The VIP Center hosted CEO of the Women of Color Network Inc. (WOCN) Tonya Lovelace, to lead a conversation on what health masculinity looks like for men in communities of color, on at 2 p.m. on Nov. 22 in Degenstein Meeting Rooms 1 and 2. WOCN is a nonprofit organization led by women of color based in Harrisburg, Pa.
“Our goal is to eliminate violence against all women and their communities by centralizing the voices and promoting the leadership of women of color across the Sovereign Nations, the United States and U.S. Territories.” Lovelace stated.
Lovelace also shared that WOCN. works to involve men as well. “For over a decade, WOCN Inc. has had a partnership with A Call to Men. We’ve conducted the Healthy Masculinity Project with Men Can Stop Rape,” Lovelace said.
Lovelace said this presentation, titled “Reimagining Masculinity,” was meant to be a dialogue rather than a lecture. The conversation was geared toward men of color, to help them share their own thoughts on masculinity, but Lovelace encouraged women in the room to share their opinions as well.
Lovelace talked about the importance of men empowering women of color and helping to lift up their communities, which was one of the many goals of WOCN.
Lovelace had each member of the audience give their own definition as to what they thought healthy masculinity meant and how they thought they demonstrated it throughout their lives.
From the descriptions each audience member gave surrounding the idea of healthy masculinity, Lovelace pulled on key words each member said. She emphasized words such as intrinsic, expressiveness, self-awareness, individuality, accountability and tolerance.
“You all have it in you to think about these kinds of ideas. These ideas are right in front of you,” she said.
“It takes time and it takes being intentional when creating what healthy masculinity looks like. These kinds of conversations can take place in any space and at any time,” Lovelace said.
Lovelace described how men are born and conditioned to a certain behavior, one where they learn from an early age to hide their feelings and convey almost no emotions.
“There is this disconnection from the self, and it happens so early. So, there’s this bigger question of ‘what is the self?’” Lovelace continued.
Lovelace furthered the definition healthy masculinity by sharing ideas of having empathy for oneself as well as others, replacing violent and risky masculine attitudes with more emotionally intelligent attitudes, and using emotional social skills to challenge unhealthy masculine attitudes.
Lovelace encouraged audience members to reconnect with themselves and their emotions as well as to practice healthy masculinity and share these conversations with friends and family.
When searching for a speaker to talk on this subject, Christiana Paradis considered the importance of looking within the local community.
“I think they’re a really great organization and they are fairly local and are familiar with issues that are happening within our local communities,” Paradis said.
Paradis coordinated this discussion with the help of sophomore and VIP student worker in the VIP Center, Jaylene Reyes.
“She was really passionate about wanting to do programming around violence that happens in communities of color. Jaylene spearheaded the topics that she thought were really important to talk about,” Paradis said.
“I thought it was really important to have a space where men of color could come talk about how they have suppressed their feelings or have experienced any form of abuse,” Reyes stated.
