After 7 years, restart "Men Durban"

It's actually a "good partner good father male growth group"


　　"Men's Durban" training objectives

　　Advocate for gender equality

　　Reflecting on Dominant Masculinity

　　against gender-based violence

　　Gender mechanisms that challenge inequality

　　Train men to be fully involved partners and fathers

　　On September 15, 2022, Fang Gang, a male participation expert who has long been engaged in sexuality and gender-related research, posted a post on the recruitment of "Male Durban" leaders.

　　In fact, Fang Gang's "Men's Durban" started in 2015. At that time, a group of "women's Durban" born out of "women's commandments" and "women's training" prevailed in the society. Fang Gang and his team launched domestic products under this trend. The first "Male Durban".

However, the response was not satisfactory - in addition to the polarities of praise and criticism on the Internet, the registration situation was also very deserted. There were only two students who signed up through social channels, and the originally planned 6-day course schedule had to be shortened to 3 days.

　　Why restart this project after 7 years?

Fang Gang said, mainly because of the changes in the social environment, "this year is fully prepared."

Regarding the prospect of this event, he predicts that it will be polarized. "There will still be those who do not understand and ridicule, but those who actively participate will also increase."

　　Fang Gang said that the word "male virtue" is an operational strategy used by the team.

　　Tian Bin, a volunteer who participated in the event 7 years ago, explained it more directly, "Actually, there are some considerations for advertising, if it is actually called 'good partner, good father male growth group', you see this Will the name come to sign up?"

core content

Cultivate students' awareness of gender equality and male participation

　　In the article on recruiting leaders, Fang Gang defined the training objectives of "Men's Durban" as: advocating gender equality, reflecting on dominant masculinity, opposing gender-based violence, challenging the gender mechanism of inequality, and cultivating men to be fully-participating partners ,Father.

　　According to his explanation, the core of this project is to cultivate students' gender equality, awareness of male participation, and concepts and methods of male participation.

The so-called male participation, according to the definition given by the United Nations, means that men participate in the family and social work traditionally performed by women, and participate in the work against gender-based violence and the promotion of gender equality.

　　Coming to the practical level, opposing gender-based violence, counseling both parties, and improving skills in the form of study groups are all necessary content, but the focus of the training is on how to become a "good partner and a good father" .

　　Fang Gang said frankly that using the role of "father" involved in family affairs and children's education for curriculum planning is to reduce the resistance of event promotion, "When advertising in the future, when recruiting students, I may say a few more words from the father's perspective. , so that more people may sign up.”

one of the courses

"Reflections on Dominant Masculinity"

　　In the "Men's Durban" course planned by Fang Gang, in addition to calling on men to participate in family life, another point was repeatedly mentioned - "reflection on dominant masculinity", which is not in line with traditional masculinity.

　　Fang Gang's course involves the discussion of "masculinity". In his opinion, it is not advisable to use one discipline to cover another discipline. What he cares more about is to discuss the possible negative effects of traditional masculinity with the students.

Fang Gang pointed out that this dominant masculinity seems to allow men to take the "active" in gender relations, but it may also deprive men of happiness in life.

　　For example, encouraging the so-called "strict father" may affect the relationship between parents and children, while one-sided emphasis on success and power will constantly require men to pursue money and social status, and the praise of violence will destroy the marriage relationship - "Everyone. Behind the so-called positive interests, there must be a man's trauma."

　　Based on this logic, he took the gender temperament of compatibility as one of the main cores in the relevant courses of "Men's Durban", "that is to be inclusive and have all the good qualities, everyone has the right to choose their own gender practice and Gender play."

latest situation

15 people have signed up, almost evenly divided between men and women

　　After the publication of this recruitment article, almost all of the people who came to sign up were already involved in gender equality affairs.

Fang Gang said that three days after the article was published, he directly received applications and consultations from more than a dozen people, all of whom were volunteers of the White Ribbon Anti-Domestic Violence Public Welfare Project.

