{"id":11341,"date":"2024-06-07T11:32:13","date_gmt":"2024-06-07T11:32:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.healthnews.ie\/?p=11341"},"modified":"2024-06-12T07:40:34","modified_gmt":"2024-06-12T07:40:34","slug":"understanding-and-connecting-with-young-mens-struggles-to-redefine-masculinity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.healthnews.ie\/mens-healthcare\/understanding-and-connecting-with-young-mens-struggles-to-redefine-masculinity\/","title":{"rendered":"Understanding and connecting with young men\u2019s struggles to redefine masculinity"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div style=\"background-color:#f2f2f2;color:#32373c\" class=\"wp-block-atomic-blocks-ab-profile-box round ab-has-avatar ab-font-size-14 ab-block-profile ab-profile-columns\"><div class=\"ab-profile-column ab-profile-avatar-wrap\"><div class=\"ab-profile-image-wrap\"><figure class=\"ab-profile-image-square\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"400\" class=\"ab-profile-avatar wp-image-11342\" src=\"https:\/\/s3.eu-north-1.amazonaws.com\/cdn-site.mediaplanet.com\/app\/uploads\/sites\/94\/2024\/06\/07205821\/Zac-Seidler-Headshot.jpg\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/s3.eu-north-1.amazonaws.com\/cdn-site.mediaplanet.com\/app\/uploads\/sites\/94\/2024\/06\/07205821\/Zac-Seidler-Headshot.jpg 400w, https:\/\/s3.eu-north-1.amazonaws.com\/cdn-site.mediaplanet.com\/app\/uploads\/sites\/94\/2024\/06\/07205821\/Zac-Seidler-Headshot-125x125.jpg 125w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\" \/><\/figure><\/div><\/div><div class=\"ab-profile-column ab-profile-content-wrap\"><h2 class=\"ab-profile-name\" style=\"color:#32373c\">Zac Seidler<\/h2><p class=\"ab-profile-title\" style=\"color:#32373c\">Global Director of Men&#8217;s Health Research, Movember<\/p><div class=\"ab-profile-text\"><\/div><ul class=\"ab-social-links\"><\/ul><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><em>As young men struggle with health, wellbeing and relationships, we must seek new opportunities to understand, support and connect with them.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p>In our studies, young men report feeling disconnected from their gender, rarely thinking about it or discussing it. Consequently, their perceptions are easily influenced by the loudest voices in the room or on their phones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-redefining-masculinity-to-support-men\"><strong>Redefining masculinity to support men<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>As the \u2018crisis of masculinity\u2019 narrative grows louder, fear of discussing men\u2019s lives in an optimistic and expansive way only mirrors and reinforces their silence. Masculinities are often weighed down by the fear of femininity or homosexuality. This fear is what drives, in my eyes, the lack of a fully realised, well-defined view of themselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The conversation is ridden with how notto be, but young men cannot build a strong identity on that. We\u2019re at an inflexion point, where the convergence of the #MeToo movement and rise of \u2018toxic masculinity\u2019 (the media-driven term of choice), have placed young men\u2019s lives in the spotlight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>To engage young men in a movement for <br>change, we must meet them where they are.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-navigating-complexity-of-men-s-lived-experiences\"><strong>Navigating complexity of men\u2019s lived experiences<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Their schools, peer groups, sporting clubs and online interactions receive an unrivalled level of scrutiny; a backlash response has arisen as young men seek out what they see as dominant voices, often online, offering them back certainty and power that feels better to them than waves of shame or guilt being sold elsewhere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Men reliably tell us that they are lonely; they struggle to navigate dating; they feel tied to their phone as if their life depends on it; and they don\u2019t learn the difference between porn and true intimacy. It is an increasingly complex world for them to navigate; it\u2019s time we took a new approach to engaging with them.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-engage-empathise-and-co-design\"><strong>Engage, empathise and co-design<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>To engage young men in a movement for change, we must meet them where they are and build solutions with them by asking, \u2018How can we help?\u2019 This also means learning fromthem and co-designing solutions to the complex problems that are their lived reality. We also cannot demand answers without questioning the systemic pressures underpinning their decisions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This is the secret to Movember\u2019s success. The humble moustache may have started conversations with millions of men, but we are a unique charity. Our mandate is to empathise with and understand young men\u2019s lives to help them live healthier, longer lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To support men in achieving lasting health and wellbeing \u2014 whether as partners, family, friends or healthcare professionals \u2014 it&#8217;s time we ask and stop assuming what men need.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a id=\"_msocom_1\"><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As young men struggle with health, wellbeing and relationships, we must seek new opportunities to understand, support and connect with them. In our studies, young men report feeling disconnected from their gender, rarely thinking about it or discussing it. Consequently, their perceptions are easily influenced by the loudest voices in the room or on their &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.healthnews.ie\/mens-healthcare\/understanding-and-connecting-with-young-mens-struggles-to-redefine-masculinity\/\">Continued<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":91,"featured_media":11343,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5707],"tags":[5919],"class_list":["post-11341","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mens-healthcare","tag-international-mens-health-week-2024"],"acf":[],"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/s3.eu-north-1.amazonaws.com\/cdn-site.mediaplanet.com\/app\/uploads\/sites\/94\/2024\/06\/07205820\/AdobeStock_698667131-600x400.jpg","featured_image_src_square":"https:\/\/s3.eu-north-1.amazonaws.com\/cdn-site.mediaplanet.com\/app\/uploads\/sites\/94\/2024\/06\/07205820\/AdobeStock_698667131-600x600.jpg","author_info":{"display_name":"henryphillips","author_link":"https:\/\/www.healthnews.ie\/author\/henryphillips\/"},"vicky_category_order":[{"category_id":5707,"order":"0"}],"vicky_index_order":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.healthnews.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11341","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.healthnews.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.healthnews.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.healthnews.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/91"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.healthnews.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11341"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.healthnews.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11341\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11390,"href":"https:\/\/www.healthnews.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11341\/revisions\/11390"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.healthnews.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11343"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.healthnews.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11341"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.healthnews.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11341"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.healthnews.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11341"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}