MASKulinity Podcast

We’re joined by Jeremy Herte, Chicagoan host of the seminal Black masculinity podcast, Let’s Talk Bruh. 

• We’re always talking about patriarchy, but what is it exactly? And is it really the way it’s always been? Samantha shares the differences between matriarchy and patriarchy and highlights key differences beyond which gender is at the helm.
• We reflect on just a few societies that have maintained or developed matriarchal structures. Did you know there were hunter-gatherer societies in the present day? These societies are much more egalitarian than we might think.. 
• Did you attend a Muffins with Mom or Donuts with Dads event as a kid? Some schools hold these parent events which might seem harmless. We talk through the unforeseen impact of this event designed for dads and Remoy evokes the importance of challenging the social behaviors that we think of as natural and default.
• Jeremy shares the inspiration behind Let’s Talk Bruh and the big part that community played in starting the show and its impact on his life and perspective.
• Is there really a gender war? Jeremy gets into it and offers insight.
• Our guest explains how his unlearning of patriarchy required community in different aspects of his life. What’s the hardest part of patriarchy to unlearn? Jeremy’s answer might be different than you expect…

Referenced on this episode:

• What is patriarchy? A little helpful breakdown from CNN
• Hunter-gatherers operated a little differently than what we thought
• Rethinking “Muffins with Moms” and “Donuts with Dads
  • Some names to make it more inclusive
• Let’s Talk Bruh episode discussing gender wars within communities.
• Let’s Talk Bruh podcast archive

COMPANION PIECES:

• Sugar Hill Band? Capitalism and MASKulinity in Hip Hop, with masculinity scholar and accountability strategist, Nalo Zidan
• Home ALONE for the Holidays, with resident men’s counselor,  Justin Lioi
• We’re All a Little MASKy, with #SameHere Global founder Eric Kussin
• Black Masculinity, Mental Health and Education, with clinical psychologist, Dr. Obari Cartman
• Some tips on men building community
• On Let’s Talk Bruh

This week we welcome our podbrother Danny Perez from the Oreja Peluda podcast, a show about masculinities in Latin America. This is the last episode in our music series and we’re sad it’s over. BUT Remoy likes music now, AND we’re wrapping it up with some over-the-top performance with glam rock!

• This subgenre of rock emerged in 1960s England and made its way to the States in all its grandiosity. It was characterized by loud makeup and outfits, and challenged typical masculine presentation; that doesn't mean it was inclusive. 
  • Samantha shares some glam rock history, including the story behind Ziggy Stardust and the name Queen. Hint: it’s all about gender performance.
  • This era is often remembered as purely accepting of these artists on and offstage, she explains why, between Ziggy Stardust and Freddie Mercury, glam rock was only accepting of gender and sexual fluidity onstage. 
  • Danny offers his thoughts on MASKulinity and how it shows up in rock performances.
• Glam Rock was a little different in the southern hemisphere. With tropícalia influences, Brazilian glam rock emerged in the early ‘70s. And that’s when the band Secos e Molhados formed. 
  • Samantha takes us through the differences between Brazil, US, and England in their reception of glam rock artists.
  • Nicknamed the David Bowie of Brazil, Secos e Molhados lead singer Ney Matogrosso’s impact on Brazilian music is still celebrated today. Samantha paints a picture of the ‘70s dictatorship and what made a particular social group tap into Secos e Molhados.
  • Danny offers some background on the social backdrop in South America at the time.
• Help us name our revamped interview segment! 🎙️ Samantha will dive deep with our guests as they get to ask Remoy a question. Why should Samantha be the only one in the hot seat? Help us name this! Send us your suggestions at [email protected].
  • Danny tells us about Oreja Peluda and what it looks like to foster conversations around masculinity across Latin America.
  • How does learning and thinking about MASKulinity impact a musician, you ask? Danny gives us some insight on his evolving experience as an artist invested in conversations unmasking masculinity.

