While hardly a man attended women’s studies courses when they first were introduced at Iowa State in 1973, the number of men in the courses has increased over the years.

ISU records show that in the past 10 years there has been a steady increase of males enrolled in the classes, said Jill Bystydzienski, professor of liberal arts and sciences cross disciplinary studies.

Bystydzienski said she has been teaching women’s studies courses for the past 20 years. She said she is currently teaching Women’s Studies 201, and the increase of male students in the women’s studies courses at Iowa State parallels trends at other universities.

“When I began instructing women’s studies courses 20 years ago, the presence of a male in a class was seen as very disruptive because it was such an unusual thing,” she said. “As the years have passed, I have seen the courses that were almost exclusive to women twenty years ago, opening their doors to male interactions.”

Bystydzienski said male students in women’s studies courses make up about 25 percent of the class. She also said she hopes to see that number increase to 50 percent in the next 20 years.

“Having more men in these classes actually helps both genders in the classroom,” she said. “The males in the classes become more active when there are other males around to support them. This in turn gives the women in the class a different point of view on subjects.”

Bystydzienski said that a neo-feminism movement, known as third-wave feminism, may be one of the factors having an effect on the way males view female issues.

Third-wave feminism is focused on building alliances and coalitions with the opposite sex, she said.

The movement has become more radical in the past few years by changing some basic feminine fundamentals to include not only males, but also racial and ethic issues.

As the numbers of males in her classes continue to rise, Bystydzienski said she supports the increase to the fullest.

Mike Giannangelo, sophomore in management information systems, said his main reason for enrolling in a women’s studies course was because he thought it would be interesting and thought-provoking.

“Our teacher explained to us how most of the history text that we have studied in the past were written about and from the male perspective,” he said. “While most of the history that we studied in [women’s studies] class was written from the female perspective.”