https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/08/style/men-emotions-mankind-project.html
Boysen Hodgson, Communications Director, MKP USA:
We’re excited to let people know this article has happened, and want to make sure you have the opportunity to share.
This effort has been months in the making. As Communications Director, I have had conversations with a couple of NYT reporters over the last year. The reporter, Hannah Seligson, and I connected over email, phone, and in person over the course of a month.
We talked about a wide range of current issues facing men, including #MeToo and #TimesUp and how the ManKind Project provides a place for men to experience healthy male community, emotional risk taking, compassion, purpose, integrity, and accountability. We talked about the New Warrior Training Adventure (NWTA) and our men’s groups. We spoke about men living missions of service like the Freedom Within Project and the Inside Circle Foundation along with ‘The Work’ film.
When talking about what interested her to learn about what we’re doing in the ManKind Project, she told me that she has a 9-month-old daughter, and that she wants her daughter to grow up in a safer world, with men she can trust and depend on. I do, too -- for my children, for hers, and for children I will never know.
The mainstream doesn’t know much about MKP, largely because we have been reluctant to broadcast our presence in the world. This reluctance has slowly shifted as we’ve matured as an organization.
For many years, MKP was cautious about what we shared. Were we ready for the world? Was the world ready for us? I think there is shame in there, tied to the old story of masculinity. Men don’t share what feels vulnerable … What if everyone knew that I broke down? That I’m afraid? That I long for love and long to feel powerful? That I need support?
Being known has risks. The pain in the world is now motivation enough for us to step outside our collective comfort zone.
We remain committed to becoming an increasingly diverse and affirmative community. I believe the best thing we can do as New Warriors and as an organization improving the world is transparently share and compassionately explain what, why, and how we do what we do.
Now is the time to be out there.
And without a doubt, this Sunday, we will be.
Boysen Hodgson
