Introduction
In doing emotional work with men, the source of the trouble is as important as the man's story. And it is essential to men's working through emotions that we have a generous attitude to men and men's lives.
As men, we get blamed for having any tension, as though being wounded in any way makes us less of a man. A key part of working with men is the lifting of the blame, shame, guilt, criticism, rejection, isolation and scapegoating that surrounds much of men's history.
There are different sources for men's tensions. Most of what I have been listening to from men has been the ways males get mistreated for being males and that accounts for about 80 per cent of the sources of tension. Some of the stories, 15 per cent, are from men who have been around other people's tensions, while a little time, 5 per cent, is spent on accidents.
My goal is to have a support group for every man on the planet and have it function well. This area of Manhood Online will be dedicated to starting, maintaining and developing men's emotional work. We will find out just how far we can push this technology to make safe connections for this work. Initially, you can email me and depending on the interest, we can look at regular chat sessions down the track. You can also post threads to my monthly article and post to the newsgroups. Let me know your thoughts on how you want to see this forum develop and what particular issues you're interested in.
Biography
Paul's men's work began at the age of five when Jimmy Stevens punched him on the nose. Paul hit him back and they decided to become friends. Since then Paul has assembled a long activist history in the environment, anti-war, anti-nuclear and inner city housing movements. His foray into men's business began 20 years ago when, at the age of 20, he started organising men's groups. He has initiated many of the pioneering events of the men's movement in Australia - he brought Re-evaluation Counselling to the development of men's work, founded the Sydney Men's Network and with others launched the inaugural Australian and New Zealand Men's Leadership Conference in 1992. Paul is proud of his role as a leader and peer in building the men's movement in Australia. In December 1994, Paul's son Christopher was born and, other than Paul's own father, he remains the most inspiring man he has met.
Current Articles
Men, Society and Emotions
Questions and Comments
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