The mission of the Men’s Story Project (MSP) is to strengthen attitudes, beliefs, behaviors and social norms around the world that support healthy masculinities, violence prevention and gender/social justice. We work toward this mission by helping partner organizations (e.g., universities, nonprofits) to create powerful live events of men’s personal storytelling and community dialogue; media with content from these live events; related educational tools and workshops; and ongoing gender justice collectives.
In each MSP production, diverse men and individuals who identify in any way with masculinity share true, personal stories with a live audience (in person or online). The presenters’ stories address social ideas about masculinity in relation to topics such as family and romantic relationships; men’s mental and physical health; diverse forms of violence; sexuality; sexual/reproductive health and rights; LGBTQIA+ issues; gender equality; men’s journeys of change; and intersections with race and other aspects of identity. The presenters share their stories in varied expressive mediums (e.g., prose, poetry, music, visual art, dance). The stories are followed by audience-presenter dialogue and a resource fair where people can connect with support resources and activism opportunities. MSP presenters have included students, artists, athletes, veterans, celebrities and others. To prepare to publicly share their stories, the presenters go through a locally-led workshop series where they hone their stories, build their activism skills, and build community. The live events are filmed to create locally-relevant educational films and social media.
The MSP’s work is grounded in multidisciplinary research and an intersectional feminist framework. Over 20 original MSP productions have been created to date in partnership with colleges/universities, nonprofits and UN Women, across the U.S. and in Chile, Canada, Gaza Strip and West Bank.
The MSP has been recognized with several awards including a ShareCare Emmy for excellence in digital health media (Men’s Health category) and a Harvard Public Health Innovator Award, and audience feedback often includes terms such as “healing,” “eye-opening,” “deeply inspiring" and “transformative.” We’re clearly onto something timely and powerful with it, and believe it has the potential to become a widespread initiative contributing to health and justice around the world.
Your donations will help the MSP grow. Thank you for your support!