The case for male-only spaces

Walking through the activities fair at Dillon Gym at the beginning of my first year, I remember immediately being flagged down by Women In Economics and Policy. Their club aims to connect women with designated mentors in the fields of economics and policymaking and provide solidarity and empowerment. As I would later learn over the next few years, such a space is not uncommon on Princeton’s campus.

At present, there are at least 10 undergraduate student groups that are specifically delegated as spaces for women — the Women’s Network of course, but also Women in Anthropology, Women in Computer Science, and Women in Medicine — and there are even more for graduate students. But despite all of these female-only groups, Princeton has no comparable equivalent clubs for men — the only registered single-sex space for men is the Princeton Black Men’s Association.

Why doesn’t the University encourage the establishment of such spaces on campus? Sure, many fields, especially STEM fields, have a higher concentration of men than women. Since some of these spaces are largely male already, it may seem like men don’t need any extra help in finding community. Both reasons represent legitimate concerns, as well as good reasons why women’s groups are all the more important.

But this conception inherently misses the main point of why men need single-sex spaces in the first place: contrary to popular belief, men need more empowerment and solidarity than it may seem.

A 2021 study from the Survey Center on American Life found that just 27 percent of men reported having at least six close friends, a decrease from 55 percent 30 years before. 15 percent of men reported that they had no close friends. Only 21 percent of men said they received emotional support from a friend, as compared to 41 percent of women.

These results may further be linked to the tragic state of American men: the second leading cause of death in the United States for men under 45 is suicide. Over the last 40 years, the median income for men with only a high school degree dropped 26 percent. Young men between 25 and 31 today are 66 percent more likely to be living with their parents than young women.

In their book “The Boy Crisis: Why Our Boys are Struggling and What We Can Do About It,” Warren Farrell and John Gray explain that the women’s movement prepared girls to face hardships, gaining momentum throughout the 1970s to support women through mounting social issues — such as a dramatic increase in divorce rates. The impact of the movement transcended this application, giving women positive messages and a sense of purpose: the message that they could raise kids, earn money, or do both saturated the culture. By contrast, there was no comparable, culture-wide message about masculinity for men, even as boys were experiencing the same struggles.

In the past few decades, our society has done a better job of providing support to women than we have for men. The growth of single-sex spaces for women are robust, while male-only spaces have increasingly been eliminated. The Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) revised its mission in 1978 to support youth, cutting out its focus on serving men and boys. At the same time, the YWCA has continued to empower women. The Boys Club of America, founded in 1906, became the Boys and Girls Club in 1990. There are only three men’s colleges in the United States as compared to 25 for women. Perhaps most famously, the Boy Scouts went coed in 2018.

Boys need mentorship and friendship at an early age, just as women do. In order to foster these male friendships, as well as healthy forms of masculinity, men may need more institutional support than women. It is common to see a group of women having deep conversations over coffee. Men, on the other hand, typically need more of a reason to meet up. As Richard Reeves of the Brookings Institution puts it, men tend to be better at communicating shoulder-to-shoulder, rather than face-to-face. They bond over sports, on car drives, and while playing video games. Well-organized male only spaces can provide much-needed encouragement, empowerment, and friendship for men.

At Princeton, we shouldn’t shy away from male-only clubs and organizations. The first step is to recognize the legitimacy of these spaces and our need for them, rather than simply dismissing them as toxic or unnecessary. It is vital that men also have a chance to cultivate healthy masculinity through single-sex mentorship and camaraderie.

Julianna Lee is a senior from Demarest, N.J., majoring in Politics. She can be reached at julianna.lee[at]princeton.edu. Julianna is a big fan of road trips and has been to 43 states. Lee’s column, “To Old Nassau,” runs every three weeks on Tuesdays. All of Lee’s columns can be read here.