The man card: it's a metaphorical symbol of masculinity that I'm guessing every guy has. But a few of my hall mates have taken this token of their manliness to the next level. Last week, they held a little ceremony in which literal "man cards" were handed out and men became members of an organization known as The Manstitute. I was lucky enough to witness the event.
The MAN ceremony, as it was dubbed, was the brainchild of Charlie Vancampen, who printed out and laminated the cards for the residents of our hall that he saw as shining examples of manly men, thereby founding what he now calls "the Manstitute." Will Nixon, Gil Hall, Chip Hale, and Sean Crawford were all summoned to receive the honor.
Charlie handed out the man cards one by one, shaking every man's hand as he awarded them their cards, until he got to Sean. Charlie then explained that due to Sean's recent infractions on the man code, he would have to revoke the card. He ripped the card in half and proceeded to eat it. The crowd that had gathered to watch the ceremony erupted in laughter, and a look of sincere defeat crossed Sean's face.
Charlie later explained the origins of this act. "The entire reason I did this was because Sean was painting his nails in the hallway and someone made the comment that he should have his man card revoked. I then realized that we had no man cards to revoke, so I decided to fix that. We now have something to revoke." He also explained that he didn't actually swallow the card . that would have been disgusting.
Sean was pretty accepting of the revocation of his man card, and was later rewarded a temporary, probationary man card. "It makes me feel like half of a man," he laughed.
Even Sean's girlfriend, Shelby was accepting of Charlie's decision. "I feel like it makes sense that he got it taken away . he painted his nails. He had a good reason to but he was still painting his nails, and I can laugh at him."
The other men all seemed genuinely proud of their cards, holding them up and posing for photos as their friends looked on. They swore to uphold the ideas of the Manstitute and agreed that all things not "involving sports, cars, and guns" were not manly. The rules of the Manstitute were there simply to establish the grounds upon which cards can be taken away. (Of course, it was brought up that a few other manly things had been left out.) "I'm getting kind of hungry, because I haven't eaten since the ceremony," Will joked.
I found the ceremony especially poignant in light of recent discussions in my masculinity class, English 203 with Dr. Magill. He has explained to us that men give other men their masculinity. This ceremony was the literal embodiment of the struggle that men go through in order to gain recognition for their masculine traits, something that they fight their entire lives to achieve through various means according to the sociologists whose work the class has studied.
Will also mentioned that he got his man card signed by Hawthorne Heights at Bandfest; Charlie said that this was unacceptable because Hawthorne Heights was an emo band and not manly. It was then pointed out that the same marker that signed that card had also signed several women's breasts and Will was allowed to keep the man card.
This ceremony was obviously just a joke among friends, and the Manstitute may not be a legitimate organization in the truest sense, but the idea of Charlie's organization is important, and there is a serious meaning behind all of the joking, or at least I think there is. The Manstitute seems to be a way for Charlie to show these guys that even at Longwood, where they are severely outnumbered, they're still important, and still manly.
"You see all of these groups talking about feminism and women's rights. We need a group that stands up for men's rights; society is slowly whittling away at us," explained Will.
There have been several panels held at Longwood to discuss the role that gender plays in college life, but to Charlie, talking doesn't get the job done. These "four and a half men," as a friend referred to them, and the others that Charlie has inducted since the group's founding seem to be taking a more active approach. "What we need is explosive growth and aggressive expansion," said Gil, hoping to further the goals of the Manstitute.
