Jackson Katz to Address ‘Macho Paradox’ in Talk at Holy Cross

Jackson Katz, a leading American anti-sexist male educator, will give a talk titled “The Macho Paradox: Why Some Men Hurt Women and How All Men Can Help” on Oct. 5 at 7 p.m. in the Hogan Campus Center Ballroom at the College of the Holy Cross. The talk is free and open to the public.

In his multimedia lecture, Katz will draw from information in his recent book of the same title (Sourcebooks, Inc., 2006) to explore some of the ways that male culture contributes to sexual and domestic violence, and to suggest strategies to enlist men in the fight against all forms of men’s violence toward women. He will cover the following topics: peer culture in schools and colleges; men’s uses of pornography, prostitution and stripping; sexism in the sports culture; the many intersections between racism and sexism; and the role of homophobia in all-male groups. Katz will use clips from his award-winning videos, including Tough Guise, to accentuate the importance of understanding — and changing — the cultural environment that condones or promotes men’s sexism and violence.

In 1993, Katz co-created the Mentors in Violence Prevention Program at Northeastern University’s Center for the Study of Sport in Society. The program was the first large-scale attempt to enlist high school, collegiate and professional athletes in the fight against all forms of men’s violence against women. Today, MVP is the most widely-utilized gender violence prevention program in college athletics and the first such program ever implemented in the United States Marine Corps.

Katz is the author of numerous articles on issues including white masculinity, feminism, violence, advertising and media. He has lectured on hundreds of college campuses and has appeared on numerous radio and television programs including The Oprah Winfrey Show, Good Morning America and ABC News’ 20/20.

Katz attended the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, where he was the first male to earn a minor in women’s studies. He holds a master’s degree from the Harvard Graduate School of Education, and he is completing his Ph.D at the University of Southern California.