Program

Words of welcome by politicians, members of the Men's Counseling Center Graz, members of the University of Applied Sciences, Social Work degree programme.

Introduction to the Conference.
 

The Styrian comedian engages his audience in laughter by his parodies and comedy characters. He presents the fine blade instead of coarse jokes. This time, Oliver Hochkofler and his “VIP-team” take a close look at the Austrian Conference on Men and the Men’s Counseling Center.

www.oliver-hochkofler.at
 

The workshop is based on an article, Raewyn Connell has published in 2010 in the Österreichische Zeitschrift für Soziologie: “Lives of the businessmen. Reflections on life-history method and contemporary hegemonic masculinity”. Based on life-history research, Connell illustrates two case studies drawn from an Australian project on corporate masculinities: One older style of local hegemonic masculinity as well as a more globally oriented modernizing managerial masculinity.

The participants of the workshop are invited to present and discuss some of their own research material (interviews, case studies).

Sexual orientation patterns of homosexual and bisexual men in a multicultural society.

In the book “Masculinities”, R.W. Connell describes the predominance of heterosexual men and the subordination of homosexual men by means of concrete practices. From the viewpoint of hegemonic masculinity, homosexuality is equated with femininity. Homosexual and bisexual men are denied an adequate sexuality. WS 3 deals with current gender concepts of homosexual men and how these (concepts) are influenced by immigrant or socio-economic background.

On a discursive level (media, websites, etc.) one finds the tendency to homophobic violence based on ethnicity. Does therefore commence a “war of sub-cultures” (homophobia vs. racism)? Or does one have to ask: Which are the experiences of homosexual and bisexual men belonging to ethnic or religious minority groups?
 

Men’s health is more and more in the focus of public perception: fitness magazines, low-cholesterol food, potence drugs…. are heavily advertised. Under the current social conditions this raises various gender-relevant questions to be discussed in this workshop: How are phenomena and problems of men’s health treated by the media? Which other relevant areas are neglected? What are the requirements of a holistic health care, and which concepts of masculinity are relevant? What is the state of health within the group of socially deprived men and what can be done? How does the criticism of harmful traditional male role models add to progressing neoliberal tendencies of individualization of social problems and their commercialization?

In the plenary the results from the workshops are brought together and discussed.

Participants: representatives from the workshops

According to Connell, hegemony, subordination, complicity and marginalisation mark the internal relations within gender roles. The second day of the conference will focus on the dynamics, conflicting fields and potentials of the internal gender relations. The diversity of male orientation patterns is expressed most clearly when different attitudes and conceptions of masculinity clash on the level of relational and negotiation processes.

What characterises critical work on men, regarding the diversity of male orientation patterns?

Keynote address by Rudolf Hundsdorfer, Minister of Social Affairs, and discussion with politicians and experts.

Many programs aim at promoting women (men in some fields) in underrepresented programs. Gender-screenings show in which studies there is an imbalance between men and women. Many established associations and platforms aim at a fair balance. Diversity is the keyword of the 21st century at Austrian universities. The concepts of gender, handicap, ethnicity, migration, financial status, etc. increasingly preoccupy the protagonists in tertiary education.

But let’s ask a provocative question: Is all this necessary? Do we need more focus on diversity at universities? Do the students of today and tomorrow have to actively perceive these issues?

Invited Experts:
Uli Alker, FH Campus Wien (Diversity Officer)
Barbara Hey, Uni Graz (Coordinator Gender- and Women’s Studies, Frauenförderung) / Representative of the Austrian Federal Economic Chamber or the Federation of Austrian Industries / Representative of “gendered” institutions (e. g. high number of women, like regional hospital – nursing)/ Provincial Government Member for Integration and Diversity.

Studies have confirmed that two years after their parents have seperated, 50% of the children concerned have no or very little contact to their fathers. The search for causes and backgrounds leads to fingerpointing either at “impeding mothers” or at “abandoning fathers”. We try to analyze the motives leading to these “individual drama” and relate them to different concepts of masculinity and family. We want to reveal attitudes and factors which foster the father-child-relationship.

Representatives of critical men’s studies are invited to discuss the development of the thematic priorities in the field of critical men’s studies. 

• What are critical men’s studies and their distinctive features?
• How can the role of men be discussed within the context of gender equality? (status-quo analysis)
• Can the concept of intersectionality be applied to the analytic discourse of hegemonial relations within the context of critical men’s studies?

   

Men who have suffered sexual violence during childhood claim to talk about their experience – owing to increased media attention - and try to cope with it.

• How can these men be supported? What are the victims’ wishes, what are their needs?
• What types of support, compensation, counseling/therapy can be helpful? (It’s not all about money)
• How can these issues be worked on successfully?
• Which settings, steps and methods are helpful for coming to terms in councelling and therapy?

   

Experience with youth counseling in Austria shows various dimensions of tension in the context of role models of young men and women. On the one hand due to the paradigm shift as a result of the breach of migration, which is still cemented in the collective conscience of the large majority of the Muslim world. On the other hand, the challenge of mainstream society which does question classical role models while at the same time enhancing them.

Which strategies and methods were successful in the areas mentioned above? How is the turning away from traditional role models perceived by the “Muslim community” as well as by Austrian society, respectively, which consequences can be derived from this?