Thread by @HelpingMen

So great to hear of @RichardvReeves plans for an intentionally "boring" American Institute for Men and Boys.... and yet so boring to hear @CaitlinMoran ignoring the great work of the diverse men and boys sector in the UK and beyond, that I'm proud to be a part of......

https://twitter.com/RichardvReeves/status/1675149338119487491

No semi-organised, progressive movement" for men and boys in the UK? In the late 90s, I was an at-home-dad. I wrote about the experience (and the lack of parental leave for dads) at Fathers' Direct, which evolved into @fatherhoodinst - still going strong!!

Around the same time, @MensHealthForum was launched - and it's still going strong! In the noughties, like many separated dads of my generation, I fought hard for better rights for dads (and our kids). 20 years on, separated dads are still doing it tough: shorturl.at/ixCEG

In the 2010s I broadened my focus beyond fatherhood. I launched the National Men and Boys' Conference in Brighton -noting that the first "men's group" in the UK had apparently formed in Brighton 40 years earlier and began promoting the celebration of @UKMensDay

Speakers at the first National Men and Boys' Conference in 2011 included CEO's from @MensHealthForum and @fatherhoodinst , alongside many of the individuals and organisations that would go on to form the @MBCoalition (still going strong though about to lose our funding).

As @AllyFogg wrote of the second National Men and Boys' Conference in 2012: "the men's sector....includes many brilliant organisations....we may be seeing the seeds of a new unity, a recognition that the problems they face are often the same one" shorturl.at/jkvwW

Now living in Australia, I have been CEO of @MensHealthAMHF for the past 6 years. The men's health movement here dates back at least 30 years and has given the world Movember and the Men's Sheds movement. Like @MBCoalition in the UK, we represent a diverse men and boys sector

Maybe we need to guard against being too boring? It's still too easy and too common to dismiss both the need for a focus on the gender issues that impact men and boys - and the many grassroots organisations working to improve the lives and health of men and boys!