Conclusions

Abstract

The first mission statement for undoing conservative notions of masculinity may have been the Men’s Center Manifesto, from the University of Berkeley (Berkeley Men’s Center 1974). In their declaration of men’s liberation they wrote:

We, as men, want to take back our full humanity. We want to relate to both women and men in more human ways—with warmth, sensitivity, emotion, and honesty. We want to share our feelings with one another to break down the walls and grow closer. We want to be equal with women and end destructive, competitive relationships between men… We are oppressed by this dependence on women for support, nurturing, love, and warm feelings. We want to love, nurture, and support ourselves and other men, as well as women… We want men to share their lives and experiences with each other in order to understand who we are, how we got this way, and what we must do to be free.