Profs and Pints Metro Baltimore

Profs and Pints Baltimore presents: “Be a Man,” on the history of American efforts to define masculinity, with Luxx Mishou, cultural historian and former instructor at the U.S. Naval Academy and area community colleges.

[Advance tickets: $13.50 plus sales tax and processing fees. Available at https://events.ticketleap.com/tickets/profsandpints/baltimore-be-a-man .]

There has never been just one way to “be a man,” but there sure have been plenty of attempts to convince men and boys that such a single definition exists.

Throw on your work boots, roll up your sleeves, and get ready to strut confidently into Baltimore’s Section 771 bar for a fascinating look at our nation’s shifting visions of manhood and what they tell us about ourselves.

Dr. Mishou, whose engaging previous talks have earned her a considerable following among Profs and Pints fans, will start by looking at colonial times and the conventions of masculinity that we inherited from Europe. She’ll discuss how in the lead-up to the American Revolution people here began articulating a new definition of masculinity intended to help forge a communal identity. To set us in opposition to the British, they rejected the classism and intellectualism associated with the men of England and defined masculinity in very physical terms.

From there, Dr. Mishou will familiarize us with the nineteenth century’s dandies and secret societies. Moving ahead to the twentieth century, she’ll show how concepts of manhood were further honed by public figures such as the escape artist Harry Houdini and the strongman Eugen Sandow, regarded as the father of bodybuilding.

She’ll compare physical masculinities and intellectual masculinities and look at how definitions of masculinity factored into our romanticization of the “wild west” and our worship of the outlaws and rebels of Hollywood fiction. She’ll describe how views of masculinity have been shaped by various political and religion leaders.

Turning her attention to the present, Dr. Mishou will examine today’s “crises” of masculinity and the influences of various cultural phenomena such as “muscular Christianity” and Marvel movies. She’ll explore how various concepts of masculinity relate to various intersectional identities, considering black masculinity, queer masculinity, Hispanic masculinity, trans masculinity, and disabled masculinity.

Among the questions this talk will tackle: When it comes to masculinity, does life imitate art, or does art imitate life? Why do men want to talk about Fight Club? (Doors: $17, or $15 with a student ID. Bar doors open at 5 pm. The talk starts at 6:30.)

Image: From an 1894 poster advertising strongman Eugen Sandow’s vaudeville act (Wikimedia Commons).

Profs and Pints Baltimore presents: “Hollywood Psychiatry,” an examination of big-screen depictions of psychiatry and how they shape our thoughts about mental-health treatment, with Mark Komrad, M.D., a psychiatrist and medical ethicist on the teaching faculty of Johns Hopkins and Tulane universities and the University of Maryland.

[Doors open at 5. The talk starts at 6:30. The room is open seating. Advance tickets: $13.50 plus sales tax and processing fees. Available at https://events.ticketleap.com/tickets/profsandpints/baltimore-hollywood-psychiatry ]

If we had only movies to teach us about the behavior of psychiatrists, what lessons would we learn?

Explore the good, the bad, and the ugly of Hollywood depictions of psychiatry, and consider how our thoughts about the field are shaped by them, with medical ethicist Mark Komrad, who previously has given excellent Profs and Pints talks on ethical questions raised by euthanasia.

Dr. Komrad will discuss the results of research on how movies affect viewers’ opinions of psychiatry, of psychiatrists, and of what constitutes ethically appropriate behavior in mental health treatment.

He’ll discuss the ethical and unethical behaviors associated with the three major archetypes of psychiatrists that commonly appear in movies, which he labels as “Dr. Decent,” “Dr. Dippy,” and “Dr. Dangerous.” We’ll look at clips from movies that portray psychiatrists engaged in clearly unethical behaviors, movies that try to portray ethical psychiatrists but fail in the attempt, and movies that depict positive examples of appropriate ethical treatment.

To illustrate the harm brought about by inaccurate film depictions, we’ll look at how the public’s contemporary understanding of ElectroConvulsive Therapy (ECT), an important and valuable method of treatment, has been distorted by movies that depict it in horrifically negative ways.

You’ll emerge from the talk with a clearer understanding of how psychiatrists work with patients and navigate ethical questions, as well as a better ability to distinguish the reality of psychiatry from Hollywood’s myths. (Doors: $17, or $15 with a student ID.)

Image by Canva.

Profs and Pints Baltimore presents: “Those Who Gave Rise to Our Navy,” on the men who set sail for the American Revolution and their fates, with Abby Mullen, assistant professor of history at the United States Naval Academy and author of To Fix a National Character: The United States in the First Barbary War, 1800-1805.

[Doors open at 5. The talk starts at 6:30. The room is open seating. Advance tickets: $13.50 plus sales tax and processing fees. Available at https://events.ticketleap.com/tickets/profsandpints/rise-of-navy ]

Their ranks were Black as well as White and included the young and the old, the offspring of incredibly wealthy merchant families as well as the all-but-destitute. The British government called them pirates and charged them with treason. Even George Washington referred to some of them as rascals. Yet all were willing to take to sea and take great risks as sailors in the fight against Great Britain.

Why did they do it?

As we celebrate our nation’s 250th birthday, join Professor Abby Mullen, who teaches Annapolis midshipmen classes on naval history, to become familiar with the kinds of people who joined our Navy at the outset, at great risk.

We’ll look at where American Revolutionary sailors came from, what motivated them to go to sea, and what happened to them during their service. We’ll examine the many ways they could serve as part of the Continental Navy, as part of state navies, or as privateers.

Finally, we’ll look at what happened to them in the long run, and how some ended up imprisoned by the British after being captured while others were discharged from their ship after the war as the Continental Navy got sold off bit by bit. (Doors: $17, or $15 with a student ID.)

Image: A 1779 naval battle involving American and British ships as painted by Richard Paton in 1780 (Royal Academy / Public Domain).

Profs and Pints Metro Baltimore presents: “Terrors of Irish Fairylore,” an introduction to Ireland’s strange and unsettling folkloric “Good People,” with Brittany Warman, former instructor at Ohio State University, co-founder of The Carterhaugh School of Folklore and the Fantastic, and co-author of the new book Fairylore: A Compendium of the Fae Folk.

[Advance tickets: $13.50 plus sales tax and processing fees. Available at https://events.ticketleap.com/tickets/profsandpints/metro-baltimore-irish-fairylore .]

Today it is common to think of fairies as small, childlike, sparkly creatures with glittering wings and dresses made from flower petals. But the fae of traditional Irish folklore were no such things.

Amoral, capricious, even malicious when they chose to be, the too-frequently forgotten fairies of times long past would, more often than not, haunt nightmares.

Join Brittany Warman, a folklorist who has earned a devoted following among Profs and Pints fans, as she explores the darker side of Irish fairylore.

The figures she'll discuss include: The Leanan-Sidhe, a vampiric fairy who gives artistic inspiration in exchange for your mortal spirit. The Dullahan, a fairy with a human spine for a whip and a habit of hurtling across fields in a death coach made from human skin. The Banshee, a mournful fairy whose cry signals a death in the family to which she's attached herself.

Dr. Warman also will examine the surprising impact of fairy folklore on two classics of Irish Gothic literature, Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray and Bram Stoker's Dracula.

It’s a talk that will remind you that the relationship between the Irish and the spooky stretches well beyond Halloween. (Doors: $17, or $15 with a student ID. Listed time is for doors. The talk starts 30 minutes later.)

Image: “The Banshee Appears,” an 1862 illustration by Robert Prowse (Wicklow Heritage / Public domain).