Think of a young man in your life.  What are your hopes and dreams for this person as they navigate adolescence and become a man? How would you like to see them navigate emotions like sadness, fear, or grief? What kind of partner do you hope they’ll become? What kind of friend? Community member? How can you support them to become a man who is strong and loving and respects and values others?  This is what tonight’s discussion is all about. 

Boys aren’t born with homophobia or an innate desire to objectify and dehumanize women - we teach it to them.  This means they can unlearn it and be more aware of society’s gender boxes and how these are harmful to others, but especially to them. 

How can we help them escape the immense gravity of the Andrew Tates of the world?  The messages of how to be a man are ever-present. To be a man, you have to choose to fit in the box of society’s gender norms of manhood. This wraps you up in a suffocating blanket of homophobia, pressure to have heterosexual conquests, masking your pain in anger, masking your insecurity with bravado, denying yourself the full spectrum of human emotion, treating women as objects and not as fellow human beings, and constantly having to prove to everyone else and to yourself that you belong, that you are a man.

 We must create a counter-narrative and help our boys break out of the Man Box and embrace the infinite ways to be a man in this world. The majority of this work is on men to lead the way.  But, our boys can’t be what they can’t see. They need role models and peers to provide positive and successful examples. That is why we are proud to have these men participate in our panel discussion. Come join us for a robust evening discussion on how we can build a culture of healthy masculinity, where boys become men who are strong and loving, and who respect and value everyone, including themselves.