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We are almost half way through our first group of after-school programs in the York Region District School Board, and a lot of learning and growth is coming together with the groups at each school. We also had a lot of fun during our Fall field trip to the Toronto Marlies game.
Read MoreOn Wednesday night at the launch party for Wolf Pack in Calgary, we invited Mason to share his very personal story about body image, gender, and masculinity. Mason works with the Calgary Sexual Health Centre’s WiseGuyz program, and if you know our origin story, we count WiseGuyz as one of our biggest inspirations and strongest supporters. It is very exciting to know that Mason has the opportunity to share his experiences with the young men who are a part of WiseGuyz.
Here is Mason’s body image story, in full.
Read MoreEvery 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?
Read MoreThis 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.
Read MoreHave 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.
Read MoreFor 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.
Read MoreThere’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.
Read MoreThe 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.
Read MoreWe’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.
Read MoreA 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.
Read MoreThere’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.
Read MoreEarlier 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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