MASKulinity Podcast

The end of an era is upon us! This is MASKulinity’s series finale episode...maybe just for now. It is Samantha’s farewell episode (Remoy may return), and RGP1  interviews her about MASKulinity Podcast, including a trip down memory lane…  Remoy starts out by asking why Samantha wanted to start this podcast. Samantha remembers the inciting incident and the events that followed. She talks about her m...

In this week’s episode, Remoy takes us to another side of AI. Grad computer science researcher Maria Teleki lends her findings to shed light on how AI feeds our existing patriarchal notions and structures What is a large language model? We’re sure you’ve heard about this term, also known as an LLM, that’s becoming more and more relevant to our everyday lives. Remoy gives us the definition. Maria f...

It’s our hundredth episode, and in the spirit of us being around so long, Remoy takes us back to when the US did unMASK American leadership: with its first woman VP in the White House. Kamala Harris didn’t become president, but let’s not forget what it meant for her to come so close… Her videographer, Azza Cohen, helps us pull back the curtain on what it meant to have Harris’s leadership and the d...

We're running back this friendly reminder for the holidays! Wishing you and yours a great holiday season and see you in the new year for original MASKulinity episodes! ************************ Episode Notes 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...

Boys can’t wear dresses, they say….but was that always true? This week, Professor Jo Paoletti stops by the pod to let us know why boys stopped wearing dresses. Remoy starts us off with a visual…of none other than himself swagged out in a dress as a baby. You may be thinking to yourself, is that a Texan thing? Is it his worldly background? Nope! Boys used to wear dresses… He taps in Professor Jo Pa...

Headship? Wives submitting to husbands? Yep, we're talking about Christian MASKulinity this week with the help of theologian and author Dr. James Spencer. The hosts start out by reflecting on how much Christianity has impacted not only their own lives but American life as a whole. What has our society retained as a nation founded by Chiristian men? So much of American culture is based on Christian...

How have we gone this long without talking about it? That’s right… We’re talking about porn this week, but it may not be what you think. Remoy enlists the help of Dr. Kelsy Burke to understand how the term “porn addiction” came to be, and exactly what the folks who came up with this term had in store. It’s hard to believe that Remoy starts this conversation at Christianity, but he does. He sets th...

We’re back with our first original episode of the season! Our guest, Joe Wilkes, culture and policy writer and editor and fashion stylist, takes the mic with us to talk Black Dandyism. Many of us didn’t know this term prior to this year’s MET exhibition and gala theme, Superfine: Tailoring Black Style Our guest gave us some important notes on the role fashion can play for men in resisting the expe...

This season of MASKulinity is all about Relationships and Resistance, and we're starting with resistance. What does resistance look like as performance art—more specifically, theater? Your favorite literati doy, Remoy George Philip thee First's, latest production, Performing the Revolution, explores this question i n a four-part series. We're dropping the first episode in our feed to set the tone...

Just to clarify, we’re not talking about a bear succeeding at being chosen over a man in the woods . We mean the show! The Bear continues to be a favorite at TV award shows, and this year is no different. Naturally, your hosts talked about it. But first, they took a look at the show that rivalled it last year with just as many Enny wins. Succession. Your favorite hosts are joined by Professor of R...

In this final episode of the season, Samantha and Remoy tackle a question that’s been at the heart of so many conversations lately: Are men truly lonely? It’s a topic that hits home for so many of us, especially as we think about how gender norms shape not just our actions but our deepest connections. Luckily, The Pew Research Center has been hard at work exploring these very questions. Their late...

We’re at the start of award season, so it’s a perfect time to continue exploring MASKulinity on TV. This week, Samantha and Remoy walk each other through popular shows they’ve watched and ask, How are men and masculinity represented in these shows? Are they challenging the norm of MASKulinity or reinforcing it? Samantha starts off with a nod to Golden Globe-nominated Nobody Wants This for its evol...

Going off an earlier episode where Samantha tested Remoy’s musical knowledge, this week Samantha checks in on what Remoy knows about TV. Through round after round, our two co hosts explore how TV dads and masculinity have evolved over the decades. Samantha kicks things off with a clip of Al Bundy and his daughter Kelly. Does Remoy remember anything about this dysfunctional yet iconic duo? And what...

