Tuesday, April 16—UMBWellness had their second session of “Let’s Talk About Masculinity: A Series on Society, Wellness and Sexuality.” For the month of April, University Health Services is having discussions about masculinity with subtopics on things like toxic masculinity, drinking culture and mental health. The discussion on April 9 discussion was about masculinity as a whole, and toxic masculinity, and the one on April 16 talked about drinking culture, what it is and where it comes from, and how it plays a role in masculinity or man-hood.
The talks were held in the McCormack Hall on the first floor in room 0418. Participants in the room were asked what they thought drinking culture was and where they thought it came from. Answers ranged from social media and movies to college party scenes. The session was filled with in depth discussions between the participants in the room and Montez Paschall and Craig Bidiman, the heads of this operation, about the main topic. Bidiman is a lively person who is active around campus who works for the sex-ed part of the University of Massachusetts Boston, while Paschall is a director at the dorms.
In this discussion, participants shared stories about their own experiences with drinking culture and what they knew about it. The discussion moved from thoughts on drinking culture to alternative options rather than drinking with friends on nights out. Participants talked about how abnormal it is to have a group of people hanging out and have absolutely no alcohol or drugs, unless it’s specifically a dry party for this purpose. Our society normalizes alcohol especially in social settings, to the point where often times we feel more uncomfortable without it, rather than with it.
From there we watched a video by SciShow about alcohol that was given in different social situations and how it affected participants differently depending on what kind of a setting they were in and what kind of drink they were consuming. For example, in a very social situation like a bar, one might choose to drink vodka while in a more home-like situation one might choose to drink red wine. The reasons, according to SciShow, is that some drinks are associated with different social situations. We choose vodka because we drink it quickly as we take shots and it hypes us up to increase our blood alcohol content, causing a happy and excited feeling; when we are home, we tend to choose wine since we sip on it slowly, and it causes us to be sleepy as it takes longer for our blood alcohol to rise.
The discussion then rounded back to the main point of the talk: “masculinity” and the question of what the belief is surrounding men and drinking. Answers ranged from “men shouldn’t drink fruity drinks” to “men shouldn’t be lightweights.” Students noted how they felt alarmed by the way we box people based on expectations we hold in society and how they fluctuate depending on your gender. Which goes back to the point that inspired these weekly talks—the unhealthy gender roles and toxic upbringings we normalize in society. The talk series is held with the purpose of bringing light to the topic of inequality and the suffering that occurs in an attempt to stop continuing our cycle.