Hello, comrades!
I have created this community in no small part because I have been focusing hard on deconstructing negative behaviors and habits socialized into me from birth. I have been focusing on personal, professional and revolutionary growth.
Importantly, I’ve been reading bell hooks’ The Will to Change: Men, Masculinity and Love. It’s honestly brought me to tears more than a few times, and I’m only as of writing 60% of the way through it. I have not felt seen like this in what feels like a long time. Socialized and internalized patriarchal standards of living are actively destroying our potential as men to live, love, and achieve true self-actualization.
I highly recommend it to any man seeking to dismantle their internalized patriarchy. I also highly recommend it to feminist women and other non-men who innately fear us (rightly, much of the time), as hooks is intimately familiar with both the fear of males and male fear.
It is obvious that this manufactured fear cannot sustain life and love and it is up to all of us, regardless of gender or sex, to destroy the locus of this fear - as prof. hooks not-so-succinctly, yet aptly, puts it, imperialist white supremacist capitalist patriarchy.
I desired to create a space where I, other men, and all others interested can discuss our issues regarding patriarchal conditioning and potentially how we are working to overcome them. It can also serve as a space for women and those who do not identify with manhood to ask questions of men, and hopefully gain some insight, if they are so inclined.
What do you think?
I also ask graciously of you, comrades, that if, in my language revolving around gendered oppression, I fail to achieve a proper standard of trans and gender non-conforming inclusivity, you correct me. No offense will be taken, thank you.
Political education about all tendencies of feminism helps a lot. I listened to a pretty liberal but yet informative podcast on feminism (it’s in french so it’s hard to start a conversation about it right here), and despite having criticism I kept learning about this tendency and it made me think differently about a lot of things, and gave me a new angle of constructive criticism.
And overall the best exercise when you organise a bit is shutting up and listening to women even if you disagree. Card carrying TERFS being the exception for obvious reasons of defending trans people. But overall if a woman talks about her experiences and ideas even in a liberal or ultra leftist way we should just listen and be very careful in our criticism, think about it and not react instantly, not debating her or anything. It’s a practice that both empowers women in organisations and help you managing your biaises and urges to overpower women in discussion that patriarchy engrained in us
Ah and last thing, not being ultra horny and constantly seductive is very good