At The Good Men Project, we having been holding a weekly Call With the Publisher, every Friday for over 10 years.
Below is the introduction to the call on Friday Feb. 26, 2021. The recording above is the full call. We hope you’ll join us for the next one! Sign up as a Premium Member and you will email reminders and dial-in information every Friday.
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Hello everyone!
In fun and happy gender news today — Mr. Potato Head is going gender-neutral. It’s dropping Mr. out of its name,
It will be sold as the potato head family, featuring brighter, more whimsical colors, 2 large and one small potato and 42 accessories, and more diverse language.
For example, one of the marketing images shows
Now — are there any men on the call who think this is BAD for masculinity?
That this is somehow saying “this is a hard time to be a man?”
Because — it sounds really silly. But this is exactly the type of example that I think comes up on this very call — where people insist that men’s identity is at stake.
And I like that Hasbro — the company that makes the Potato Head family — is talking about inclusiveness as they talk about their toy. It is no coincidence it is happening around the same time as we get a small but important victory for LGBTQ rights, the House passed the Equality Act, a bill that would ban discrimination based on gender identity or sexual orientation, on February 24. (And I say “small” because it still needs to get 60 votes in the Senate, and it is not at all sure that will happen).
Culture and politics coincide. And the small things are as important as the big ones. For example, if this act passes (and this is a big sticking point with the Senate) a bakery would no longer be able to deny its wedding cake services to a same-sex couple based on the owners’ religion if the Equality Act were passed. To me, it is ABSURD that religion can be used as a crutch to discriminate against LGBTQ people. What sort of religion allows harm against people who believe differently than they do? (It’s a rhetorical question.)
But IF you really want to do something for men, here’s a thought. Stop them from dying.
It’s pretty well known that men die earlier than women.
The leading cause of death is heart disease. The second leading is cancer. And the third — accidents.
Do you want to help men? Here are 3 ways you can stop them from dying earlier. One: Learn CPR. Two: Encourage them to go to the doctor earlier. Three: Learn first aid, like the Heimlich Maneuver or learning how to tie a tourniquet.
I read a story today in the Atlantic about a guy who was in a restaurant with his girlfriend and her father, and the father collapsed at the table.
He was able to give CPR to his future father-in-law with help from the 911 dispatch operator. But that is NOT standard practice.
Only 1 in 20 people who go into cardiac arrest survive if they wait till the ambulance arrives. The best shot at survival is to
And I don’t know how many of you know this — but current practice is NOT to give mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, ie rescue breaths, but ONLY give chest compressions. You interlock your hands, and count as you do hard and fast compressions — one and two and three and four and five and.
We had an Executive Editor here — she had gone to the fire department to receive free CPR training. A week later she went to a pool party, and a two-year-old boy slipped under the water and was pulled from the pool unconscious. Joanna was able to give him chest compressions and start him breathing again before the paramedics arrived.
Another story — I was at the Boston Marathon when the bombing happened. Three people died — but 17 people lost limbs that day. 17! And the reason that every single person who lost a limb didn’t die — is because somebody near them knew how to tie a tourniquet. (it was the first thing I learned how to do when I left the hospital after being injured in the bombing.) How many people here know how to tie a tourniquet? If not, why not? Ditto the Heimlich Maneuver — I have been in a restaurant when someone started choking. That person probably would have died if someone hadn’t stepped in.
So if you care about men — learn CPR. Learn first aid. Tell men to go to the doctors more often for checkups. But don’t fight the Equality Act. And whatever you do — Don’t fight Mr. Potato Head.
The Good Men Project Call with The Publisher
Friday at 3:00 PM EST (12 Noon Pacific)
Dial in: 701-801-1220 Access code 934-317-242
Or: Join with your computer audio: Link: https://join.startmeeting.com/934317242
These calls are a supportive and inclusive group that aims to “first do no harm” and will not tolerate any racism, sexism/misogyny, or homophobia.
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This post is republished on Medium.
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Stock photo ID:458655309