Editor’s note: As we continue our efforts to shine the light of truth on the darkness of cultural misandry, the need for current, credible information is always a constant. To offer his personal contribution to that end, Dick Elfenbein, an advocate for Male Studies and long time journalism and communications expert has volunteered to offer his considerable expertise in bringing needed facts to the table for the benefit of the men’s community.
In Dick’s Corner, Mr. Elfenbien will bring his periodic observations and findings to the readers of A Voice for Men, in short and concise format, so that activists may consider it in their future work and so that everyone may have it as food for thought in the present. With thanks to Dick, here is the first installment of Dick’s Corner- PE
VERMONT UNIVERSITY WOMEN’S AND GENDER STUDIES FOCUS ON THE TRANSGENDERED WHILE IGNORING MEN
Futher evidence, if any is needed, that the voice for men has been muted, at least in reference to “gender studies,” comes from the University of Vermont.
That state supported institution announced that beginning with this fall term it has added a visiting lecturer who will supplement its existing academic offerings in Women’s and Gender Studies with a course on “Trans/gender Identities, Communities, and Politics” which the new faculty member said “focuses on the ways in which trans people negotiation (sic) their identities across a variety of social situations, from bathroom use to clothes shopping and international air travel.”
Despite the fact that the academic program’s name includes the word “gender”, which Webster’s Dictionary defines as meaning “a set of two or more categories , as masculine, feminine, and neuter,” there is no reference to anything masculine –men, males or boys–in descriptions of its 30 plus courses. The absence of references to males whose sex is determined by the presence of XY chromosomes and who constitute 50 plus percentage of the world’s population is particularly interesting when contrasted with the transgendered population estimates which range from .01 per cent to .001 (or for those of us who are decimally challenged, the range is from one in 10,000 to one in 100,000).
Dick Elfenbein is a veteran journalist, communications professional and former university professor. He taught communications and public relations at the Rutgers University Graduate School of Business and Fairleigh Dickinson University. He began his journalism career with the Bergen Record of Hackensack, NJ and was a reporter and copy editor for Fairchild Publications before joining the The Voice of America during the cold war era and moving on to NBC Radio News as a writer/editor. Later, he was a communications executive with IBM and for more than two decades a consultant to major domestic and foreign corporations. He is currently the chair of a New York City not for profit educational foundation and research director and board member of the Foundation for Male Studies.
