This is a first for insideMAN, I’m going to try some live blogging from the Male Psychology Conference in London today (Glen Poole).
There are three reasons this is a difficult conversation says facilitator Martin Seager:
1. the belief it’s “a man’s world”
2. The belief that “men don’t talk” and it isn’t “manly” to have issues
3. The belief that we should take a “gender neutral” approach to all mental health issues.
5pm
Bernard Gesch from Oxford University coming up at 430pm with a fascinating premise, can improving diet and reducing lead pollution reduction male criminality.
4pm
Gijsbert Stoet of the University of Glasgow is up next with a talk on boys in education.
Key Points:
when we look at the educational landscape there are subjects where boys dominate and subjects where girls dominate, but we are only concerned about subjects where men dominate.
educational underperformance has many possible causes seeking one cause and one solution won’t work.
Gender differences in educational performance and behaviours date can centuries.
there’s a national strategy for girls but no national strategy for boys.
In 70% of nations boys underperform girls, 4% of nations girls underperform boys.
boys play more video games than girls, is this playing a role in boy’s education.
To follow Gijsbert on Twitter see @sexcogedu
3pm
It’s fingers up bums time as we talk about prostate cancer and masculinity. Kenneth Gannon is reporting on research into how GPs approach working with men with suspected prostate problems.
14.46pm
Musical interlude Cat’s in the Cradle
The Call of the Wild
Jennie Cummings Knight of Golden Leaf Counselling presents an experiential session about wild or free, tame or domesticated.
Interesting and very different style of session this wit a great deal of participation, not easy or appropriate to write too much in respect for others confidentiality.
Jennie is using extracts from a book by Jack London to spark discussion.
Bit of tension as delegate from http://menheal.org.uk declares dissatisfaction with the conference and tweets:
I’m feeling lost in theory during the conference! Too much obsession on labels. Not good! #MPC15 #MPC2015. Presenter and chair both thank him for letting them know.
1417pm
Short literary interlude, a reading from Grapes of Wrath by Belin Brown.
Men’s Mind Matters
Luke Sullivan of men’s minds matters steps in at the last moment to fill the gap left by Dr Tim Lomas. Luke is sharing the stories of new father’s he has collected and published on his website http://www.mensmindsmatter.org.
1pm
We appear to have lost Dr Tim Lomas of UEL. He is a lecturer in positive psychology. He is a lecturer in positive psychology. He was going to critique “critical masculinities” and propose a new paradigm he calls critical positive masculinity.
1244pm
Second live musical interlude with Matt and his guitar, Old Man by Neil Young.
1219pm
Frank Keating on black men and emotional wellbeing. Frank paints a grim picture for black men in mental health settings, many of whom end up in services via adversarial pathways, eg police involvement.
Black men interviewed reported that their constrictions of masculinity included beliefs that boys don’t cry, that men shiuld “keep it locked in”, “keep it locked down”….. “You don’t tell anyone”.
A complex mix of gendered, racialised, community and individual experiences provide the context for black men’s identities and experiences. These factors pose a risk for men’s emotional resilience wellbeing.
12 noon
Great at conclusion to this presentation: men will engage if they trust you with their story.
Matt Williams back without his guitar to talk about the Samaritans “feet on the street” initiative in Oxford.
Every other Friday the team go into the city to talk to people. They have over 300 meaningful contacts with people on the street, compared to about 250 face to face contacts in the branch.
Notably two thirds of people engaged are men.
A third are in distress at that time and 17% have suicidal thoughts and plans.
One young man was on the way to buy razors.
The proportion of BME engaged is also higher than with other methods of engagement.
1154
Robin hadley reads a poem he wrote on the way home from he conference last night. Robin gave a wonderfully humorous and emotional presentation about childless men yesterday.
John Barry Key Points
John presented yesterday. His area of focus at the moment seems to be making the case for gendered approaches to psychology where appropriate.
Yesterday he talked about the way most psychological studies don’t report gender differences in their outcomes and this can fail both men and women.
Training doesn’t prepare therapists to work with men and women differently when required.
11am: musical interlude
Great live performance of that Cat Stevens father-son song by Matt. We met over coffee and he’s wearing his name badge on his belt so I had to stare at his crotch to find out his name, thanks Matt!
Damien Ridge Key Points
Great to see Damien Ridge updating us on his work on masculinity theories, first time I’ve seen him talk since his inaugural lectur at the University of westminster a couple of years ago.
We need to develop passion for men’s issues because there’s so much negativity.
We don’t take into account male subjectivity, gender theory tends to erase it. We tend to treat men as objects not subjects.
10.46 am
A brief reference to intersectionlity and back to the split between women good and men bad, a view from early psychological development. We need to reconnect men and women in our thinking.
Ridge discusses Hakim’s work on “erotic capital” and explores other ideas gender “power” like charisma, sexual power etc. Does masculinity rely on the audience as much as the performer.
Ridge touches upon theories that focus on “doing gender”. Can men be released from the machinery of masculinity? research suggest Organisations can equip men to “undo” gender.
Relational power, teen boys have less confidence and awkwardness in relation to girls one study suggests. One report showed four in ten boys have been sexually coerced, 95% by girls/women.
Western welfare states exists of patriarchies and matriarchies.
Gender Theory objectifies men, it treats them as objects not subjects, not living beings with personal experiences and stories to be told, says Ridge. Giving voice to men’s lived experience is a major theme of many talks this year.
Ridge deconstructs the theory of “hegemonic masculinity” the most cited theory of masculinity currently in common use in academia (a subject Belinda Briown touched upon yesterday).
CALM found that 50% of men in UK have experienced being “very depressed”.
We have schizoid thinking about gender—“women good, men bad”, could
10.12am
Damien Ridge is the morning’s keynote speaker, he’s taking about distress.
10am
Martin Seager introduces the day……
Promoting studies of men’s issues and problems should be so important, but seems to meet with deafening silence even hostility.
Men and women share the planet we’ve evolved together but there always seen this issue when you promote the male gender.