Men’s Studies

Images of mid twentieth century workmen atop a skyscraper waving with sandwiches in their hands showed on the picture. Professional football players dashed across the screen. Longshoreman hustled to get crabs in a large metal cage. The screen went blank and the lights went up.

“What did we see here?” Professor Dart Rickner asked. A hand shot into the air.

“Mr. Jump.”

“We see men.”

The class laughed. “Now, now. Young men and you, young lady,” Rickner addressed the crowd.

“What is it about these men? What is different about the fact that these men are engaged in such activities? Yes Mr. Matheny.”

“They’re all actions that men have traditionally done.”

“Very good. Now look at these images.”

The screen illuminated and displayed women doing the same work. It finished with a woman in the West Wing. The video ended. Groans and murmurs arose around the room.

“Now, what does all that look like? Who can state the difference?”

“Yes, Mr. Canterman.”

“Women have usurped jobs from men. They should be barefoot and pregnant cooking dinner and caring for the family while the man goes out to earn a living. I believe it was the 1980’s that accelerated a trend of women who felt they could be like men,” Canterman observed.

“Excellent observation, young man. Those images were all real. We have a woman in the ‘ovum’ office.” Laughs and snickers rose from the classroom. Even Toquisha Evans did not laugh. She had the highest marks in the class and only Rickner and she knew this fact. She sat with a straight face. Some glances landed on her and what she would react to from the pictures on the screen.

“Just curious, Miss Evans. What do you think of what you just saw?”

“It seems that women are now doing what men do. Is that unjust or progress? That’s for the individual to surmise.”

“Oh. Do we have any other observations?”

Mr. Gemwell.”

“I think that all women from the president down should be treated the same. Sure, they should have rights like men but they should also realize there are things they just should not do. It’s not proper for women to reign over men. It destroys their own self-esteem.”

“So this is all a psychological issue?”

The classroom answered in unison: “Yes.”

All but Toquisha. While she looked on, a smirk curled around her lips.

“Back to you, Miss Evans. Do you agree with your fellow classmates?”

“As I understand it. We should reward and offer positions and elect the best man or woman for the job.”

A few claps went up in the room. Some angry words, a few expletives arose from the rows of chairs.

“Okay everyone,” Rickner announced. The din subsided. “So, we have some dissension among the ranks. What is it that makes a man a man? Why are women turning into men but still technically and biologically females? What drives the psyche of a woman to do this? Mr. Satterly?”

“Yes, women just want to be us. They want to have the tool between their legs and will spend thousands of dollars to acquire one and get hormone treatment. Of course there are men who would want to have a split tail but that’s the distortion that the media yearns to portray,” he addressed.

“As we see these images and the people who want to be men, we should understand that we are all real men, except for you of course, Miss Evans. What we hold precious are our position in society. We are of a dying sex. As more and more people denigrate the men, heterosexual or homosexual, we see men slipping by notches. That’s what this class is for. We will continue to be masculinists despite the overwhelming state of affairs that continues to prevail,” Rickner said.