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.
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