Join a Good Men Project Social Interest Group. Be a part of creating the change you want to see in the world.
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We started The Good Men Project six years ago with a clear and important mission. We wanted to explore the way men’s roles are changing in modern life—and the way those changes affect everyone. Over the years we’ve collected over 50,000 stories, articles, blog posts and commentary about how people change—and what the implications of that change are on both an individual level and a societal level.
We’ve looked at not only the changing roles of men, but the stereotypes of men that persist in our culture, and how that affects all of the major issues of our day—racism, sexism, homophobia, mental health awareness, gun control, disability rights, the changing roles of dads, education reform, prison reform, and even environmental issues.
“Here’s the thing about The Good Men Project. We are trying to create big, sweeping, societal changes—overturn stereotypes, eliminate racism, sexism, homophobia, be a positive force for good for things like education reform and the environment. And we’re also giving individuals the tools they need to make individual change—-with their own relationships, with the way they parent, with their ability to be more conscious, more mindful, and more insightful. For some people, that could get overwhelming. But for those of us here at The Good Men Project, it is not overwhelming. It is simply something we do—we do it with teamwork, with compassion, with an understanding of systems and how they work, and with shared insights from a diversity of viewpoints.”
– Lisa Hickey, Publisher of The Good Men Project and CEO of Good Men Media Inc.
We knew it was an important conversation, but even we couldn’t gauge the impact we would have. Over 100 million visitors from every country in the world. 350 million total pageviews since we launched. 350,000 comments. At the core are the 50,000 stories and articles about men, manhood, masculinity – about men, by men, for men—but we also have numerous ways we have expanded the conversation beyond the written word—online community groups, Twitter chats, videos, podcasts and weekly conference calls. We also didn’t realize the number of women who would want to be a part of the conversation. (Indeed, it’s not a conversation, if you’re just talking to yourself!) Or the number of media companies who would see us as both partners and leaders in the conversation – The Huffington Post, HLN, AskMen, Men’s Health, New York Times, Salon, Toronto Globe and Mail, XOJane, Parenting, Daily Dot, iVillage, MamaMia, BBC, The Atlantic, YourTango, BuzzFeed, Upworthy and many others.
We didn’t realize that it would become the conversation no one else was having.
We didn’t realize that men (and women!) would have all sorts of reasons for joining in. Because they care about the issues of men and boys. Because they care about developing a conception of masculinity that is more real and more whole, because it is more inclusive.
It was only natural that the people who did join us in this all-important conversation would band together and become a community. They would get to know each other, talk to each other, solve problems together, and continue to build the community voice by voice.
Today we are announcing a transformative new initiative that will take our conversation to the next level.
We have studied social change. We know what to do. We would never pretend to have all the answers, but we have looked at what works, and used what we have learned to create a unique online class that captures how individuals, small groups and large groups can forge a path forward and help co-create the type of wold they envision. This is what we teach in our Social Change class for Premium Members.
“What’s your issue….? We’ve got a Social Interest Group to help you help us change the world.”
Now, we are ready to do much much more, as we have rolled out additional Social Interest Groups. Social Interest Groups will be the overarching groups that are organized around a particular issues, and they can create Task Forces to address discrete problems. Each Social Interest Group will have: (1) A clearly defined problem that we actually think we can help solve; (2) A clear group of people we want to change; and (3) A way of measuring results
We are thrilled to announce that the following three groups will be the next three groups to be rolled out, with a number more to come later this year:
1. Men’s Mental Health Social Interest Group (led by Mike Kasdan)
This is an ongoing group for people who want to talk about fighting stigma around mental health, who want to help change the culture around how we talk about and address mental health issues in our society. (Specific Task Forces to be developed by group)
2. #StopRacism Social Interest Group
We are a multi-racial coalition working to create the kind of change we were promised in the heyday of the civil rights, to break down institutional and personal racism at all levels.
3. “We Eat Stereotypes for Lunch”: Overcoming Negative Stereotypes About Men and Masculinity Social Interest Group (led by Lisa Hickey and JW Holland)
This group will identify the most troublesome and widespread negative stereotypes about men, examine why they have been a part of our culture for so long, and work to eradicate them.
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And yes, there will be more! To give you a taste of what is to come, here are some of the other Social Interest Groups that are in the works:
Environmental Change, Fix the Concussion/CTE Problem in Sports, Anti-Bullying, LGBT Parenting, Gun Control, End Rape and Sexual Violence, Education, Divorced Dads, Leadership, Fighting Poverty, and Science Advocacy.
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Join a Good Men Project Social Interest Group. Be a part of creating the change you want to see in the world.
We will send you information on launch dates and times. If there is a particular area of interest (even if it isn’t on this list) please let us know!)
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Social Interest Groups and Task Forces will be for Gold Premium Members only. It’s easy to become a member, and you’ll be helping to support our mission when you do. Find out more details of memberships—including a wide list of benefits—here. Or, if you are ready, just sign on up as a member below. (Please be sure to also email us with the group or groups you are most interested in.)
Register New Account
Payment is by PayPal. Your membership will begin once you receive the welcome email and click the link to return back to The Good Men Project.
Thank you for being a part of the largest worldwide conversation about what it means to be a good man in the 21st century. Your support of our work is inspiring and invaluable.
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