Category: Good Men Project

Here is a story about David and Joann: David ran into Joann at the store. After they talked for a while, he told her that she better finish her shopping, because she’d get in trouble with his roommate if he was late to the party. Here is a story about David and Jonathan: David ran…

On Father’s Day this year, I took my child to the exhibit “Slavery at Jefferson’s Monticello: The Paradox of Liberty.” This traveling exhibition is part of The Jefferson Monticello’s evolving narrative about Thomas Jefferson’s relationship with his slaves, including Sally Hemings, with whom he had as many as seven children. The first time I heard…

I was in Milwaukee recently visiting relatives. The local news was about a recent shooting of a police officer in Racine. On June 17, Officer John Hetland, off-duty at the time, was at Teezers Bar and Grill when a masked man with a gun initiated a robbery. Hetland interceded and was shot dead. A manhunt…

I am a white man. I identify as white for the same reason that I identify as a man: My culture makes me. This last four-word sentence has two meanings, and they’re both true. ◊♦◊ My culture makes me, that is, my personality has been constructed within my experiences being raised as white and male….

I had thought the issue of dodgeball had been resolved. Dodgeball was extremely popular in my youth. Even though I’ve passed the half-century mark (only just barely), I still have a visceral negative reaction to the thought of that evil red ball heading straight for me. I can still hear the high-pitched bounce of the…

June is Pride Month. June is also the month most high schools around the country have their graduation ceremonies. There is an intersection between these two events that might slip past the awareness of many people: How schools treat gender non-conforming students (see the glossary at the end for italicized words). ◊♦◊ Dead-naming in yearbooks…

As a teacher, I see it a lot: Students will be horse-playing in the hallway, and I’ll tell them to stop. “But he’s my cousin! We’re just playing!” they’ll insist. In their mind, this justifies all sorts of reckless behavior: They don’t intend harm. In adults, the same sentiment shows up in a more nuanced…

Emboldened by the placement of two Conservative justices on the Supreme Court, state legislatures have begun racing to become the test case for overturning the landmark Roe v. Wade case. Alabama has passed perhaps the most extreme of these laws, effectively banning all abortions without exception. Georgia’s law appears to cover miscarriages as well as…

Current and future sons of America, we have failed you. Two weeks ago, a white man entered a college classroom and started shooting. Another man, Riley Howell, charged at him. Howell died in the process of stopping the shooting. Last week, two white men entered high school classrooms and started shooting. Another man, Kendrick Castillo,…

I used to think the solution to toxic masculinity was to rebuild the traditional gender binary in a healthy way. Now I’m not so sure. On the one hand, I don’t know that there’s anything intrinsically wrong with archetypes of “protector” and “nurturer,” with whatever characteristics we wish to assign to those categories. And I…