A movement in gender issues led an ISU sociology professor to help educate students on the role society places on men.

Sociology of Masculinities and Manhood, Sociology 328, covers a wide range of topics that relate to men and their expected role in society, said course instructor Sharon Bird, assistant professor of sociology.

Bird said the class is part of a national movement during the past 30 years to study gender as it applies not only to women, but to men, as well.

She said it is the first course of its kind at Iowa State.

“I think that’s the direction we’re going, especially with feminism; to acknowledge that men are also victims of patriarchy and that it’s detrimental to everyone,” said Abby Hansen, senior in women’s studies.

Hansen, who was in the class last spring, said about 30 students took the class. Half of the students were male and half were female.

Bird said the class is comprised of primarily juniors and seniors from many majors, due in part because it meets the university’s U.S. diversity requirement.

She said she lectures for part of the time, leads a class discussion at other times and has students conduct presentations in front of the class.

The topics change every semester, Bird said, but some examples of topics covered include expectations of masculinity in sports, fatherhood, the “breadwinner” role in the family, race and ethnic variations in expectations of masculinity, and pressures associated with masculinity in adolescence.

Kipp Van Dyke, senior in child and family services, also took the class last spring.

The many different viewpoints in the discussions lead to a wide variety of ideas being voiced, he said, but Bird made sure things didn’t get out of hand.

“Some of the guys in that class fit the mold of the `typical man,’ I guess,” he said. “Some of the things they said would reiterate those facts.”

Bird said she taught a similar course at Washington State University from 1996 to 1998.

“It’s the area that I do research in,” she said.

“I study men’s relationships in the workplace but I also have done research on men and women.”

Some of the topics she studied were how men and women communicate and when they do, if they are talking about the same thing and how the differences between men and women lead to miscommunication.

Bird said many students responded very positively after taking the masculinity course last spring.

“A lot of women tell me they learn how to communicate with their boyfriends, brothers and fathers,” she said.

“Men tell me they understand their relationships with male friends and their fathers better after considering issues we explore in class.”

Van Dyke said the class helped him to understand himself better.

“It was good from a man’s point of view to look back at my life and see why I acted the way I did,” Van Dyke said.

Hansen said she definitely enjoyed the class and that there was less “academic pressure” than in some other courses.

“I learned a lot about the whole machoness of violence – how frustrating it is to have the pressure of having to fit into a role of masculinity and how it can sometimes push someone to violence,” she said.

“It was something I hadn’t really thought much about before.”