The University of Texas-Austin’s Mental Health Center Offers Services for “Masculinity” | Eastern North Carolina Now

    The University of Texas at Austin is receiving national criticism again this week after it began offering services through its Counseling and Mental Health Center.

    The awareness campaign and program, labeled "MasculinUT," is a program that the University of Texas says will "aim to promote healthy masculinities on the UT Austin campus through public events, educational workshops, and other forms of student involvement. Our goal is to impact campus culture to increase acceptance of gender diversity, promote healthy relationships with an emphasis on consent, and prevent interpersonal violence."

    The corresponding website for "MasculinUT" offers an array of options for how masculinity can be attended to and cured when it is "toxic." This includes lobbying for gender equity.

    Beyond that, the advice on the website goes on to explain that if you are into protecting people or defending others, you very well could be suffering from toxic masculinity.

    Many schools across the country have offered programs of a similar nature, but this is the first one known to be operating out of the office of Counseling and/or Mental Health.

    As part of the advances of their newly formed program, the University is also looking to hire a full-time, salary positioned "Healthy Masculinities Coordinator." Who would be in charge of "lead(ing) men's engagement and healthy masculinities efforts."

    After embarrassing itself on the world stage again, the University issued a correction on the website saying that "MasculinUT program does not treat masculinity as a 'mental health issue'" and that attempts to label it otherwise are false.

    The University of Texas at Austin, along with other college who sponsor similar programs, have been attempting to relabel the word "masculinity" in order for it to mean the exact opposite of what it actually does. Masculinity has long been about protecting women, from the sexual assault attempts that may be made on them and any other dangers. The University of Texas is looking to prevent this and relabel the word all together, and more harm is being done to young developing men as a result of programs like this then would be if men were being taught to just protect women, and respect them. While the University stumbles along denying this, they will continue to waste taxpayer dollars funding worthless programs that will do nothing to protect anyone on their campus.