The ManKind Project Supports the Global Sisterhood Movement and their Gather in a Circle Campaign.
#InternationalWomensDay Gender equity and the empowerment of women is a key to our collective liberation. As women rise, we all rise. Listen. Do our work. Make room. Evolve culture. #IAmResponsible
— ManKind Project (@mankindproject) March 8, 2018
“The first act of violence that patriarchy demands of males is not violence toward women. Instead patriarchy demands of all males that they engage in acts of psychic self-mutilation, that they kill off the emotional parts of themselves. If an individual is not successful in emotionally crippling himself, he can count on patriarchal men to enact rituals of power that will assault his self-esteem.” – bell hooks
The ManKind Project is deeply indebted to the courage and strength of women leaders. Women leaders and feminist thinkers (both men and women) inspired the founders of the ManKind Project, and through thought leadership and brave action, continue to shape our evolution as communities and as an organization. It is our responsibility to Listen, to Make Room, and to Do Our Work as men.
In the early 1980s the founders of the ManKind Project saw and felt that many men were trying desperately to find a new way of being men. The old ways were breaking down. Having been emotionally wounded by society’s expectations of men, they were rejecting patriarchal dominance and toxic stoicism, and wanting to be the collaborators that our culture needed. At the same time, they sensed that a trend of men collapsing into self-rejection, disconnection, or self-hatred could not bring the results society needed. There were few or no effective models to follow. Healthy, strong, confident, emotionally informed, and connected men were what society was needing. In the creation of the training program and men’s groups they sought a way for men to express the fullness of their humanity: embracing healthy strength, accountability, archetypal warrior fierceness and embodying deep compassion, vulnerability, and openness to others.
They created spaces where men could break from restrictive social programming, learn to experience love and express their wholeness as humans and men. Without strong women blazing a trail, the possibility of this risky endeavor of cultural entrepreneurship would likely never have come to be.
Two of the significant results peer reviewed studies have shown about the work of the ManKind Project are: lessened adherence to restrictive gender roles and reduced gender conflict. We’re especially proud of these outcomes – because it means we are supporting the growth of men who will raise up women, partner with women, and be accountable to women in order to create a just and equitable society.
We honor International Women’s Day. We strive to be men who end gender based violence and sexual assault, who champion equality and full human expression in all aspects of our society, and who model healthy and integrated masculine gender expression for the generations to come. We will strive to be the partners and allies we all need to build the beautiful and loving future our hearts know is possible.
For many of us … our reason for doing the work is to be the kind of men the girls and women in our lives have been asking for. Today and every day, we know that without the work, support, strength, and willingness of women to trust in our vision of #healingmasculinity, we could not exist. Each time a man steps across the threshold into a ManKind Project men’s group or training, the possibility for a more beautiful world grows.
