Masculine, feminine or human?

Robert Jensen conducts a social experiment of his own while being a guest speaker in a lecture about masculinity to a college class.
He first asks the class to "...imagine themselves as parents whose 12-year-old son asks, 'Mommy/daddy, what does is mean to be a man?'"He then writes the results on the board.
Then he asks, "...the women to observe while the men answer a second question: When you are in all-male spaces, such as the locker room or a night out with the guys, what do you say to each other about what it means to be a man? How do you define masculinity when there are no women present?"
After they answer, he then asks the class to, "consider the meaning of the two lists. On the first list of the culturally endorsed definitions of masculinity, how many of those traits are unique to men? Are women ever strong? Should women be strong? Can women be just as responsible as men? Should women provide and care for others?"
Then he asks the students, "if anyone wants to make the argument that women are incapable of these things, or less capable than men," but no one is willing to speak up.
Finally he asks, "If the positive definitions of masculinity are not really about being a man but simply about being a person, and if the definitions of masculinity within which men routinely operate are negative, why are we holding onto the concept so tightly? Why are we so committed to the notion that there are intellectual, emotional, and moral differences that are inherent, that come as a result of biological sex differences?
And concludes is with, "think about what a similar exercise around femininity might reveal? How might the patterns be similar or different? If masculinity is a suspect category, it would seem so is femininity."
Every time he does this, the students seem to be in discomfort. Extremely uncomfortable.

Imagine if we really started this with children at the age of 12. Would their perception of gender and gender roles differ?  Asking questions that allow one to open there minds to new possibilities is rare. People tend to shrug off topics like this. They allow society to win, and change to be avoidable. More teachers and professors should allow group discusion like this to help people voice their opinions and sometimes, just allow students to see a problem that has been pushed aside.


full article below.
http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/2Q3ICm/:15qTQuR@D:c@2luLI9/uts.cc.utexas.edu/~rjensen/freelance/masculinefeminineorhuman.htm/