Referenced on this episode:

• Danny Perez’s podcast Oreja Peluda
• Glam Rock Challenging Hegemonic Masculinity
• Ney Matogrosso on pushing boundaries for life
• Michael Watts’s interview with David Bowie

COMPANION PIECES:

• When Hip Hop Unmasks Masculinity, Part 1
• When Hip Hop Unmasks Masculinity, Part 2
• Sugar Hill Band? Capitalism and MASKulinity in Hip Hop
• UnMASKing Masculinity, Music Trivia Edition 🎶

In part 2 of our conversation with Dr. Joseph Ewoodzie and Tyler Bunzey, we open with Dr. Ewoodzie’s seminal book about hip hop, Break Beats in the Bronx: Rediscovering Hip-Hop’s Early Years

• He shares how hip hop’s musical structure helped him understand sociology thinkers and their theories.
• He shares how his interest in understanding belonging influences his hip-hop curriculum and how that led him to question the hip-hop history that existed prior to his book.
• How much has hip hop evolved?
  • How have MCs dealt with that evolution or lack thereof? Things were said in the past that could never be said today (homophobia and ignoring consent), and things are said today that would never have been said in the past (vulnerability).
  • But some things have only marginally changed, such as women still having more space for flexible sexuality than men do.
• Who are the gatekeepers in hip hop? It may not be who you think… Tyler Bunzey offers a theory and shares the best hip-hop culture analogy 9th Wonder made when he was studying under the acclaimed producer at Duke.
  • He shares his gripes about how the arts get left behind in terms of funding and the importance of exposing students to different perspectives and identities in the industry.
• Professor Bunzey provides more context on how consumers are also complicit in upholding MASKulinity in commercial hip hop.
• Hip-hop bracket anyone? The scholars share about the Hip-Hop and Urban Sociology course they coteach and how hip-hop provides an interesting lens through which to examine sociological issues. Like Samantha, you, too, may be sad that this class wasn’t around when you were in school.

Referenced on this episode:

• Mark Anthony Neal’s Looking for Leroy: Illegible Black Masculinities
• Tyler Bunzey’s Hip Hop Sublime theory
• Dr. Ewoodzie’s seminal book Break Beats in the Bronx
• Troy Smith’s thoughts on hip-hop knowledge; his archives

COMPANION PIECES:

• When Hip Hop Unmasks Masculinity, Part 1
• Tyler Bunzey on Beneath the MASK 🎭
• Sugar Hill Band? Capitalism and MASKulinity in Hip Hop
• MASKulinity is Making Some People a Lot of Money

• We continue our music series this week! This is part 1 of Professors Joseph Ewoodzie and Tyler Bunzey gracing the pod to talk gender in hip hop.
• Samantha talks everyone through alternative representations of masculinity in hip hop.
  • How does including classical instruments in hip hop impact our view of the genre?
  • How does the advent of rappers with different sexualities and gender performances into the mainstream impact hip hop now?
• Is it probable that there were LGBTQ rappers at the inception of hip hop? Dr. Joseph Ewoodzie weighs in…
• We continue to examine which voices who are valued in hip hop by zooming out and considering all of its historical influences.
• Tyler Bunzey offers some important cultural context around Southern rappers and the performance of gender in hip hop – how do different US cultures shape that performance within the genre?
• He also breaks down how gender and sexuality are racialized – why is queerness considered to be a white thing if Marsha P Johnson was at the forefront of LGBTQ rights movement?

Referenced on this episode:

• Interview with Black Violin
• Black Violin’s “Stereotypes”
• Tyler Bunzey’s Hip Hop Sublime theory
• Dr. Ewoodzie’s seminal book Break Beats in the Bronx
• Big Freedia challenges hip hop as we know it
• Daphne Brooks’s Liner Notes for the Revolution
• Check out our last Beneath the MASK 🎭

COMPANION PIECES:

• Sugar Hill Band? Capitalism and MASKulinity in Hip Hop
• MASKulinity is Making Some People a Lot of Money
• Unpopular opinion on Kendrick Lamar’s Pulitzer

• Sugarhill Gang or Band? This group’s seminal single set the tone for our understanding of hip hop culture in the mainstream, but it sacrificed the culture’s wholeness along the way… We’re continuing our conversation pondering the performance of masculinity in music as an art form and in music as a business.
• Masculinity Scholar and Accountability Strategist Nalo Zidan joins the pod this week to talk masculinity and capitalism within hip hop and shares indispensable wisdom on what liberation may look like…
• Samantha offers a snapshot of the beginnings of commercial hip hop. How did we get from that DJ Kool Herc party that started it all to “Rapper’s Delight”?
• We examine how the performance of masculinity thrives in commercial hip hop and why capitalism benefits from music upholding bravado over vulnerability.
• Thankfully, there are some artists disrupting the performance of masculinity, but why are they on the fringe of the mainstream?
• Listen to Nalo dive deep into how our classist system, capitalism, and the performance of masculinity helps hip hop moguls evade accountability. Acknowledging the impact of patriarchy connects us to the need for social justice.
• Nalo stresses how divesting from capitalism allows us to regain our imagination and think of a life beyond patriarchy…and how it’s an individual choice we must consistently make. Listen to find out the most antipatriarchal, anticapitalist response you can have in the face of the status quo.