As of September 23, 8 days after the article was published, there were 15 applicants, of whom the ratio of males and females was almost half. Fang Gang said that the current number of applicants could form 5 groups, and they would further screen them, leaving 3 groups in the end.

　　According to his plan, the recruitment activity in September is mainly to receive "leaders" from all over the world. Fang Gang will directly conduct relevant training, combined with the revised activity manual, so that these leaders have the ability to carry out relevant training independently. As for the courses for the public, it will be completed by these leaders. "I can't train it myself, and we hope that the concept can bloom everywhere."

　　Compared with 7 years ago, Fang Gang believes that this time he is more fully prepared. In addition to raising project funds to support activities, he also has a longer-term plan for the course. The way of training activities forms a participatory workshop mode.

　　According to his plan, in the future training courses and related activities will be carried out in the form of free participation, and the cost will be borne by relevant project funds, but Fang Gang himself is not sure whether this model will work, "Why do I think about it now? Doing this? It’s also because we have now found funding and some funding. If we do it for a fee, I’m a little worried that we won’t be able to do it. Frankly speaking, at least we don’t dare to try it now.”

explore

Why reboot?

Gender equality practice has improved in 7 years

　　As a long-term male participation expert with the rights and interests department of the All-China Women's Federation, the United Nations Population Fund and other domestic and foreign organizations, Fang Gang has a long-term observation of male participation in China. After the unsuccessful "Men Durban" seven years ago , He has been promoting public welfare projects such as "Good Dad Training Class" and "Good Dad Workshop" for a long time, and he has also noticed some changes in the participation of domestic men.

　　He revealed that in the "Good Dad Workshop" in the first half of 2022, nearly 100 of the more than 300 trainees were male, "one third of them are male, which is very good." In addition, Fang Gang is conducting another In an anti-domestic violence project, the proportion of males also accounts for about one-tenth, which is a significant increase compared to similar projects in the past.

　　Intuitively, Fang Gang feels that the practice of gender equality has improved in the past seven years, and the media’s discussions and reflections on husband and father positions have become more and more common, including some young “house husbands” on the Internet who actively share themselves through live broadcasts and short videos. home life.

　　From the statistical data, the real situation of this change is not optimistic-according to the data of the 4th China Women's Social Status Survey in 2021, the daily care, tutoring and pick-up and drop-off of children aged 0-17 are mainly undertaken by mothers 76.1%, 67.5% and 63.6% of the households of 2000-2000 respectively; women take 154 minutes to take care of family members and do housework such as cooking, cleaning, and daily purchases, which is about twice that of men.

What does restart mean?

Break the traditional family male "second" identity role

　　Volunteer Tian Bin believes that this change is still based on the self-consciousness of individual men, but she feels that "after seven years, the progress has not been great."

　　In 2015, when the first "Men's Durban" was launched, she could only participate as a volunteer because the students were required to be male. In Tian Bin's eyes, the "failure" of the project was expected, The society's implementation of this project is itself an attempt, and there are no high expectations for it."

　　The event sparked heated discussions in the society, which further confirmed her judgment.

According to a report by The Paper in 2015, after the first "Men's Durban" ended, the online evaluation of this event showed a clear trend of polarization. Some male netizens were discussing or ridiculing, "This is still worth learning? Men have full financial resources. Wife is OK", or slam "Men don't live to please women!"

　　Behind this split is the conflict between the concept of equality and the traditional gender division of labor.

Tian Bin pointed out that in some families, the gender status and relationship between men and women actually depend on men's awareness of gender equality. The wife's emotional life will become more difficult."

　　In her view, a core concept that "Men Durban" needs to promote is the equal participation and sharing of husband and wife on housework, next-generation parenting issues and life planning within the family, breaking the traditional male "deputy" in the family "Second place" role.

　　In Tian Bin's volunteer career, he has seen many similar family situations: "Men usually come home very tired after get off work. Naturally, they refuse to be close to the family because they are busy with work." But in fact, many wives are also working, but they cannot escape their family responsibilities.

　　Chengdu Business Daily-Red Star News reporter Zhou Weihao