Why is there a women's studies major but not a men's studies?

While I think that academic studies of history, art, music don't discriminate, and the fact is men HAVE dominated these fields, it's also important to acknowledge that women are not in any sense inferior than men, it's simply that society has historically assigned men roles OUTSIDE the home while women have traditionally been the primary parent. These gender roles are, thankfully, changing.

Read some of the answers in this thread, and you'll think that Women's Studies were actually needed. The truth however is that these views are the RESULT of Women's Studies portraying women as victims.

They have focussed on women's contributions, and ignored the male achievements. Thereby we now believe that regular history has ignored women. The truth is that throughout history, women have been mentioned. Infact at times it has been the women that have been at the forefront of the stories.

However, it was more normal for the men to take the risks, to strive to achieve, and rightly it is the men who are usually mentioned. A large part of female power is the denial of that power, and so to celebrate such power is actually counterproductive in certain circumstances.

We do need a men's study course at University, as living in a femcentric society, it would seem that the men of today have been made to feel that their blood line is one of oppressiveness. That its women who have only fought for their rights against men.

What we never hear in schools or the media is how men actually got the vote not that long before women did, but all we hear about is the Sufferagettes. The fact that many men died to get these rights is never mentioned, or that it is largely men'd blood that our societies wealth is built upon. Or that men had huge responsibilities in times of yore, where women were immune to a whole host of laws. Women's Studies have of course glossed over this.

There are huge lists of issues where men have and still are greatly disadvantaged in Western society, and that what it means to be male has somehow been deemed "bad" by feminists, that we do need men's studies courses.

The feminist voice must be countered, and a Men's Study would be a positive first step in this. If we don't counter such biase, society will only suffer even more.

theres a womens studies because someone made it a major and not a mens studies because they didnt.

As other posters have said, womens achievements have historically been sidelined and disregarded.

For example, did you know:

1. Of the hundreds (perhaps thousands) of women who fought alongside every other foot soldier in the civil war -

They had to pretend to be men to pass muster. Although they fought; were wounded and died right alongside their fellow soldiers; when it was discovered that they were women they were often dismissed as "camp followers."

2. Who kept farms and families going; doing all the work that was required, while men went to war (any war). Same with factories and industry.

3. That women weren't allowed to patent their inventions until early last century. Patents were considered a form of property and women weren't allowed to own property. Therefore, many inventions made by women were patented in the names of their fathers and husbands. Women have contributed inventions to engineering (especially railroad) and to just about every other field.

4. That the last known case of female genital mutilation in the US occurred as late as the 1950s. Women and girls were often infibulated by medical experts. Similarly, read about womens mental health and confinement to psychiatric institutions for pathologies such as: not wanting sex; not wanting to marry etc.

- and so on.

All interesting things about the female experience in the West that haven't been presented in traditional texts.

There is a mens studies, its history :)

standard studies is men's studies for the most part...look at history...any clue how many women have been left out of history or if they are included are just a foot note.

For example...

who is the first woman to run for president? not Hillary btw

What made Elizabeth the first great?...what did she do

Do you know who invented cell phones, Kevlar, and the drug to help people with leukemia?

Because Feminism IS sexism, specifically, misandrous sexism.

A waste of time; See Daphne Patai's "Professing Feminism, Cautionary Tales from the Strange World of Women's Studies ".

Well hell, we study men and all their accomplishments in everything else....don't believe me? Who is the greatest contributor to science...who *is a woman*?? Can't think of any? It's not your fault young grasshopper.

I'm not an ultra-feminist or anything, but I think it's important to realize that there *are* other great minds out there rather than just Newton and Einstein.

The assumption is that everything is a man's study. It is women's and minorities' contributions that have been omitted (not necessarily on purpose) from social studies, and the effort is to add to the current curriculum, the things that were omitted.

A men's studies course would need to be about 50 years long to cover all our achievements! Women's studies can easily be covered in a single academic year, I feel they do stretch it out though!.