2008 Woodie Awards
Understanding women through men
Rose Bittner
Issue date: 2/27/06 Section: Culture
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Dr. Elizabeth Berkshire began teaching masculinity classes at UMKC in 2004. She received support from the College of Arts and Sciences Dean's Office, PACE (Program for Adult Education) and the Department of Sociology.
While many University of Missouri System courses integrate the study of gender into their curriculum, UMKC is the only school to offer three courses specifically addressing masculinities.
Berkshire holds undergraduate degrees in art history and philosophy from New Mexico State University. Her Ph.D. in interdisciplinary studies focused primarily upon sociology and psychology, but also included, among her favorites, several history courses on religion and the body. Her Ph.D. was awarded by UMKC in 2002.
Berkshire received the Arthur Mag Graduate Fellowship from UMKC in 1995.
"That's when I met sociologist and gender theorist Kristen Esterberg," said Berkshire. "When I found no one in the Psychology Department doing gender, she agreed to supervise my research. This is when I realized that I had something to offer to gender studies."
According to Berkshire, femininity cannot be fully understood without exploring masculinity. The two are not independent of one another. Moreover, the study of multiple masculinities is fundamental to a well-rounded examination of gender.
"My overarching philosophy on gender is that masculinity and femininity are not natural components of life. They are social realities," said Berkshire. "Being a man or woman is a social phenomenon - we pull our self off as masculine or feminine because we need to be intelligible to other people."
Although men are the minority in Berkshire's classes, they are not the only ones she believes need to understand masculinity. Both men and women take on these qualities in varying degrees.
The significant woman in a man's life may police his expression of masculinity, said Berkshire. Both men and women play a role in how men think and behave regarding gender.
