Modern Manhood

In the last episode of Modern Manhood, we surveyed the landscape of masculinity in the last ten years starting from Tony Porter’s Man Box and the election of Rob For all the way to the end of 2017

In this episode, the first of 2020, we continue the conversation with Jake Stika, Executive Director at Next Gen Men, highlighting what caused ripples in the world of gender and masculinity.

Starting from Van Attack in Toronto all the way to the Don Cherry firing, finishing off with what we think the next ten years will look like for us and this world

It’s been ten years since Tony Porter introduced The Man Box to us.

A tool and a theory that has shaped the way we see gender with men, and the system that hurts us and hurts others.

But a theory is only as good as it’s proof of concept. And you can say that in the last ten years The Man Box theory has been proven over and over again.

On this episode and the one after this of Modern Manhood, we’ll look back at the 2010’s with my friend and the Executive Director of Next Gen Men, Jake Stika.

Lately, we have seen a lot of warnings. From moms, dads, from adults that are worried about their sons. Their sons, for the most part, are easily susceptible and can be easily manipulated into communities online that are toxic, unhelpful, and in some cases downright dangerous.

Most of this is happening online, and for a lot of caregivers, they are fighting an everyday battle to just understand what is going in the digital lives of their sons. And right now they are losing the war.

In this special episode, I will show you the live talk that I did in front of an audience at the Diverse Voices conference about anti-violence here in Edmonton, Alberta. This is a community issue and one that must be faced by everyone, and I thought it was appropriate to bring to this conference. I also was lucky to be joined by Michael Hoyt from the City of Edmonton to talk about sorts of healthy communities, like Men Sheds.

Learning about masculinities, gender power structures, and feminist ideals can be key when people are organizing to fight the climate crisis.

So in this episode of Modern Manhood, we’re going to take some of the beautiful speeches done at the Wolfpack about the environment, and weave it with ideas and thoughts about masculinity and the environment.

Links:

https://www.nationalobserver.com/2019/11/21/analysis/independent-alberta-would-be-worlds-worst-climate-polluter (Alberta, if they secede, would be the number 1 polluter per person)

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/men-resist-green-behavior-as-unmanly/ (men resist green behavior as unmanly)

https://www.humansandnature.org/humans-nature-the-right-relationship (Humans and Nature)

The way Albertans reconcile with the Oil industry is a major way in which Albertans see their own identity, and the people who work in the oil patches are also in the crossfires and have been for ages. The rates of suicides went up, the rates of negative mental health have also gone up.  Today we talk to Dylan Rhys Howard, one of the directors for the documentary “Digging in the Dirt” which talks about these things.

These are the un-talked about consequences of the oil industry. Un-talked about until recently.

Links:

https://www.buzzfeed.com/omarmouallem/oil-heartbreak-and-manhood (Oil, Heartbreak, and Manhood)

https://www.nsi-canada.ca/2018/11/peak-oil/ (Peak Oil)

https://dylanrhyshoward.com/portfolio/digging-in-the-dirt/ (Digging in the Dirt)

https://www.thestar.com/calgary/2019/04/21/for-some-oilpatch-workers-a-sober-life-means-the-end-of-a-lucrative-career.html (Star-Metro)

Oil and Gas dominated the conversation for both elections here, and the people involved are caught in the crossfire. The workers who are mostly men have come to demonstrate the stereotype of Alberta men, the pickup driving, beer-drinking, hard ass.

Yet, they are just humans as well. How has this industry affected the men who work there, and affected the community around it? The way that we look at Oil in Alberta is very common to how we look at dominant masculinity.

Articles mentioned:

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/2019/04/alberta-canadas-tar-sands-is-growing-but-indigenous-people-fight-back/ (National Geographic)

https://www.pyriscence.ca/home/2017/9/30/boys-will-be-boys-albertas-toxic-oil-culture (Pyriscene)

https://www.parklandinstitute.ca/how_gender_and_race_shape_experiences_of_work_in_albertas_oil_industry (Parkland Institute)

https://www.policyalternatives.ca/publications/monitor/extractive-populism-and-future-canada (Canadian Center for Policy Alternatives)

Two months ago we talked about mentoring young men here at The Pint for Wolfpack. We’re going to hear from a school counselor and a person from Big Brothers and Big Sisters about mentoring young men. Young men are feeling much more anxious, there is a lot more questioning of how men quote unquote should be in society. And there’s also a lot more complexity in the world, which allows not only for more breathing room for being your own self, but there’s a lot more pressure to pick a self that you want to be.

So the question around what it means to be a man, to me, breaks down to how do we treat our young boys?