Our two presentations at UC-San Francisco in November 2010 were sponsored by the UCSF Center for Gender Equity. Incoming students in the health professions were required to attend 2 out of 4 possible educational events, and the MSP was one of these options.
Topics addressed included platonic friendship between men; impacts of homophobia for straight men; acculturation, identity and belonging; dealing with gendered expectations in a Mexican immigrant community and in a public school context; transgender identity; intersections of race, disability and sexuality; testicular cancer and wholeness; images of African American masculinity; interracial marriage and challenging a father’s racism; healing from witnessing and perpetrating domestic violence; healing from childhood sexual abuse; healing from sexual assault in high school; creation of a historic gang truce; forgiveness; family relationships; and gratitude to friends and mentors.
Presenters included Aqeela Sherrills, a well-known activist who facilitated a historic 1992 truce between the Crips and Bloods in Watts, CA. He spoke about this experience, as well as his journey in forgiving the man who murdered his teenage son. Joshua Safran, Esq. spoke about witnessing domestic violence as a child, and then serving as an attorney for Debbie Peagler, who was incarcerated for 27 years for contributing to the death of her batterer (see CrimeAfterCrime.com). |