Referenced on this episode:

• Mother of Rap: The Success & Controversy of Hip Hop’s Sylvia Robinson, producer of the first commercially released hip hop track, “Rapper’s Delight”
• Saba: ‘RAP CAN GET CLASSIST – I WANT TO BE THE OPPOSITE’
• Noname: Tiny Desk Concert featuring Ghetto Sage
• The Sound of Capitalism

COMPANION PIECES:

• MASKulinity is Making Some People a Lot of Money
• Nalo Zidan’s TEDxLSU talk It’s Time to Redefine Masculinity
• The Roots of Jay-Z’s ‘Black Capitalism’
• Black Capitalism Won’t Save Us

It’s our first episode of the year and we had to start it off right (Remoy doesn’t think so) with a game! Your hosts are joined by the illustrious German Villegas, podbrother and host of Modern Manhood, to play our new game Paroles de Patriarchy!

• Samantha does a “dramatic reading” of a few songs spanning genres and eras, and German and Remoy guess what they are. But most importantly, they answer the question, are these songs masking or unmasking masculinity?
• German lives up to his reputation as a bonafide music-head, providing thoughtful insight about the performance of masculinity through the lens of these artists’ style and personas. He also drops some important historical context around music and masculinity.
  • How have artists subverted gender roles via music performance and did that permeate other areas of their lives as artists? The crew discusses!
• Samantha and German then take a deep dive into the performance of masculinity in music. Is it different from genre to genre? Are there parallels between the MASKulinity-tech influencer pipeline we talked about earlier this season and the bravado of men’s musical performances? We’d love to hear what you think, so be sure to shoot us a note.
• Finally, German preps us for the new season of Modern Manhood, “Man Vs Machine.” Listen till the end to hear the dope trailer.

Referenced on this episode:

• Bikini Kill
• One of our artist picks opens up about mental health
• "I Made My ADHD Into My Strength": Understanding The Link Between Rap & Neurodivergence
• Cash's masculine vulnerability
• The Beastie Boys’ Feminist Evolution
• One of our picks helped mainstream male emotion

COMPANION PIECES:

• A Man’s World? How Music and Masculinity Got a Makeover
• The Year Pop’s Men Dismantled Their Masculinity

It’s almost curtains on 2023, but before it’s over, we had to share some things we’re grateful for. With a game, naturally! We’re playing a lil guessing game, but of course, the number one thing we’re grateful for is everyone who’s taken the time to listen to this podcast, comment on social media, share this conversation with others. We’re most grateful for you. THANK YOU.

• Jake Stika, executive director and cofounder of Next Gen Men, joins us this week to close out the year. He shares the importance of including different perspectives in the books we read, as he, Remoy, and Samantha all share their book gratitudes. SPOILER: Remoy continues to deny his literati status even as he shares a 700-page book.
• Jake goes Beyond Our Own Knowledge, getting into a couple of dope Next Gen Men initiatives.
• The crew stresses the importance of saving publications with factual information in this age of misinformation and disinformation as Next Gen Men completes a very important campaign
• The crew has a moment of gratitude for mental health. Remoy shares his personal experience in another moment of gratitude.

Referenced on this episode:

• Badass journalist Sarah Kendzior, who wrote Hiding in Plain Sight, cohosts Gaslit Nation with Andrea Chalupa
• A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara, a rich story of multidimensional male characters
• B.O.O.K. Club
• Meghann M. Cuniff, the reporter who brought accurate information about the trial  to social media in response to Tory Lanez’s team’s misinformation campaign against Megan Thee Stallion
• Therapy and mental care
• The Transgender Issue by Shon Faye
• More on the Delhi street theatre company Janam
• See No Stranger A Memoir and Manifesto of Revolutionary Love by Valerie Kaur
• More about Voice Male Magazine
• MASKulinity Podcast being back - you know where to go.

