WEDNESDAY WAS INTERNATIONAL Women’s Day, and it was celebrated across Ireland.
O’Connell Bridge came to a standstill for the Strike 4 Repeal March and Aer Lingus released pictures of their all-female flight crew.
Yesterday, The Rubberbandits wrote a Facebook post that resonated with so many people on the issue – with over 30,000 likes and 8,000 shares in less than 24 hours.
It began:
So many lads on twitter yesterday saying “What about international Mens day?”. There is one, it’s November 19th. But we don’t celebrate it and no one seems to know about it. We should though, and we should celebrate it more. And not in a “Grrr steaks, blowjobs, fighting and chopping wood” way which are defense mechanisms we use when it looks like either ourselves or another lad might cry or feel helpless.
Source: AmamusicagencyTheir post continued:
Use international mens day, to address that we've been raised as men to not express or understand emotion, as a result of shit gender roles. And that this inability to express might be one of the cornerstones behind the disproportionately high rates of male suicide, as well as social and economic craic. Lets eradicate the idea that a man expressing vulnerability equates to "having a vagina"
If I didn't go to counselling when I was younger, and learn to understand and express things like feelings of weakness, low self esteem and fear of crying then I wouldn't be who I am today.
Blindboy has spoken on the Late Late in the past about how young men "need feminism" - and the Facebook status touched on similar themes yesterday:
I'd be an angry bastard at home slamming my hands on a keyboard, writing begrudging comments under other artists work because I never tackled feelings of vulnerability, and because their achievements remind me of what I haven't done myself due to fear.
I'd hate women, because I'd blame them for me not feeling worthy enough to have the affections of one. And I'd have done NOTHING with my creative talents. Because to have the courage to release work to the public, and realise your full potential, means understanding and embracing feelings of vulnerability. We can't become our personal best, if we don't comfortably recognise the feeling of being weak, and potentially failing.
"Facing up to your own inner vulnerability as a Man feels very threatening":
Embrace vulnerability, accept that it exists in you, then you'll become the master of it. So that It doesn't pull your strings on the sly in the background. Ignore it, and you become it's puppet. It's hard work. Facing up to your own inner vulnerability as a Man feels very threatening, take notice of it right now if you're reading this.
They then moved on to a broader point:
An Adult, Male or Female should strive for two things. To have high self esteem, and to be assertive. High self esteem = I have intrinsic value, it's not defined by my behaviour and can't be compared to others. Assertive = I can express myself and understand when someone has wronged me. I can express and understand when I've wronged someone else.
And concluded:
That's it. That's the most we should ever ask of ourselves. And it's not a state that you reach. It's a continual lifestyle choice that you work on every day. Just like exercise and healthy eating. We'll fall off the wagon every so often, and that's grand. Embracing our innate fallibility is also part of this.
Read the full post on Facebook here.
