escaping the man box…
By
At TEDWomen, Tony Porter makes a call to men everywhere: Don’t “act like a man.” Telling powerful stories from his own life, he shows how this mentality, drummed into so many men and boys, can lead men to disrespect, mistreat and abuse women and each other. His solution: Break free of the “man box.”
Once you break free, you can defy the box:
1. Cry when you need to, and openly FACE your emotions with courage
2. FACE your weaknesses and fears–and conquer them
3. Demonstrate power-control with regard to your own shadow self
4. Aggression-dominance against injustice
5. Protector
6. Be your true self
7. Tough-Athletic-Strength-Courage; REAL toughness not a show; not everyone is athletic, but it’s fine.
8. Make decisions–ask for help when appropriate
9. View opposite sex as human beings
There are hundreds of billions of cells and dozens of neurochemicals in the brain, 44 other chromosomes in our genetic makeup, which is 6 billion base pairs long. How can anyone with more than two functioning brain cells possibly think that people can fit into one of two boxes based on 2 chromosomes? Gender stereotypes are a societal myth that only serve to harm us all. You can no more determine a person’s character from what’s between their legs than you can the color of their skin.
Beit, that my daughter has chosen me as her father, I too must recalibrate some of my previous conditioning of social idioms. Love is androgynous. Men, lets grow up and lets love!