This week, we’re excited to bring a conversation from NGM Pathways’ live community event to our feed. The good folks at our presenting organization, Next Gen Men , hosted Samantha and Remoy for a Q&A session about the US election. We stop just short of the audience Q&A to maintain privacy of the participants. Tune in! Remoy and Samantha start out with a shout-out to self-care. It’s been a month si...

This time last year, Keestin O’Dell of Frog Lake First Nations joined the pod to have a thoughtful conversation about resistance, warrior masculinity, and the importance of questioning dominant narratives about indigenous communities. It’s time to have this conversation again, so we’re bringing it back to keep real history out there. Here’s how it went down: We switch it up this week! Remoy has so...

This week, Remoy and Samantha debrief the election. After having hope following the PEW findings from the last episode, they try to understand how the election turned out the way it did. The obvious has to be put out there: Kamala Harris’s loss has strong racist and sexist undertones. Given most Trump voters cited the economy as the reason why, Samantha talks through Joe Biden’s approach as well....

As the 2024 election heats up, it’s easy to assume that hyper-masculine, even toxic masculinity, messaging is resonating across America. But a new Pew Research report tells a different story. After digging in with report creator Juliana Horowitz and Next Gen Men’s Trevor Mayoh, Samantha uncovers some surprising truths.   Here’s where Samantha reveals the real story behind Americans’ views on mascu...

This week, we’re joined by multihyphenate artist Stephanie Graham to delve into Pick Me culture. Remoy has no idea what that means, so Samantha walks him through what Pick Me culture is, the nuances in the ways women interact with each other when talking about relationships with men, and what that means for MASKulinity. Have you ever done anything out of character to be picked or chosen? This ques...

This week, we’re having a herstory moment! Professor and Chair of the Africana Studies Department at Wellesley College Dr. Kellie Carter Jackson joins the show this week to talk Black abolitionists and resistance. We get to know civil rights leader Mabel Williams, spouse and partner of Robert F. Williams, and how she and her husband mobilized Black folks to take up arms and defend themselves in th...

It’s been a great summer! But now it’s fall and your tween and teen sons, nephews, brothers, and cousins are back in school. Teen anxiety is on the rise with pre-teen boys feeling that stress. But there is recourse! Multihyphenate mental health advocate Kyle Mitchell joins us this week and shares his wisdom and experience with helping teenagers manage social anxiety.  Remoy shares his experience w...

This week, we’re talking about marriage! Sociology Professor LaToya Council joins the pod this week to help us navigate Black couple’s marital waters.. and Samantha hangs in there as Remoy walks us through the complicated history of wedding traditions before her upcoming I Dos. Remoy takes us back to the first wedding ever, which took place in China. Find out what a man had to do to win the hand o...

This week, we’re joined by media scholar and psychologist Soraya Giaccardi. She shares her work analyzing gender depictions in TV and helps Remoy and Samantha psychoanalyze their relationship to a TV classic and one of their faves, “The Fresh Prince of Bel Air.” But first, Remoy walks us through some surprising facts about  boys’ TV shows.  Who are the leading characters in boys’ TV shows? Remoy s...

It’s the Fourth of July in the US, and we’re thinking about the military. Today and on Veterans’ Day, we’ll say “Thank you for your service,” but do we really know all that goes into that service and how it impacts the people that serve? This week, we’re joined by military masculinity expert Dr. Ray Hinojosa from the University of Central Florida to uncover how gender informs how people are recrui...

We’re going back in time! Remoy shows his energetic facets as we dive into a past episode throwback on Transitioning into Immigrant MASKulinity with multihyphenate artist, D'Lo . Samantha and Remoy play back clips from this insightful 2018 episode. They remember their old selves trying to make sense of this conversation just a year into the show and compare it to now, as their older (hopefully wis...

Calling all wrestling fans! This week, we are joined by playwright, Chicano history and theater professor, and self-professed smark Beto O’Byrne to talk MASKulinity in wrestling. Not your Olympics wrestling—it’s WWE, baby! Is wrestling fake? How dare you ask that?! Beto sets the record straight. Wrestling is simultaneously sport and theater. This scripted performance produces an over-the-top MASKu...