Men's Work

Sam Long: What would an authentic men's movement look like?
Hafizullah Sufi: It wouldn't look like a bunch of guys drumming naked in the woods.

It might look like a structure or framework that supports men's honest & undefended acknowledgment of our bewilderment & powerlessness in the face of what is expected of us as "men" — to start with.

Feminism gave women the "distinctions" and language to "own" their experience in  community with other women and to give voice to their shared anger and frustration. Men in this society are heavily-conditioned towards emotional isolation and armoring against the emotional intelligence that would support that process, and it's succeeding where the equivalent for women failed because the shaming is so much greater.

Males are carefully taught rigidity and privilege in this world. The sociology and therefore what "men" are expected to be is shifting very rapidly — and the genie of Woman's sovereignty is not going back in the bottle.

For those of us who have remained adaptable and have done the "shadow work" necessary to a well-lived life, we're down. But it's not so easy for some of our brothers, because they just don't see that their own authentic power and integrity can only be enhanced by this feminine emergence. Men's oppression is so thorough that, 50 years on, we still don't have a real "men's movement".