Join the Fulbright Austria Alum Chapter Styria for a discussion with alum Christopher Kilmartin.
Mark your calendars for the Fulbright Austria Alum Chapter Styria’s Zoom discussion with 2006–07 Fulbright-University of Klagenfurt Distinguished Chair in Gender Studies Christopher Kilmartin entitled “The Fictions that Shape Men’s Lives.”
This event is organized by the Fulbright Austria Alum Chapter Styria in cooperation with the Center for Inter-American Studies (University of Graz) and Fulbright Austria.
Christopher Kilmartin is a professor emeritus, author, stand-up comedian, actor, playwright, consultant, and professional psychologist. He retired in 2016 as professor of psychology at the University of Mary Washington in Fredericksburg, Virginia. He holds a PhD in counseling psychology from Virginia Commonwealth University and is a licensed clinical psychologist who has been consulting with businesses, college students, human services workers, athletic departments, the military, and counselors for many years. His major scholarly work is The Masculine Self (6th edition Sloan, 2019), which has also been translated into Korean. His latest book is The Fictions that Shape Men’s Lives (Routledge, 2021). An integration of his scholarly and performing interests, he has performed “Crimes Against Nature,” a solo theatre performance on men’s issues, on over 150 campuses and at other venues.
“The Fictions that Shape Men’s Lives” is structured around a number of key “fictions” of masculinity, such as beliefs in biological determinism, the inevitability of men’s violence, and the opposition of the sexes, and proceeds to expose them to be wholly or partially unfounded. Examining the social pressure to behave and experience the self in ways that culture prescribes for the bodies we are perceived as having, this lecture provides an awareness of widely-held but distorted assumptions of gender. It also seeks to put men into the position to resist masculine social pressures when conforming to it conflicts with important life goals or values and/or causes harm. Making use of an informal, storytelling style provides an accessibility to those interested in breaking down their preconceptions of gender and masculinity, as well making links to key theories and concepts.
To register, please email Steve Rabitsch, co-representative of the Fulbright Austria Alum Chapter Styria.