The Man Box

This week, I was pretty jazzed to spend more than 20 hours, creating environments of safety and security for individual men to talk about what it feels like being them. I didn’t have to do much prompting or talking as the space allowed them to share freely with a great deal of emotion and willingness to explore and express. Reflecting on these sessions, I cannot emphasise enough, the importance of changing our approach to supporting men and how we raise and enable our boys to flourish in this current world.

The Man Box: A study on being a young man in Australia was undertaken with the support of Associate Professor Michael Flood from QUT and modeled on research from the US, UK and Mexico, released by Promundo in 2017. The findings shed a new light on the social pressures that young Australian men experience to be a ‘real man’ and the impact this can have on their wellbeing, behaviours and the safety of our wider community.

In my experience, when boys are involved with the whole gamut of domestic and social responsibility, from infancy, they naturally rise to the challenge. A feeling of purpose, pride and persistence can build resilience and self-esteem that better prepares for adolescence and adulthood. Our boys may not do things to our own generational standards, sometimes break things and kitchens can get pretty messed up – but trust me, the investment is worth it. Remember, being a ‘real man’ includes vulnerability, sensitivity, a need to love and be loved. Give ‘em a go.