The stereotypical father portrayed on TV is not the way all modern men see themselves. The stereotypes are often not rooted in reality, but images of gender-based roles that permeate television.
This was the subject of the ASUO Men’s Center weekly Myths of Masculinity program Wednesday night.
“Basically, it’s a pretty open discussion on gender roles and norms,” said University student Pat Werhane, a family and human services senior and an intern at the Men’s Center. “We don’t really have a set topic for each time; it just kind of opens up, whatever’s on people’s minds.”
On people’s minds Wednesday were incompetent fictional fathers, such as Homer Simpson, Al Bundy from “Married with Children,” and the titular character of “According to Jim.”
“Research shows that more and more, men are getting involved with raising children and taking care of the house,” said Men’s Center Director Marcus Farley, who estimated that he cooks 80 percent of the meals in his household. “I wonder, not only for boys, but for girls watching: what does that do to their impression of men?”
The participants then pondered whether all male characters fit into the “bumbling guy who kind of relishes in his incompetence” role.
“On TV, you always have the dads trying to skate their roles,” said Ted Hatton, a senior English major.
For the next meeting, Farley challenged the other participants to each come up with three positive images of men in the media.
Founded in 2001 as a way to promote the physical, mental and social health of men, the Men’s Center strives to shatter the narrow image of males, particularly those who are college-age.
“There’s a lot of stereotypes about ‘the frat boys’ and things like that, and it really does a huge disservice,” said Farley, a second-year graduate student in the College of Education’s marriage and family therapy program.
Despite the organization’s name, Farley said female students are not only welcome, but encouraged to attend Men’s Center events, which also include fundraisers and counseling programs.
“We like to basically look at it like, male society impacts everyone in different ways,” Farley said. “The idea is to understand more opinions.”
Myths of Masculinity meets every Wednesday from 5 to 6 p.m. in the EMU’s Century Room A.
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