On Saturday, the Transforming Gender and Society conference took place in the Memorial Union.

During the 10:15 a.m. to 11:45 a.m. session, “Displays of Power”, Felix Nguyen, Angeline Powers and Emily Matson presented their research titled “The Influence of Social Spaces on Displays of Masculinity,” and Ric Tennenbaum from Grinnell College presented her paper titled “The pedophile, the family and sustaining white supremacy.”

In their work, they are exploring how spaces on and off campus are gendered, how is masculinity expressed in environments on and off campus and how expressions and definitions of masculinity change based on location.

Their work is not completed and they are still in the process of submitting a school-wide survey, observing masculinity and completing in-person interviews, they presented findings from their preliminary research.

During the in-person interviews, the students asked questions such as “What are three words you associate with men or masculinity?” “Do you feel that your behaviors change when you feel more masculine?” and “Is being masculine a large part of your identity?”

They were also curious if the development of masculinity is a constant process or related only with early socialization.

When doing research on campus, they found men tended to have open body language, such as taking up an abundance of space, having large strides, while holding dominance in conversation and interrupting and competing in conversations.

In their interviews thus far, they have found five common themes, confidence, physical activity, competition, drinking and fatherhood.

In the future of their research, the students aim to send out their survey to the university, not only to cisgender males but also to anyone who identifies with masculinity.