What happens when you get five guys talking about ‘the perfect relationship’?
Managing Editor Justin Cascio, Editor in Chief Noah Brand, and GMP community members Mark Sherman and Kenny Bodanis welcomed Dr. Adam Sheck, author of “In Search of the Magic Pussy” and “The Mojo of a Man Living with Purpose” to a Google Hangout to discuss how man take responsibility for their relationships and find meaning in their lives.
The panelists’ ages ranged from Mark Sherman’s seventy years, down to Noah and Justin, who are both thirty eight, placing us all well within reach of what Adam calls the second half of manhood. Skip ahead to 7:52 for Adam’s explanation of what Carl Jung says is the difference between men under and over the age of forty. At 16:00, Adam talks about men’s deepest fears. Watch the entire On Air Google Hangout above to hear what these men have to say about seeking satisfaction in our relationships and in following our personal passions, at any age.
Want to be a part of the conversation? Each month, Premium members of The Good Men Project are invited to participate in live Google Hangouts—this was the first—with a special guest who brings a unique insight to one of the themes we discuss on The Good Men Project.
Megan, I totally agree with you and would like to call Bullsh*% as well on this. You are preaching to the choir when it comes to sharing emotions, it IS a sign of strength, especially in men, who seem to have weaker emotional “muscles” on average than women (physiology or social conditioning?). AND, I am sticking to my personal AND professional experience on my statement. You and those in your circle may appreciate/admire/encourage the men in your life to express their emotions. You are in the minority. The majority of men and women in our society are NOT you, are… Read more »
Adam, Thanks for the response. I realize that you never said that there was anything weak about the feminine. I didn’t mean to imply that those were your words. They were mine, and I said them because I’ve long been observing the equation of feminine = weak, sometimes in my own social circle, but mostly in film and television where terms like “lady” , “woman” , “girl” and “female” are often used in a pejorative way, thrown at men to imply that they’re weak. You’ve probably seen this yourself: someone will say to a male, “Stop crying like a girl!”;… Read more »
There’s a long way to go, but the paradigm of the strong man–stoic, in control, impenetrable–remains, well, strong, in our culture. “He didn’t cry at Mom’s funeral. He’s strong.” Nope. This guy short changes himself, his kids and even his mom. A strong man is the fellow who can cry in his grief, show empathy, and let his feelings surface, whether joy or anger, sadness or fear. He can also be a warrior or a king when he needs to. It’s weak man who won’t ‘go there,’ who refuses to try to understand what his distressed teenage son is feeling,… Read more »
I want to address something Adam Sheck said regarding emotional availability. He stated that he believes that, despite what women may claim, they don’t really want an emotionally available man (one who is not only open to a woman expressing her [negative] emotions, but who also openly expresses his own) because they would see it as a sign of weakness, and then not want to be with him. Sorry, but I’m calling Bullsh*t on that. Why? because (A) there is NOTHING WEAK about showing emotions. It takes a great deal of strength and courage to be honest about one’s emotions;… Read more »
I would like to see Adam address that in his upcoming article, as well! At another time in the conversation, I thought we were more in agreement that fully realized adults have both masculine and feminine attributes. It may still be the case that we have old-fashioned and unconscious expectations of one another: men for women’s emotional availability, women for men’s strength.
I’ll poke him on Facebook and ask him to come on over here and respond.
i only planned to listen to a little bit around the 7:52 mark highlighted, however i ended up listening to the end.
that was a good convo guys
James,
I’m so glad you stayed for the whole ride. I agree, these men are pretty compelling and hopefully brought out the best in me as well.
Adam Sheck