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The Ethos
or
Why ManCelebrating
There are three reasons..
One
Men are at heart, lovely. OK we mess up sometimes, somethings - to err is to be human surely!? But men are born innocent, beautiful, full of promise and love. We try our best, with what we are given... We do pretty well considering - working hard, making loads of stuff that people need and want, fixing things, driving things, building things, looking after others, getting the jobs done, the battles fought, and the wounded rescued. We need to recognise and celebrate men, which routinely we fail to do.
Two
It's tough being a man in our culture now-a-days. We are born free and loving, and then get pushed and steered into 'being a man'.. gender stereo-types, all those unconscious expectations and rules, boxing us into toxic masculinity.. Recent brain research suggests males and females are all born free of this shit. Boys then get the man-rules.. which basically screw us up, denying our feelings, our expressions, our joy, and our freedoms, so we then end up taking it all out on everyone around us! Men need Liberation.
Three
We are all, whether men or women, socialised not to consider men; how they are, what they need, or how we all treat them. There are many ways that men are behaving badly; abusively, violently, or joylessly; we can see that many men are struggling - high rates of suicides, addictions, risk-taking, poor self-care, high levels of violence, or criminal behaviours. Yet there are few attempts to look at the reasons for these unhealthy problems and behaviours, or how to help these men. Instead the men are often demonised and blamed rather than being seen with compassion, with attempts to understand or help. It seems that such unhealthy masculinity is accepted as normal - that's men for you! This culture of blaming men is toxic and unacceptable; it helps no one.
For example, when we hear about men being violent, being abusive, being uncaring, basically being bastards , we all agree 'this is wrong', and yes 'this must stop', but then fail to ask 'but why are they doing this?' Like it's just 'that's men for you'! Really? Do we just assume men are naturally bad? Why don't we acknowledge that something has happened to these men, our men? We know that bullies are created through being bullied. Abusive men are turned bad through being abused. We must consider and care for Men.
ManCelebrating is about Change
Explores Explains Celebrates
What it is like for men today..
Explores being a man from a man's view-point;
Explores how we behave to boys from Day 1, and how it shapes their world and who they become;
Explores the effects on boys and men of living in this patriarchal culture, how it limits our lives, and the consequences of this on everyone;
Explores how to improve our sense of being a man, and where do we need to go next!
Explains what has shaped our ideas about gender and especially manhood.. and what effects all this has on both men and women, young and older;
Explains toxic masculinity and what could a healthier masculinity look and feel like for us all!
Celebrates men in all their diversity, their strengths and weaknesses, both acknowledging that men are human and often don't get it right, and that there is so much that is lovely and welcome, and which is not often seen and needs to be celebrated!
ManCelebrating.org is about exploring and promoting Healthy Masculinity, allowing and supporting Men's Liberation into a happier life, for both the men and all the others in their lives.
. . . being a man, a Joyful Man