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NÜ Men

NÜ Men is currently on hiatus and will be returning in the fall of 2024. 

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 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 notes and 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

Week 4 – Relationships, Consent & Healthy Sexuality

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 the nomination form, or email care@northwestern.edu directly. Please provide the student's name, email, and whether or not you'd like the nomination to be anonymous.  

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