Telling Men's Stories

Dr. Josie Lehrer, center, surrounded by colleagues, while being honored for public service.

DR. JOSIE LEHRER has some pretty impressive credentials. She's a senior research associate at the UCSF BIXBY CENTER FOR GLOBAL AND REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH, having completed a doctoral degree at the Harvard School Of Public Health and a postdoctoral research fellowship at the UCSF Center For AIDS Prevention Studies. Besides being a researcher, she also wears the hats of practitioner, lecturer, and social entrepreneur.

In 2008 Dr. Lehrer became the Founder/Director of THE MEN'S STORY PROJECT, which "is a replicable storytelling and community dialogue project that brings exploration of social ideals about masculinity into public forums around the world."



The project derived from noticing the societal norms which projected certain images of masculinity into the social landscape. Much of the time those images of what masculinity involves limits the expression of an individual male, confining him to what is a socially acceptable role. What can change this point of view and enlarge the scope of what society allows to be seen as masculine?

Through using story-telling events, educational films, and other types of media, men could be encouraged to share their lives and spark dialogue and discussion about societal concepts of manhood. Two documentaries were filmed. THE MEN'S STORY PROJECT: BUILDING STRENGTH, CREATING PEACE was filmed in California, with men ages 22-60 sharing their stories through music, dance, and the spoken word. THE MEN'S STORY PROJECT: OUT LOUD! utilized a similar format and was filmed in Spanish with English subtitles in Santiago, Chile. The latter also has a discussion guide available.

Among the ways to become involved is to host a screening of one or both films, to invite the Men's Story Project to your campus to provide workshops and/or training to continue the work of the project, and/or to create your own production, using the methods already vetted by this group. There are currently four venues that are part of the Men's Story Project, three in California and one in Chile. Many of the group's objectives are aiming at the expansion of this ongoing dialogue.

The men from Berkeley, who participated in the Building Strength video.

Thanks to this article from Pollination Project: https://thepollinationproject.org/grants-awarded/josie-lehrer-mens-story-project-loud/, and the above links.

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