Workshops, Retreats & Conversations
Rethink Manhood works with men and boys on issues of masculinity and manhood. Specifically, we work to deconstruct and counter messages from the dominant culture regarding what it means to be a "real" man.
Our Mission: Healing & Liberation
Rethink Manhood is calling for a renaissance in male culture across the globe. Humanizing masculinity counters a culture of domination founded in male supremacy, patriarchy and misogyny. Historically and globally, the greatest threat to women and children is men. Our culture's rigid forms of masculinity discourage men from showing any emotion but anger while promoting false coping or numbing practices like substance abuse, sex addiction and dominating behaviors. Freeing oneself from the false man-creed is a liberatory practice that improves our health, helps us connect with our children and deepens intimate relationships.
The work
Courageous Humility. Trauma Awareness. Capacity for Safety. Equity Leadership.
Rethink Manhood uses these four practices to analyze our place in history, develop a trauma-informed framework, measure manhood through safety, and take positive action in small and large ways.
Practice 1: Courageous Humility
Understanding the culture of domination and control is the first practice of Rethink Manhood. It takes a great deal of courage to engage in honest self-reflection. Our psycho-social development occurs in a culture of male supremacy and therefore has built in reactions to any push back on hierarchies of benefit. Mansplaining, manterrupting and bropropriating are among a few mechanisms of male fragility that maintain the status quo. The practice of courageous humility allows us to unlearn male entitlement.
practice 2: Trauma Awareness
Rethink Manhood is grounded in trauma-informed care. We believe that a thorough understanding of trauma and its impacts on our lives helps us see with soft eyes and leads toward healing. We examine culturally accepted manifestations of trauma such as raging anger and the repression of invisible wounds. This practice historicizes trauma and leads to resilience through resistance.
Practice 3: Capacity for safety
Imagine: Ask women around you at work or school if you are a safe man. This is a key measure of manhood. What would they say? What does it mean to be a safe man? This practice focuses on key concepts that lead to safety: asking permission, respect vs protection, and coping skills (heart-work is hard work).
practice 4: equity leadership
Rethink Manhood names male fragility and its mechanisms: fear and shame. Equity leadership provides a framework for dealing with daily situations where it is often said that "Boys will be boys." This practice focuses on positive action that men and boys can take to contest the status quo. Equity leadership is about listening, learning and loving.