mASKing for It: The Best of the MASKulinity Podcast
In the not-so-distant past of 2017, the MASKulinity podcast sprang to life. Samantha, the fearless explorer of patriarchy's depths, embarked on a quest to unravel the intricate web of gender's influence on our chaotic world. For over two years, Samantha and Remoy locked horns with Pulitzer Prize Winners, runway strutters, athletes, and your friendly neighborhood folks, dissecting the seismic impact of gender on our planet.
Now it’s time to sneak a peek into some of their absolute favorites! 🌟🗺️🎙️
Remoy:
Picture this: We ventured uptown for an episode on hood masculinity, and let me tell you, it started as a disaster. Our guest, the larger-than-life Christopher Saunders, is a bona fide legend – a guy who grew up in the South Bronx and dedicated himself to empowering Black and Brown folks to stand up against a biased legal system. You can't help but be captivated by his charisma.
We sat down with him, and the conversation was nothing short of epic. We laughed, we cried, we delved into his experiences as a Black man in an underserved community, and how that tangled with problematic masculinity. But here's the kicker – technical glitches forced us to hit the reset button. In the interim, I shared that initial recording with Chris. When we reconvened, he dropped this gem on me: "Remoy, why didn't you tell me that I talk like a total lunatic?" Hilarious, right? But as a producer, I panicked. I worried that that self-awareness might dial down his larger-than-life personality. And it did, to some extent. In that moment, I felt like I'd failed.
But you know what? I rolled up my sleeves, edited, mixed, and got it ready for release. It took me a while to give it a listen after we published, but when I finally did, it hit me like a ton of bricks. Despite losing a bit of Chris's flair, what remained was a raw, honest, and incredibly accessible tone. It turned out that his story, his experiences, and his hope shone through more powerfully than I could ever have imagined.
You can listen to Masculinity in the ‘Hood here: iTunes | Spotify
Samantha:
One of my favorite things to witness, either captured audio (visually) or in living color, is affection between men. Hugs, laughter, compliments—you name it; affection between men gives me an inordinate amount of joy. I stop and stare; I smile as if I know the strangers with eyes beaming at the surprising sight of one another on the street.
As such, one of the episodes I love the most is with none other than Mark Pagán of Other Men Need Help (shout-out to BRIC Arts Media in Brooklyn!). Mark came in and shared honestly and vulnerably about the physical connection that was lacking from his relationships with other men. The lack of affection and physical comfort that men experience with one another leaves voids in their friendships and relationships, and it’s mostly due to an expectation and the judgment from others (all genders) for not dotting the I’s of maskulinity (as we define it, the performance of masculinity based on an ensemble of gendered cultural expectations).
It was remarkable to hear the genesis for the title of his show, which is an admission of his needing help understanding manhood inherently and socially. In this episode, he also admits that the most dangerous question a man can ask another man is, “Could you hold me?,” a mic-drop, snap-to-the-poetry moment that left me on the edge of my seat, filled with compassion and a bit of despair. Because we know how that manifests in the world. I don’t hear many conversations about masculinity outside of healthy-masculinity circles, but whenever I do, the first stat that’s tweeted or uttered in a discussion or argument is men’s and boys’ high suicide rates. In my view, the lack of affection and understanding has a different impact on that stat.
I’ll stop here because you just need to listen and let it affirm you, support you, or just open your mind. Appreciate you for stopping by.
You can listen to Is it Just Other Men who Need Help? with Mark Pagán here: iTunes | Spotify
Okay folks, NGM has officially partnered with MASKulinity. Now’s your turn to join the conversation by subscribing now!
Subscribing is like joining an exclusive club where the password is a secret handshake, and the members' only jacket is, well, your favorite podcast app. Maybe you're tired of your podcast lineup being as predictable as your morning coffee order. OR maybe you're on a quest to sleuth out the patriarchy, surface out where inequality still exists, and hear more about people who are challenging the masked status quo.
No excuses, folks! Smash that subscribe button and hop aboard our weekly wild, witty, and wondrous ride searching out the theatrics of MASKulinity. Buckle up; it's going to be a bumpy, brilliant ride! 🎢🎭🎙️