— We are limited by outdated gender stereotypes, both men in their lack of access to a wide range of emotions and caregiving and women in their limited access to leadership and power. It’s in our best interest to move towards flexibility and being instrumental or nurturant as circumstances require. This means we stop telling boys not to cry or be like girls and stop telling girls to be nice little ladies. We need to encourage girls to go into leadership and STEM fields of science and technology and boys into caregiving professions.
The consensus of our experts is that boys and men are not permitted to show vulnerability. This prejudice shuts down even being aware of some emotions, which is why EVRYMAN and other men’s groups begin with identifying body sensations.
Asking for help may require being vulnerable, which fits in the “threat to masculinity” danger zone. This fear of being perceived as weak contributes to men’s health problems and a higher suicide rate. Being shut down emotionally also inhibits men’s intimate relations with people they love, one of the reasons why women in English-speaking countries are much more likely to initiate divorce than men. Femininity is seen by sexists as weakening to precarious masculinity and can increase the fear of intimacy.
Progress certainly isn’t a straight line upward, as evidenced in the sexist cult led by Donald Trump. George Simons finds in international surveys that about one-third of men support gender equality. Gayle Kimball is hopeful because Generations Y and Z tend to not limit themselves in regards to their gender roles or skin color. They have models to emulate as they assume more political power, learning from Nordic gender equality programs, Danish emotional literacy instruction for children, research on boy’s development (like that done by Andrew Smiler and Warren Farrell), and supportive groups for boys like those developed by Jerry Tello and Ashanti Branch. Promundo and MenEngage provide models of how to involve boys and men in activism for gender equality for all human beings.
Valeria Teles interviews Gayle Kimball — the author of “A Global Dialogue on Masculinity: 33 Men Speak.”
Gayle Kimball, Ph.D. is an intuitive coach who teaches clairvoyance and healing webinars, and is the author of over 20 books. They include other titles for parents and kids: 50/50 Parenting, The Teen Trip: The Complete Resource Guide, Your Mindful Guide to Academic Success: Beat Burnout, Everything You Need to Know to Succeed After College and Climate Girls: Saving Our World.
Other titles include: Essential Energy Tools: How to Develop Your Clairvoyant and Healing Abilities illustrated with videos and CDs, Mysteries of Reality: Dialogues with Visionary Scientists, Mysteries of Healing, Mysteries of Knowledge Beyond the Sense, and Quick Healthy Recipes.
Gayle has been a college professor most of her life, she’s also a ballroom dancer. She invites you to check out her YouTube channel.
To learn more about Gayle Kimball and her work, please visit: gaylekimball.info
— This podcast is a quest for well-being, a quest for a meaningful life through the exploration of fundamental truths, enlightening ideas, insights on physical, mental, and spiritual health. The inspiration is Love. The aspiration is to awaken new ways of thinking that can lead us to a new way of being, being well.
