Who cares about white guys

When we talk about gender studies, we rarely include men. When we talk about race, we rarely include whites. When we talk about sexuality, we rarely include straight. All of which leaves straight white men out of the conversation.

Though the media predominantly features this group--more so than any other--and their hegemony is without question in the United States, they are symbolically annhiliated in another way. Their issues and concerns and struggles as individuals somehow matter less. We don't talk about stereotypes or ways that men try to grow against them. We don't talk about what it means to "be a man" in our culture. We don't talk about body image, self-concept, or even the pressures that come with being born into a gender and skin color that is often positioned as a dominant oppressor.

Even in a class that takes a broad and high-level view of race and gender, white guys were relegated to half a class--most of which was taken up by a film that touched upon one narrow and easily accepted "issue." 

And I do care to know. I want to understand who men are...and who they are trying to become. I want to have conversations like the one I had with my classmate on the train ride home, in which he told me about being a white man in our culture. About his character-building influences. About the way white guys are portrayed and often pigeonholed. What he thinks about sports. Even how he feels about the preponderance of television actors always having their shirts off in programming these days.  

It gave me some insights I wish I'd had 20 years ago, when I was dating guys his age. But it also made me realize that I'm missing part of the complete picture--and a pretty big piece at that. If I leave white men out of my understanding of race and gender in the media, can I really claim to know how all the other pieces should fit?