Making and Unmaking of Masculinities since the 1960s with Dr. Scott Melzer

Definitions of manhood and characteristics of masculinity have always been as diverse as the people and groups with whom they are associated. Since the sweeping cultural and political changes of the 1960s, dominant versions have been challenged and a wide diversity of masculinities have gained greater representation, visibility, and appeal. Racial, ethnic, class, gender, sexuality, ability, age, citizenship, and other forms of diversity shape contemporary masculinities. From adolescence through adulthood, identity to status, relationships to politics, sports to war, breadwinning to caretaking, performances to power, violence to nonviolence, privileges to inequities, and social changes to backlash, gender matters. In this talk, Dr. Scott Melzer, the W.W. Diehl Trustees’ Professor of Sociology and Chair of Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at Albion College, will explore how these developments have impacted various people, groups, and communities in a North American context.