Why Men Need a Self Study Practice

When I first entered the work of Self Study, my eyes were opened to the inequities of the world. I began learning the ways that I've perpetuated systems of oppression within my own life as a white woman, and I started seeing how the systems were rigged against my humanness, and others.

A lot of the conversations that I've been part of have mostly excluded men from the group of "have been harmed" by our inequitable systems because just like White women, men fall into the category of "oppressors." Like White Women, Black men or Trans Men fall into a group that would be considered oppressed oppressors, meaning that yes, we hold a position of power within the systems due to our gender identity or race, but we also hold an oppressed identity as well. 

Systems of oppression create distance between groups of people, and it enforces that there's a hierarchy between people. That White Men are at the top, and the closer to that group of people you are the more you benefit... the further from that group of people, the more oppressed you are. This is what creates a "marginalized identity." Meaning, for marginalized people, there's very little to no access to belonging within the US systems. Meaning, it's harder to get a corporate job, be taken seriously in your profession, be treated equally as a human being. It's even true that laws are written so that you can't make choices on your own behalf, have life saving health care provided to you, or get a loan for a desirable district.

What being marginalized does is take away our access to a sense of belonging - and this experience can lead to real challenges. Not just challenges in getting ahead in capitalist America, but also mental health challenges (which in turn, make it harder to get ahead, especially when the access to the health care you need isn't available to you.)

An interesting dissonance that this hierarchy creates, especially in circles of social justice or in conversations of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion is that men are often excluded. There's an expectation for men to not be involved because they're considered oppressors, the leaders of the hierarchy, the decision makers, the top.

Now, Men's mental health is seeing a rapid decline, however, Men are still, technically, at the top of the hierarchy - we still live under a Patriarchal society. We hold a lot of unreasonable beliefs about who and how a man should be. 

These beliefs, are hurting men.

And you know the saying, "hurt people hurt people." Especially when they're in positions of power.

What my Self Study practice continues to offer me is more and more understanding of what it is to be a human. Not just a human within the political systems of the United States of America, but a fuller version of a human. The kind of human that has desires and dreams and needs that are outside of what it means to serve capitalism. And no, this isn't an anti-capitalism think piece, nor is this an educational piece on United States Politics. AND United States Politics doesn't and cannot define or hold what it is to be a human.

In fact, the framework that the Self Study practice offers is a Human Framework. When this work is brought into businesses and workplaces, the shifts that happen within the workplace make more space for our humanity, no matter your gender, race, or intersectional identities.

Being that men are born under our current systems just like the rest of us, there's work to be done. Work to be done to re-calibrate ourselves towards belonging and inclusion. Not just in the workplace, but also in the way we view ourselves.