The Division of Student Affairs hosted another event in its diveristy-minded Dialogue and Healing Series March 15, this time to create discussion around toxic masculinity. Jimmy McLeod, a faculty member in Career Services, and Mario Flores, an employee in the Cultural Unity and Engagement Center, led the discussion.
The series launched in an attempt to build a more inclusive community on campus. The student affairs division has hosted events like “Shifting Perspectives” and “Racial Justice in the Classroom” where students and faculty participate in guided discussions.
Wednesday’s event included roughly a dozen participants, the majority of which were women. Each attendee was separated into one of six groups, each of which rotated through stations that focused on a different prompt dealing with masculinity.
One prompt asked participants what they thought masculinity should look like, while another asked the question: “What are the most toxic elements of masculinity?” Participants recorded their answers as they shifted through the different stations.
At the end of that segment, McLeod and Flores guided the group through a collective discussion about what people answered for the prompts.
Many of the answers dealt with negative aspects of masculinity, like the fact that it exists on a binary scale instead of a spectrum and how they believed that some men are uncomfortable with women being in charge.
Some of the discussion incited laughter among the group. However, McLeod warned the participants about the dangers of laughing about examples of toxic masculinity.
“We’ve normalized toxic masculinity, and we’ve made it acceptable,” McLeod said. He said that instead of laughing, people should talk about these examples and challenge them.
Contact CU Independent Staff Writer Sydney Worth at sydney.worth@colorado.edu
