claim?

 

[Coach is Back!]

Hahahahaha, snopes official “fact checker” of Facebook 😂😂😂😂😂

[Straw Man]

Hahahahaha, snopes official “fact checker” of Facebook 😂😂😂😂😂

so you believe this claim by Fox and Friends is true ?

Have you talked with Bum about this? (it's his thread so just wondering)

[calfzilla]

Buying my one way ticket to Saudi Arabia

[Irongrip400]

Didn't necessarily?

What you mean is that they didn't call it a mental health issue and that claim is totally bogus

otherwise known as FAKE NEWS

I wonder why Faux New felt the need to fabricate that idiotic claim?

 

They may not have called it a mental health issue, but the insinuation was there. It's a counseling center, if you're in counseling you're there to fix a problem. It says traditional ideas of masculinity are not healthy. Not sure how else you could've read it.

[Straw Man]

They may not have called it a mental health issue, but the insinuation was there. It's a counseling center, if you're in counseling you're there to fix a problem. It says traditional ideas of masculinity are not healthy. Not sure how else you could've read it.

No it wasn't but it seems you really really want to "read it" that way

In response to these misleading and sensationalist reports, the Counselling and Mental Health Center at UT took the step of directly refuting the “mental health issue” claim in a statement posted on the school’s web site:

The MasculinUT program does not treat masculinity as a “mental health issue,” and any such statements are simply not accurate. It was established to bring more men to the table to address interpersonal violence, sexual assault and other issues.

Like other UT programs related to sexual assault and interpersonal violence, MasculinUT is housed administratively in the university’s Counseling and Mental Health Center. Its goals include helping men explore ways to reduce sexual violence, helping students take responsibility for their actions, and fostering healthier relationships on campus and beyond.

[Irongrip400]

No it wasn't but it seems you really really want to "read it" that way

Read the last part you put in bold. It's housed in the counseling center. I don't know about you but if I was going to a couneing center, it would be to try and fix a problem. I see no problem with masculinity in its traditional role, but this MasculinUT does. Now, if someone's idea of being masculine is smacking around women and bullying people, I'd say that's not being masculine, it's being a dick and there's no place for that. The world is a hard enough place, and people who intentionally try and make it harder for other people are useless. I myself, have no issue with a traditional gender role, nor do I have an issue with someone who doesn't. I was pointing out what this program insinuates.

[Straw Man]

Read the last part you put in bold. It's housed in the counseling center. I don't know about you but if I was going to a couneing center, it would be to try and fix a problem. I see no problem with masculinity in its traditional role, but this MasculinUT does. Now, if someone's idea of being masculine is smacking around women and bullying people, I'd say that's not being masculine, it's being a dick and there's no place for that. The world is a hard enough place, and people who intentionally try and make it harder for other people are useless. I myself, have no issue with a traditional gender role, nor do I have an issue with someone who doesn't. I was pointing out what this program insinuates.

I put that in bold on purpose because I wanted to make sure you saw it

If this was housed administratively in the Physical Education Department would you assume that Masculinity was an athletic event or a sport

This claim of that they are treating "masculinity" as a mental health issue is totally fabricated by right wing media

It seems you really want to believe it's true so feel free

[Irongrip400]

I put that in bold on purpose because I wanted to make sure you saw it

If this was housed administratively in the Physical Education Department would you assume that Masculinity was an athletic event or a sport

This claim of that they are treating "masculinity" as a mental health issue is totally fabricated by right wing media

It seems you really want to believe it's true so feel free

No more than I'd think milk was bread if it was misplaced in the grocery store. There's a correlation between what they're saying about masculinity and how this program is "treating" it. You and I will just have to agree to disagree on this one.

[Straw Man]

No more than I'd think milk was bread if it was misplaced in the grocery store. There's a correlation between what they're saying about masculinity and how this program is "treating" it. You and I will just have to agree to disagree on this one.

we already do

how is this program treating "masculinity"?

you seem to have knowledge of it so maybe you can explain in more detail and I'll see your point of view

[Irongrip400]

we already do

how is this program treating "masculinity"?

you seem to have knowledge of it so maybe you can explain in more detail and I'll see your point of view

The knowledge I have of it, from the website, is that it's a program run directly out of the "Counseling and Mental Health Center". If you can explain to me how you don't correlate a center for counseling is a place that treats problems, maybe I can help you and we can work through this together.

[Straw Man]

The knowledge I have of it, from the website, is that it's a program run directly out of the "Counseling and Mental Health Center". If you can explain to me how you don't correlate a center for counseling is a place that treats problems, maybe I can help you and we can work through this together.

you wrote

There's a correlation between what they're saying about masculinity and how this program is "treating" it

do you have any actual knowledge of how they are "treating" masculinity other than the location where the program is located?

[Irongrip400]

you wrote

do you have any actual knowledge of how they are "treating" masculinity other than the location where the program is located?

Let's set up a time to meet up there and ask them. It'll be great, kinda like The Odd Coulple. Maybe we can get a YouTube slot after Vince?

To answer your question, no I don't. Maybe I'll look into it, call them tomorrow and ask but I doubt they'll speak about it over the phone. I know you're a pretty good troll, but I think you're intelligent enough to draw the conclusion that a counseling center is for being counseled. I don't know, maybe they're short on real estate and that place had a big empty broom closet they could use, but I highly doubt it.

[Straw Man]

Let's set up a time to meet up there and ask them. It'll be great, kinda like The Odd Coulple. Maybe we can get a YouTube slot after Vince?

To answer your question, no I don't. Maybe I'll look into it, call them tomorrow and ask but I doubt they'll speak about it over the phone. I know you're a pretty good troll, but I think you're intelligent enough to draw the conclusion that a counseling center is for being counseled. I don't know, maybe they're short on real estate and that place had a big empty broom closet they could use, but I highly doubt it.

OK -so no direct knowledge

[Mobil]

Liberal Californians migrated to Austin Texas and made it the liberal hell hole it is now...my father left for that reason...so why a state as California that has been predominately controlled by liberals for countless years has gone broke??....and there is a mass migration of "Californians" to other states such as Texas and Oklahoma?(which are Republican)....something isn't working here

[Pray_4_War]

Haha, Snopes.