“I am strong. I am smart. I work hard. I am beautiful. I am respectful.” With these words Ron Alston, father of three-year-old Aliya, walks his daughter through a morning mantra encouraging her to be positive, empathic, and confident as she heads off to school. In this clip, posted to his personal Facebook page, Alston…
With an incredible platform to enact political, social, and cultural change, it should not be taken lightly for President Obama to utilize his soapbox to refer to himself as a feminist and decry antiquated gender roles and stereotypes. As a father, husband, and politician, President Obama discusses the need for feminism, recognizing that, “when everyone…
At the Cave of Adullam training academy in Detroit, Michigan, boys are not only trained in the ways of martial arts, but also in the ways of non-hegemonic masculinity. They are taught that having emotions, and crying, is part of what being a man really means. Additionally, boys with absent fathers, or without fathers, are…
The White Ribbon Campaign encourages and supports men to take action and initiative to prevent violence against women, domestic violence, and sexual abuse. Recognizing that men are the vast majority of perpetrators of violence against women–and other men, for that matter–it is essential that men be at the forefront of prevention efforts. The It Begins…
We often talk about the need for discussions around consent in the context of Universities and Colleges, and sometimes high school, the settings in which many high profile sexual assault cases have taken place. But what if those conversations happened much earlier, in middle schools, and even earlier in the home? Perhaps those acts of…
One of the difficulties faced in the discourse around consent, is that we often only use the word, or begin the discussion, when in regards to sexual encounters. Consent is fundamental to all relationships, and to respecting one another’s agency and bodily autonomy. With children, we often send mixed messages. Tickling is a prime example.…
Parents have incredible influence on their children both through what is expressly taught, and what is implicitly conveyed through daily interactions and observations. Modeling and explaining what consent and healthy relationships look like, while helping children to understand the consequences of their actions, is a fundamental responsibility for parents. This article by parenting researchers helps…
Consent, bodily autonomy, and agency are fundamental to sex positivity and healthy relationships. These concepts do not require explicit talk about sex in order to begin building that foundation early in a child’s life. From a very young age, lessons can be conveyed to children that everyone has a right to say no, to determine…