The holiday season is upon us shortly in the US. Some men will be surrounded by close ones, and some will finally get the R&R they’ve been craving, but many may feel alone.

• Americans have less and less friends. On this episode, Samantha and Remoy talk through some Survey Center on America Life findings on the state of American friendships. There are many men who have absolutely no friends, and that number is steadily increasing. The hosts get some help to understand how this impacts them during the holiday season.
• Our resident counselor for men, Justin Lioi, is back to talk about having mental ease during the holidays. He stresses that being alone at this time can be a fulfilling choice but it’s OK to reach out for attention and support if it’s loneliness rather than intentional alone time.
• Justin helps the hosts understand why reaching out can be difficult for men, how slipping back into old relationship dynamics can make it worse, and how to detect mental distress in the body.

COMPANION PIECES:

• Ya can’t pour from an empty cup! How Men Can Take Better Care of Themselves
• Ignoring it won’t make it go away! How doing the work leads to men’s freedom 
• Special Episode! Getting Free, with Darnell Moore

Referenced on this episode:

• Terrence Real, therapist author of I Don’t Want to Talk About It: Overcoming the Secret Legacy of Male Depression
• Pia Mellody, author of Facing Codependence: What It Is, Where It Comes from, How It Sabotages Our Lives
• Bowling Alone by Robert D. Putnam shows how we people in modern societies have become more and more disconnected from each other

We’re talking about mental health in the workplace in this pre-COVID unreleased episode. Eric Kussin, founder of #SameHere, takes us through his work bringing mental health education to schools, athletes, and businesses.

• How much do we really know about mental health? Eric Kussin shares his personal experience with a mental health crisis as an athlete, executive, and brother, and how stigma-filled representations out there led him to start his organization, a global movement for mental health.
• The hosts talk masculinity contest culture and how leadership and masculinity are not always mutually exclusive. Eric paints a picture of what it looks like to prioritize mental wellness to get results and stresses the importance of embracing different leadership styles.
• Eric reflects on how celebrated overworking is and how understanding that work includes rest and care creates safer workplaces.

COMPANION PIECES:

• UnMASKing the Workplace
• Ya can’t pour from an empty cup! How Men Can Take Better Care of Themselves
• Black Masculinity, Mental Health, and Education

Referenced on this episode:

• Kevin Love speaks on mental health
• Carolyn Flack sharing mental health battles before her passing
• Masculinity contest culture

We’ve got a special episode this week. We’re coming to you a lil early so you have time to chew on this timely conversation. Keestin O’Dell of Frog Lake First Nations joins the pod to have a thoughtful conversation about resistance, warrior masculinity, and the importance of questioning dominant narratives about indigenous communities. And how could they not talk about Nic Cage.

• We switch it up this week! Remoy has some stories to fill Samantha in on. They talk language traditions, how colonial/settler/imperialist institutions use language to marginalize indigenous communities, and how that translates to altering narratives about a painful past.
  • Remoy talks us through  how the co-woman led Indian of All Tribes organization took over Alcatraz for a year-and-a-half and gets real about the astronomical impact of the genocide of indigenous peoples.
  • He shares more female native activists like Shinanova who use their social media voices to pass on a continued message of resistance.
• Keestin shares key history about Frog Lake First Nations and its legacy in Alberta, Canada--specifically the Frog Lake Massacre. If you listen hard enough, you can hear how history is finding a way to repeat itself now.
• He lets us in on how his and other indigenous communities have had to fight postcolonial legacy to reclaim their history and identity, including redefining the notion of “warrior” and what it means to provide.
• Keestin inspires us to break through our illusions of language and masculinity. He shares the evolution of his own experience with masculinity, how a community of men was pivotal, and how that impacts the work he does today.

COMPANION PIECES:

• Keestin’s TEDx talk on perceptions of indigenous manhood
• The indigenous occupation of Alcatraz

Referenced on this episode:

• 54th Annual National Day of Mourning Demonstration in Plymouth
  • Livestream the event on Youtube
• Dr. LaNada War Jack
• Richard Oakes
• Indian of All Tribes (IAT)
• ShinaNova