On New Churches, Depression and Bad Texters
Yes, Dads Can Struggle With Postpartum Depression—Here’s Why
"The study highlights that 1 in 10 men screen positive for depression in the postnatal period."
"Pre-existing mental health conditions, such as depression or anxiety, play a role in fathers experiencing postpartum depression, with a three times more likely rate of developing the condition."
"Untreated PPD can impact a father's ability to bond with their child, which can affect the child's emotional and cognitive development, in addition to increasing conflict."
Read on Parents
The Beautiful Failure of Being a Man
"Cis men cannot possibly relate to the vulnerabilities and insecurities that trans men face, according to this argument, because they’ve never experienced gender minority status."
"If manhood is seen as impossible to separate from cisness, then there’s no room for trans men’s masculinity to be recognized at all."
"Gender liberation, in the end, is not a war between the good group and the bad. It is a collective struggle against the laws, cultural norms, social rules, and institutional policies that restrict all people, and uses rigid gendered categories to keep us so restricted."
He suggests that "failing to be a man" is paradoxically what defines the male experience, as no one can fully embody society's narrow definition of masculinity. Whether cis or trans, men often cope with this dysphoria by performing exaggerated masculinity or withdrawing emotionally, ultimately reinforcing their isolation.
Read Devon Price
4 Men on Abuse at Ireland’s Catholic Schools
‘I Was Destroyed by It’ - "After decades of silence, dozens of older men are talking about the sexual abuse they suffered at schools run by religious orders. We spoke to four of them."
While Ireland has long grappled with the legacy of abuse within Catholic church institutions, the latest revelations shed light on how dozens of schools allegedly harbored serial abusers for decades.
The fight for accountability has been led by a cohort of older men who are challenging taboos around sexual abuse, masculinity and shame.
Read NYTimes
Jimmy Carter Was One of the World’s Leading Anti-Sexist Men
"President Carter always held out hope that women and men, working together, could challenge and transform antiquated and harmful systems and practices."
"Carter’s pro-feminist commitments deepened over the decades of his post-presidency, as did his passion for pushing fellow religious believers to take on gender inequality directly."
"In 2008, he helped to craft and disseminate a statement by the Elders that exemplified the way in which he diplomatically and respectfully, but nonetheless firmly, pushed religious leaders of multiple faiths to embrace gender equality."
Read MsMagazine
The Agony of Texting With Men
"Many guys are bad at messaging their friends back—and it might be making them more lonely."
"Responding to messages becomes 'this looming thing that I have to do,' he said. 'It turns into a source of anxiety, honestly, that I’ll always be like, I’m in text debt.'"
"The stereotype that men struggle to communicate is an old one. But modern friendship’s reliance on texting illuminates how grim the problem is."
"The fact that many men are bad at texting might actually be making them more lonely, experts told me."
Read The Atlantic
Young, single men are leaving traditional churches
They found a more ‘masculine’ alternative: "New parishes are planned across US to accommodate ‘tsunami’ of male worshippers who have converted since pandemic"
"Young, single men are flocking to the Orthodox church after discovering the 'masculine' Christian religion through online influencers."
"Many of them had been drawn to the 'masculine' nature of church, which puts emphasis on denial and pushing yourself physically."
"Father Paul Truebenbach agrees that part of what is drawing young men to the Orthodox church is because they 'naturally want to be masculine, in the most positive sense of the word.'"
Read The Paragraph
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