Every week when I’m back at school with a group of 12-, 13-, or 14-year old guys in our after-school program, I often have to think back to my teenage years, and remember what it was like to be 13-year old Jermal?
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This year, I’m really excited to be attending the United Nations’ official observance of International Women’s Day 2016, where the focus will be on building momentum for the implementation of the new Sustainable Development Goals, particularly SDG5: Achieve Gender Equality and Empower All Women and Girls.
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Have you seen our photos and messages as part of YouthREX’s #YellTheTruth campaign?
YouthREX is one of our key partners and collaborators. Based out of York University, YouthREX supports youth-serving organizations throughout Ontario in integrating research evidence and evaluation into their programs and organizations.
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For many young men, we don’t get to a place where we are truly comfortable with ourselves until maybe our late 20s, or even later. And some of us never ever get to that place! Instead, we wake up every morning and put on a ‘mask’ that helps us navigate the world and helps us control how other people view us. For many of the children and youth I’ve worked with, the feelings behind their masks are fear, sadness, and anger. And when when we are not able to or not allowed to let down our mask, those emotions never get addressed and we get boxed in.
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There’s a good chance that you completed a First Aid course when you were younger, maybe for a lifeguarding or babysitting job. I remember CPR practice on dummies, Heimlich manuever demos, and learning about heat stroke and hypothermia and burns and broken bones. With so many people trained in First Aid at some point in their life, there’s usually at least one person who is quick to offer their help when someone is choking or looks like they are having a heart attack.
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The idea of the rites of passage into manhood has really been on my mind lately. When you look across different cultures and religions, there are many formal and informal celebrations and markers of boys becoming men, girls becoming women, and just growing up, irrespective of gender.
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We’ve really been loving SoulPancake‘s ‘That’s What He Said’ series, which now has four episodes up on YouTube. The premise is very simple: get a group of 10 guys together to talk about issues like self-esteem and body image, dating and relationships, and gender equality. They’re definitely aligned with Next Gen Men’s mission to unpack society’s narrow ideas about masculinity, but I think what I really appreciate about the discussions is the honesty with which these guys are reflecting on and sharing their stories publicly.
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A comprehensive, public health approach to rape prevention could include a focus on bystander education and training, might identify factors in the physical design and the rules and policies of the spaces and institutions where we live, study, work, and play, and should definitely engage boys and men.
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There’s been a lot of discussion about dress codes in schools this year; in May, a ‘Crop Top Day’ protest was organized in schools across the GTA after grade 12 student Alexi Halket was sent home for the day because of her choice of attire.
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Earlier this month, we sent our Program Director Jermal to New York City for the International Conference on Masculinities.
Since Jermal was way too busy to live tweet the conference for us, we caught up with him after he had a chance to process everything he learned and think about how it applies to Next Gen Men’s work.
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One of the most challenging, but worthwhile, events I attended for International Women’s Day in Toronto, was the screening of Private Violence, a documentary on domestic violence in America. As I mentioned to one of the panelists after, it was a heavy topic even just to watch a documentary about, and I came away with the utmost respect for the individuals and organizations who provide advocacy and supportive services in this field, not to mention the many women who have experienced and continue to experience domestic violence firsthand.
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International Women’s Day is a global day celebrating the economic, political, and social achievements of women past, present, and future.
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