Eleven Dartmouth men talked about the media's portrayal of pickup lines and fatherhood at the Men's Group discussion, "No School like the Old School: Dating Represented by the Media," in Dartmouth Hall on Tuesday. Participants, who described the all-male atmosphere as "open" and "judgement-free," used clips from the movies "Swingers," "Wayne's World," and "Office Space," in their discussion of male stereotypes.
The event is the first in a series of four discussion-based meetings focused on "exploring issues of masculinity, heterosexuality, and manhood" scheduled for this term, according to an e-mail sent to male students by event organizer Josiah Proietti, community director of the Ripley-Woodward-Smith residential cluster.
The Dartmouth did not attend the event at the request of the event organizers, but interviewed participants as they left.
"I think of it as a way of continuing my education, which is why I'm at college anyway," John Hopper '08 said. "Part of it is carrying on intellectual discussions outside of class."
Some participants said there was room for improvement in terms of the diversity of speakers.
"The people who did RSVP are probably not the type of people who gender discussions would be targeting, so it is a little bit of a skewed sample," Derek Su '11 said. "But we do talk about a lot of things from the girls' perspective."
Josiah Proietti characterized the event as the first men's discussion forum "without an agenda."
"A large element of the vision is that men are routinely denied circles where they can be honest with each other," Proietti said. "This lack of safe space is a problem."
He said the intention of these discussions was not to reform anyone, but to afford men the opportunity to explore opinions in a judgment-free environment.
"I could express my honest opinions without worrying about being shot down all the time," Su said.
Matt Cloyd '11 said masculinity was a topic "dealt with in confusing ways by the media," and the group attempted to make sense of this topic by focusing on certain aspects of masculinity.
David Drennan Th'08, who helped organize the event, said the meeting met his expectation that men would discuss topics honestly. He hopes to approach new and challenging issues in future discussions in order to help participants explore themselves in the context of the "social construct of today," he said.
Proietti said there could be more men's discussion groups in the future even after the series is over, depending on interest and enthusiasm from the students involved.
When asked about the predicted impact of the discussions on the greater Dartmouth community, Cloyd said, "I can imagine that it would only be a positive one."
