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When Schools Are Silent about Masculinity

By Andres Kogan Valderrama

HAVANA TIMES – I work in Recoleta, a sector of Santiago, Chile, as a professional with SENDA, the National Service for Prevention and Recovery from Drug and Alcohol abuse.  Part of my work involves conducting workshops on masculinity for students and also training sessions for educational personnel and assistants. Certain situations I’ve encountered during these activities have made me wonder why we speak so little about how we learned to be men.

I once asked a student what it meant to be a man. He answered: “to be strong.” Another asked me whether talking about masculinity meant you were gay. I remember those responses because they show how difficult it still is to speak about these topics in an unprejudiced way.

In the workshops I do in the Recoleta schools, I’ve often seen the females participating more, while some of the men make jokes or remain silent. This doesn’t always happen, but it’s something I’ve noticed. Talking in front of peers about what we feel, or questioning certain ideas about being a man can still be a source of shame.

This is also related to the prevention of........

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