Masculinity the focus of upcoming debate at UBCO

Whether or not there’s a masculinity crisis is the question at the centre of a debate that is going to take centre stage in Kelowna.

UBC Okanagan is hosting the latest in its debate series later this month with four experts set to debate the question: In an era increasingly defined by efforts to uplift underserved and marginalized populations, are young men and boys casualties of modern progress?

Researchers Dr. Luc Cousineau and Dr. Fang Wan will argue there isn’t a crisis, while Dr. John Oliffe Jonathan Kay will argue there is.

Oliffe is a professor and the founder of UBC’s Men’s Health Research. His work focuses on men’s health and mental health including how it impacts relationships with partners and families.

Wan is a professor of marketing coming to UBC after spending 21 years at the University of Manitoba. She researches business leadership and women’s empowerment and she has published more than 30 articles.

Wan cited statistics like the fact that only nine per cent of Fortune 500 CEOs are women when speaking to iNFOnews.ca recently about the upcoming debate. She said what’s shifting is the view of what masculinity is.

“I don’t think masculinity here, the male power, is in crisis,” Wan said. “We should all evolve and adapt and reconfigure a new model.”

Oliffe cited statistics like that fact that 80 per cent of suicides in Canada are men and said that men aren’t able to achieve the same things their fathers did.

“We’re in unprecedented times where there is just this economic uncertainty. There’s young boys and men who aren’t hitting the milestones that their dads were hitting,” he said.

Wan and Oliffe were on the same page with regard to hyper-masculine, aggressive content on social media like accused sex trafficker and online phenomenon Andrew Tate. They said Tate, and influencers like him, are taking advantage of isolated and insecure men by promoting problematic ideas that young men might find comfort in.

“The crisis for masculinity is that we’re just in a place where those opinions and those things that are put forward, they misrepresent the vast majority of men,” Oliffe said. “It might draw them in in a way that’s going to change their thinking. Perhaps not for the best in terms of those radical kinds of views.”

Wan said that influencers like Tate are taking advantage of men who are frustrated that they are losing their privilege.

“There is a long enjoyed privilege,“ she said. “When you don’t have privilege, you’re in crisis.”

Both agreed that the other side has some good points, and that the upcoming debate is going to be fun.

“Conversations about masculinity and gender roles can be very challenging to have,” Marten Youssef, Associate Vice-President of University Relations at UBCO said in a press release. “Yet they shape our culture, politics and personal lives.

“This debate will confront head-on questions about identity and responsibility, and will explore what it means to be a man today. And hopefully answering why that matters to all of us.”

The UBCO debate masculinity, identity and inclusion will be held  at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 21, at the Kelowna Community Theatre. While the event is free, you’ll need to pre-register here.