A new student club called Second Wind gets male students together to discuss masculinity, emotions and self-improvement.

Christopher Robinson, a second-year transfer studies student, started the club to encourage discussions about self-development and mental health. Members support each other during regular meetings on campus.

“Masculinity right now is in a very turbulent state,” Robinson, the Second Wind club president, said. “It’s in a phase where the old ways are not working. … A lot of guys are kind of, like, restricted in what they can do [and] feel.”

Second Wind’s main focus is masculinity, which is “very fluid,” “on a spectrum” and “not binary,” according to Robinson. “My hope is [for] masculinity to be more [of] a different way of life,” Robinson said. “You could be like a, kind of more conventional man … [or] you [could] have more feminine traits.”

Kenneth Gilliard, the club’s faculty adviser, said the topic of masculinity is “not one-sided.”

“It’s a scope,” Gilliard, the student success and retention adviser, said. “It is something that everyone has a trait of, whether you’re male, female [or] if you identify as different or [if you’re] going through a transition.”

Second-year kinesiology student Jayeim Blake said he joined the club because masculinity is “very powerful” and there should be more male role models.

Second-year homeland security student Phillip Michaels said masculinity is a “taboo and sensitive” topic that people are scared to talk about.

“I think topics like this need to be discussed. Otherwise, it’s going to be stigmatized and people are going to get the wrong view,” Michaels said. The club’s first meeting drew a dozen participants.