WHO WE ARE
We are a network of individuals and organizations, which was launched on an all-India basis in 2007, with the primary objective of working with boys and men to usher in a just and peaceable society. Alongside our shared participation in movements for gender equity, many of us have been active in various fields such as community development, public health, education and the arts. Professionally as well as personally we have come to realize that it is critical to intervene in the area of masculinities for bringing about meaningful and durable changes in our fields of endeavor. While talking to boys and men, we often hear stories of the hierarchies that exist within the system of masculinities; we hear stories of violence, coercion and subjugation. We also hear stories of tenderness, yearning and camaraderie. The challenge that we face is to weave these stories into a coherent narrative so as to expose the fault-lines in the oppressive masculinist order and to suggest ways of transforming it.
WHAT WE BELIEVE
WE UNDERSTAND masculinism as a gender system that distributes patriarchal privileges to boys and men in a hierarchical order. READ MORE
WE SPEAK from the intellectual and social space created by a variety of feminist movements, both Indian and those originating elsewhere. READ MORE
OUR LONG-TERM GOAL is to attempt a radical reconstruction of dominant masculinities and of the political, economic and socio-cultural structures, practices and norms in which they are deeply implicated. READ MORE
WE SERVE as a support base for generating and disseminating ideas as also activist initiatives aimed at the reconstruction of masculinities to facilitate gender equality and non-violence. READ MORE
WE INVITE all institutions and individuals who agree with and publicly vouch for the above-mentioned principles and objectives to join this network. READ MORE
SO FAR we have organized a series of meetings at the national, regional and local levels to deliberate on matters of common interest, and have also established rapport with several sister organizations. READ MORE
WE PROPOSE to play a more pro-active role in the near future. This would entail taking a distinctive feminist stand on a wide range of relevant developments including the ongoing attempts to bring about a gender-neutral legal regime in India and the growing assertiveness of groups advocating ‘men’s rights’. READ MORE
WE SPEAK from the intellectual and social space created by a variety of feminist movements, both Indian and those originating elsewhere. READ MORE
OUR LONG-TERM GOAL is to attempt a radical reconstruction of dominant masculinities and of the political, economic and socio-cultural structures, practices and norms in which they are deeply implicated. READ MORE
WE SERVE as a support base for generating and disseminating ideas as also activist initiatives aimed at the reconstruction of masculinities to facilitate gender equality and non-violence. READ MORE
WE INVITE all institutions and individuals who agree with and publicly vouch for the above-mentioned principles and objectives to join this network. READ MORE
SO FAR we have organized a series of meetings at the national, regional and local levels to deliberate on matters of common interest, and have also established rapport with several sister organizations. READ MORE
WE PROPOSE to play a more pro-active role in the near future. This would entail taking a distinctive feminist stand on a wide range of relevant developments including the ongoing attempts to bring about a gender-neutral legal regime in India and the growing assertiveness of groups advocating ‘men’s rights’. READ MORE
PHOTOGRAPHS
MEMBERS