The Good Men Project Community talks with Publisher and CEO, Lisa Hickey, about what it means to be a man today.
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Every Friday our Premium Member Community is invited to join me for an insider’s conversation about “the changing roles of men in the 21st century.” When The Good Men Project launched nearly six years there was no one else having this conversation. Now we can find tidbits of this conversation on nearly every other major publication.
These calls are always different, but some things seem to always be the same: We have a mix of people who have been joining in this conversation since we started the calls about four years ago, people who drop in occasionally, and people who are coming to the call for the first time. Mostly men show up, but there are a few women. Sometimes the older generation teaches the young—but just as often it’s the other way around. We have members joining the conversation from all over the world, with US having the edge. And there is something powerful about that mix—no one one has all the answers, no one voice dominates—and the people on the calls are as expansive and open-minded and non-judgmental as you would expect from know the people who care about our mission.
On last week’s call the phrase “reshaping masculinity” came into the conversation. One of our members said he got a really strong, negative, visceral reaction to that phrase. As if there was something wrong with men—-as if there was something wrong with him. Another caller jumped in and noted that the #1 thing men often deal with is shame. Still others thought that change was something to be embraced, not feared.
And so we talked about change. Social change, societal change. Are we creating real change or just opening people up to another perspective? How DO we create change? (We’re offering a new Workshop on that by the way. Over the past 5 years, we have learned how to get people to take action, erase stereotypes, and to create a social movement. How to Create Social Change is all about teaching you how to not just talk about change, but how to create it.)
How do you feel about change? Do you the words ‘reshaping manhood’ give you the same visceral reaction it did some of our callers? We’ll be continuing that conversation in our Premium Member Community Facebook group. We hope you’ll join us there. (The group is exclusive to Premium Members and memberships start at $5 a year. We’re told it’s well worth it.)
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Someone asked me what exactly was meant by a “Participatory Media Company”. And it is this—we don’t just have content you read and share and comment on (every media company has that) — but we have multiple ways you can actively be a part of the conversation. Yes, you can write for us—but you can also jump on a conference call that happens every week, you can be a part of a video, you can work with Editors and have Writing Prompts emailed to you or create your own, you can join one of our Facebook conversational groups. However you are engaged with The Good Men Project—you can help lead this conversation. Can you tell me a media company who encourages people to participate in such a variety of ways?
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