Detoxifying masculinity: How men’s groups reshape attitudes
Retrieved on:
Thursday, April 25, 2024
Men, for instance, have higher mortality rates, lower life expectancy, and are more likely to die by suicide.
Key Points:
- Men, for instance, have higher mortality rates, lower life expectancy, and are more likely to die by suicide.
- While there has been progress to reduce stigmatization when it comes to seeking help with mental health, the intersectionality of mental health is complex.
- In our own studies evaluating mindfulness training in workplace settings, we noticed we were attracting disproportionate samples of women.
Men’s groups
- Even when men are conscious of the psychological dysfunctionality of traditional masculinity, straying from these roles is difficult due to fear of social condemnation.
- Men’s groups, where men can be genuinely transparent and gather to discuss the challenges they face, provide a social learning context to be authentic and develop their emotional processing skills in a safe container free from the risk of ostracization.
- To understand how these kinds of groups can change attitudes, we partnered with Owen Marcus, who has created programming designed to help men develop their emotional awareness, and EVRYMAN, a contemporary men’s group based in the United States.
Reshaping attitudes
- The men were able to reshape their attitudes towards masculinity through three main stages.
- First, they began to identify their discontent with how social norms prevented them from being able to express weakness and the notable toll this took.
- Many participants, for instance, recounted how experiences with their fathers or with other men led them to keep their hardships to themselves.
- The next time someone courageously discloses that they’re struggling, instead of changing the subject, ask them to tell you more.
The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.