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Storytelling: For preserving and passing on traditions,
for challenging and breaking traditions,
and for the creation of new traditions.
Mission
To
strengthen social norms that support healthy masculinities and gender
equality, and to help eliminate gender-based violence, homophobia and
other oppressions that are intertwined with masculinities,
through men´s public story-sharing events, documentary films
and other mass media.
The
Men's Story Project (MSP) is a public performance and community
dialogue project that explores social ideas about masculinity and
manhood, employing the arts for community-strengthening and social
change. It highlights men's stories that are less often
heard; breaks silences on issues including sexism, racism,
heterosexism, ableism and violence – and ways in which these are often
intertwined with masculinities; celebrates men’s beauty and humanness;
and stimulates active dialogue on what contemporary masculinities
can be all about. The ultimate goal of this replicable project is to
help expand the presence of genuine self-expression, peace, health and
justice in communities. The MSP started in San Francisco in 2008, and
is intended for local implementation and evaluation around the world.
In
each live MSP presentation, a diverse group of approximately 15 local
men share pieces they have created about their own lives with a public
audience, on subjects including sexuality, gender identity, romantic
relationships, friendship, family, mentors, rites of passage, HIV/AIDS,
perpetration of and healing from violence, personal
transformations, and the men they wish to be – all with a framing focus
on exploration of masculinities and men’s roles. Presentations are
multi-medium (e.g., slam poetry, monologues, prose, music, dance),
followed by audience-presenter discussion. MSP presenters have
included national celebrities, local artists, activists, and men who
have never been on a public stage.

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