Stories For Men: Manifesto
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Hello everyone.
Welcome to Stories for Men
I’m Marcus Pibworth. Amongst other things, I am a man, a storyteller, a husband and an expectant father.
At the end of last year I finally brought into fruition a project that I’ve been mulling over for a while now - and that is to use my love of storytelling to delve into questions about what it means to be a man today, how current restrictive notions of masculinity are having a detrimental effect on both men, woman, society and the planet, and in turn to use this platform as a way of exploring what a more expansive, healthy version of masculinity could be.
I am a firm believer in the power of stories. Be they myths, folktales, fairytales or biographical stories, there is a lot we can learn. We can see our lives and society reflected within them. We can connect patterns. We can be transported to see new worlds and new perspectives. We can be challenged and we can learn to challenge. Within the trails of these stories our ancestors left for us lies a rich tapestry of human experience that we can immerse ourselves within. We can walk in the shoes of others. We can access feelings and emotions that lie beyond language and words, and perhaps most importantly we can begin to forge our own, better stories.
So why Stories For Men? Of course, this project is not in anyway supposed to exclude or reject women. None of the stories or conversations shared here are or will be exclusively for men. Instead this is an attempt to get men talking and to explore new possibilities in the way we engage with one another and ourselves. It is a sad fact, that we live a society that often leaves men feeling unable to be vulnerable and to share how they are really feeling. Over the past few decades there has been a huge shift in the role of men in society. While this shift is a positive and necessary progress for society, it has left many men unsure of their role. When I ask men what being a man means to them, the most frequent and honest answer is ‘I just don’t know’. With suicide rates and levels of depression for men sky high - it seems like an important thing to create spaces to discuss what is going on, to allow vulnerability and to feel the non-judgemental support of other men. I hope that with these healthy, healing spaces for men to explore their lives through story, it can be a small step creating a better world for both men and women.
I’ve seen through experience how storytelling can be used as a gateway to go deeper into our feelings, our frustrations and the shadows that we all inevitably carry around with us.
At the end of last year, I put on three Stories For Men sessions (on Zoom, as is the way of our times), where I told a story, interspersed with group discussions and reflections on the themes that emerged with the men participating. With their permission the audio from the sessions was recorded, and these recordings are what will make up the first few podcasts. Over the course of this next year I hope to put on more live storytelling sessions, both on Zoom (and hopefully some in person!), I hope to be able to share conversations with others on the topics of storytelling and masculinity and delve deeper into the myths and stories that permeate through our lives.
Stories For Men is not really an exercise in finding answers, although no doubt some may emerge, but an exercise in exploring what the right questions are. It may be a little rough around the edges at times, there may be mistakes and challenges, but I hope together we can learn and grow.
So if you are sitting comfortably… let us begin…. Welcome to Stories For Men
