When two males go to a movie, there's always a seat between them. Chris Kilmartin presented this maxim and 10 other monologues in Tuesday's Crimes Against Nature.
"It's the 'homo-safety zone,'" said Kilmartin, associate professor of psychology at Mary Washington College. "Because, my God, their forearms might touch. I didn't even know the forearm was a sexual organ. Somewhere along the lines, we learned that being emotionally close and being sexual are the same thing."
Kilmartin addressed perceptions of masculinity and defining male issues from his own adolescence and childhood.
"Look at the amazing things you can get guys to do just by challenging their masculinity," he said. "[You'll] jump out of a helicopter... drink after throwing up... drop your drawers and grab your ankles and let the frat boys paddle your ass."
Kilmartin added that professional sports often exemplify an unnatural attempt to "be a man."
"Football is amazing," Kilmartin said. "It's violence interrupted by conference meetings. The average NFL player dies before the age of 55. We try so hard to keep that illusion of manliness that it literally kills us."
At the age of eight, he said, he dressed as a girl for Halloween on his mother's advice, wearing a black cocktail dress.
"I figured she knew best," Kilmartin said. "Thus ensued the most humiliating day of my life. The other kids started teasing me, calling me 'sissy,' and, of course, I couldn't cry because that would just prove their point."
During college, referring to a fellow classmate as a "girl" rather than a "woman" triggered a fight with his girlfriend-and nine years later, it spawned a revelation, Kilmartin said.
"I realized I was wrong and she was right," he said. "And had I realized it back then, I would have asked myself, 'If they're women, am I a man?' And I probably would have said that I'm just a guy-a pre-man."
Almost 100 people came to the performance, which drew frequent laughter.
"He spoke about gender stereotypes in a frank manner, and he left a lasting impression without being too serious," senior Catherine Jo said.
Sophomore Ian Forrest said that although Kilmartin was tactless on some points, his performance was ultimately effective.
"He did a refreshingly good job of presenting old material that people wouldn't listen to otherwise," Forrest said.
Mark Rutledge, a campus minister for the United Church of Christ, attended the presentation with other members of an informal men's group.
"I got the impression that he talked about, in compact, poignant, humorous ways, the issues we talk about all the time," Rutledge said.
Duke Inquiries on Gender sponsored the evening event in Reynolds Theater.
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