UT-Austin To Revamp Masculinity Program After Backlash

AUSTIN, TX — Facing conservative backlash related to its "MasculinUT" program promoting dialogue about sexual assault and related issues — including false claims masculinity was being labeled as a mental health disorder — University of Texas at Austin officials are now revamping the program.

"The MasculinUT program does not treat masculinity as a 'mental health issue,' and any such statements are simply not accurate," program officials wrote in clarification. "It was established to bring more men to the table to address interpersonal violence, sexual assault and other issues."

Like other UT programs related to sexual assault and interpersonal violence, MasculinUT is housed administratively in the university’s Counseling and Mental Health Center, officials continued in their letter. "Its goals include helping men explore ways to reduce sexual violence, helping students take responsibility for their actions, and fostering healthier relationships on campus and beyond."

Notwithstanding that goal many would view as laudable, conservative pundits took to mocking the program with reductive assessments it categorized masculinity as a mental health issue. Even the program's promotional poster campaign has raised some critics's ire, as university officials acknowledged. "Some of the posters in this campaign have drawn recent criticism, with people questioning their effectiveness at engaging a broad audience in discussions of masculinity," program officials wrote. "We are reviewing the posters but keeping them on the website during that process."

Despite the planned retooling, conservatives' condemnation was swift and varied in its articulation. "The behaviors descibed [sic] here, such as devaluing women, have nothing to do with masculinity," critic Michelle Ray wrote on Twitter. "UT may have it's [sic] own pervasive mental illness"

Ray describes herself on Twitter as a "Blessed mother. Bacon lover. Capitali$t. libertarian. Music junkie. Sapiosexual." Despite her strident reaction to the MasculinUT program, hers was actually one of the tamer reactions, with most other critics' responses expletive-laden in their condemnation.

Yielding a study in linguistic efficiency, another Twitter user with the handle TresPuertas ("three doors" in Spanish) both condemned the program while taking a swipe at an academic rival in one fell swoop: "S*** like #masculinUT is why I wake up every morning and thank God I'm a Texas Aggie," the doors-alluding user, presumably a Texas A&M alumnus, wrote.

The mockery campaign is posted all over Twitter with varying degrees of outrage. Ever on the lookout for issues it deems liberal, Austin-based Infowars asserted outright that masculinity is under attack at UT-Austin given the program's existence.

But the program has its share of defenders on social media as well. "MasculinUT and Voices Against Violence are about not closing men off to certain masculine stereotypes," one user replied to a critic. "You don’t HAVE to like sports or 'act manly' to be a man, and both are about that. As a UT student it’s insulting to see you miss the point." Added another: "The same dudes scoffing at the MasculinUT program are the same dudes who keep punching holes in their wall when they get a little mad."

>>> Photo of University of Texas at Austin Tower by Tony Cantú