2004-02-17T22:44:00.000-08:00

In The Beginning
There always has to be a start, an initial bumpy uncomfortable advent to an experience.
This is it, this is the rough, no frills, no padding on the damned seats start to a get real discussion on what in the hell it means to be a man today.
Boring? Old Hat? Dated as a discourse?
Not at all.

Men's Studies has been questioned as a legitimate area of academic endeavor.
The need for men's support groups is frequently seen as superfluous at best, unless the discussion revolves around a particular group of minority males. Pick a minority group any minority group and the likelihood is that support groups, workshops and academic study of said groups is relatively easy to find. That phenomenon is understandable--afterall, all these minoirty groupings of men are being evaluated as "other". By being viewed as "other" there is an immediate implication of "less than" the normative standard and obviously these poor fellows are disadvantaged. It therefore becomes reasonable to expect there to be a need for supportive networks, therapy-(individual and group), academic study of their respective demographics, and social theory limitlessly developed. All of this, this intricate complex of creating stigmatized groups, creates an atmosphere of victimization.
Incredible! Men as victims--the victimizer/oppressor as the victim/oppressed--unbelievable!

Keep in mind no defining terms have been set yet for what a minority group of men is. No ethnic, religious, country of origin, marital status, ableness or sexuality is being defined as minority so far. Any reaction that readers have experienced to the term "minority grouping" has been purely incidental.
Definitions will have to wait.

Latro Latronis