Presented by the Florence STG Feminist and Gender Collective and Laura Rahm (Robert Schuman Centre), the event forms part of the EUI Feminist Week, leading up to International Women's Day on 8 March.
How are we affected by masculinities, and how do they affect the world? How are masculinities constructed, and how can they be reconstructed?
As gender becomes an even more polarising factor in contemporary global politics, this event seeks to open space for a critical re-imagining of masculinities, reflecting on the prevention of gender-based violence and the improvement of our collective gendered lives.
Join us for a public pre-release film screening of 'Cuddle or Die' by Claire Bower, and post-film interactive discussion with:
Ramya Subrahmanian, PhD | Chief of Gender, Rights, and Protection at UNICEF Innocenti: Global Office of Research and Foresight
Benno Gammerl, PhD | Chair of the History of Gender and Sexuality at the EUI's Department of History
Gee Semmalar, PhD | Postdoctoral Max Weber Fellow, EUI
Erika Bernacchi, PhD | Researcher at Istituto degli Innocenti and Representative of Caring Masculinities in Action (CarMiA)
The event is open to the public. Attendance is free, with a donation box to support the film.
Please register your attendance beforehand.
*Please note that the film will not be screened online, but only for on-site participants. Instead, it will be possible to participate online in the panel discussion that will follow the film.*
'Cuddle or Die', by Claire Bower
Most people have heard of the term toxic masculinity , but what does an alternative look like? Cuddle or Die is a coming-of-age documentary that unfolds over seven days as a group of masculine-identifying youth embark on a ‘rite of passage’ wilderness expedition designed to nurture positive masculinity. Set in the Albertan countryside and the Rocky Mountains, the group is led by 28-year-old Jonathon, Youth Program Manager with Canadian nonprofit, Next Gen Men. At times, the suitability of "rites of passages" as a method for cultivating positive masculinity is called into question. The youths’ experiences are interwoven with interview footage from academics and staff from Next Gen Men who share their differing perspectives about the debates concerning engaging men and boys in the prevention of gendered violence. The film does not conclude with any specific call to action or "single solution", but rather encourages those working in this area to reflect critically on their understandings of gender, masculinities and violence prevention.
Claire Bower is an Australian gender-based violence prevention practitioner and documentary filmmaker. She has a master's in Critical Gender Studies from Central European University. Her thesis, an ethnography of a Canadian not-for-profit working to promote positive masculinity, forms the basis of her first feature-length documentary, Cuddle or Die. She has also produced short documentaries including Unboxing Gender, which premiered at the Queer Shorts Vienna 2023 film festival. Claire’s research interests include critical studies of men and masculinities and the prevention of gender-based violence.