Asking men “to talk”, without showing them how, or having the patience to teach them, is a useless act.

That man, who is struggling to express how he’s feeling, often has a lifetime of emotional conditioning to unpack, in which he was deprived of many of the formative lessons of emotional eloquence, and denied the very freedom to share, that we now suddenly ask of him.

Women’s empowerment is not defined by society throwing the problem at their feet, with a shrug and demands of “just be more assertive”.

No, society helped those women to conquer their problems, and made space and time for them to do it.

The man who struggles to talk, was not born that way, he was shaped by the same harmful gendered stereotypes that hurt women, and deserves the same treatment and compassion that we offer her.

The idea of society squashing boys’ emotions, their fears, and sadness, back into their mouths for generations, only to then demand that they “talk” as men, with many even shaming those who can’t, is abhorrent, and not a kind of advocacy we should welcome.

So, is “men can talk” good enough, and what can we do to show them how?

#mensmentalhealth #malesuicide

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Full podcast with @davidmcintoshjr here,
https://tinyurl.com/3nja9d3b

2024-09-28