Launched in Spring 2016, NÜ Men is a 6-week dialogue experience with the intention to challenge its participants to critically examine and deconstruct their own masculinity, to examine the systemic connections between traditional masculinity and gender-based violence, and to create personal definitions and counter narratives to dominant masculinity.
NÜ Men is a collaboration between CARE, and it can be an in-person or virtual cohort. Contact care@northwestern.edu for more information.
Below are some videos that might help you get an idea of what we mean by critical examination of masculinity (Content Warning for strong language)...
Participant Expectations
We are seeking students whose gender identity, expression, and/or biological sex align with male-ness, man-ness, and masculinity.
Each cohort of NÜ Men has space for up to 12 participants.
Participants are expected to attend all 6 sessions, for the full 2 hours.
Participants must be enrolled at Northwestern University, either as an undergraduate or graduate student.
Participants are expected to complete weekly journal prompts based on personal reflection on the week's discussion, as well as optional, but encouraged, readings provided.
Participants will be provided with a physical journal for notekeeping, and for prompt responses. At the conclusion of the 6 weeks, participants will be asked to submit their journals to be scanned for assessment, however any participant may opt out completely, or request specific sections and pages not be scanned.
Learning Objectives
Week 1 – Introductions & Defining Masculinity
Participants will be able to...
• Provide a personal definition of what masculinity means to them.
Week 2 – Privilege, Power, & Oppression
Participants will be able to… • Identify at least one way that power and oppression is impacted by their male or masculine identity • Name at least one way that they can engage their privilege to help promote social justice
Week 3 – Self-Care & Resilience Building
Participants will or will be able to… • Identify three positive ways that they can cope with the daily stresses and challenges of life • Create their personal counter narrative for masculinity
Participants will be able to… • Identify the four main characteristics of consent or describe what is necessary for consent to be present • Name at least two resources available to victims/survivors of gender-based violence
Week 5 – Masculinity & Violence, Accountability in Prevention
Participants will be able to … • Describe the relationship between masculinity and violence • Name at least two ways they can contribute to stopping violence
Week 6 – The Bigger Picture
Participants will or will be able to… • Identify the four levels of the socio-ecological model • Name at least one way to gender-based violence and oppression occurs at each level of the socio-ecological model • Name at least one way to use material learned in the group to positively impact each level of the socio-ecological model
Weekly Schedule
Each weekly session will last 2 hours. Participants will be provided dinner at the beginning of the session. A typical week will begin with a check and recap of the previous week's content. There will also be time to discuss the weekly reading and journal prompt. The remaining time is spent focused on the given week's content, activities, and dialogue. For each week's topic, please see the Learning Objectives section above.
Sign Up/Nomination
NÜ Men occurs every quarter so feel free to indicate your interest for the future, or to nominate students who might be abroad, or otherwise away from campus.
If you would like to nominate a student to participate in NÜ Men, please use thenomination form, or emailcare@northwestern.edu directly. Please provide the student's name, email, and whether or not you'd like the nomination to be anonymous.