We WANT men to come along to our festival!
We hope by now you’ve seen the tagline for our festival – "a health festival that includes you, that means women, trans, non-binary and gender non-conforming people, and the men who support them”. Those last six words are super important to us so we’ll say it again a bit louder…and the men who support them!
Men’s health is so important to us, it is equally as important as women, trans, non-binary and gender non-conforming people’s health. One of the things that is super important to us at the Thurso Community Development Trust’s is equality, we love our community of Thurso and feel that everyone here deserves to be treated equally and feel included in the work we do.
In recent years men’s mental health has finally been getting the attention it deserves, there are heart breaking rates of suicide amongst men in Scotland. There are also many articles which suggest that men are less likely to go to their GP with mental and physical issues. When it comes to domestic abuse there is still unfortunately a stigma around men who experience abuse from a partner, often making it very difficult to seek support, CASWA have excellent resources here.
So, if we care so much about men’s health, why are we holding a festival that isn’t talking specifically about it? Men’s health is such a huge subject that we think it deserves space and time of it’s own! There is also evidence of a bias in medicine against women which we talked about in our last blog post on inclusivity, and historically there are marginalised groups like trans, non-binary and gender non-conforming people who have been left behind completely. As an organisation which is made up predominately of those who identify as women, we have first-hand experience of the inequalities we face, and are passionate about shining a light on this to try and reduce stigma and give people a space to talk openly about what they’re experiencing.
How can men get involved then? I think it’s safe to say that almost every man in the world has a connection to a woman, whether that’s a mother, aunty, granny, sister, wife, girlfriend, daughter, friend etc. And now that there are more information and resources out there for trans, non-binary and gender non-conforming people, it is likely that you know someone who is within the LGBTQ+ community.
As a 30 year old woman, when I was a teenager at school getting PSE (personal and social education) we had a lesson about periods, where the boys got taken out the room to go do something else. It was just the perception at the time that periods were irrelevant to boys and men. Speaking to younger people who are still at school, many of them are saying that this still happens. I’m happy education has come a long way since before my generation where periods may have been discussed even less – if at all! Periods are relevant to men. Men need and deserve to have an understanding of what the girls and women in their lives go through roughly once a month for a large portion of their lives. If a man wants to have children he should have an understanding of how ovulation works to know when a person with a womb is likely to conceive (whether the person getting pregnant is his partner or if he is in a same-sex relationship and is looking into surrogacy etc.).
We have a fantastic guest blog coming up from CASWA who will be talking about feeling safe, which will include information about domestic abuse. We think that an element of a safe, happy relationship is where you can speak to your partner about period pain, about a lump you’ve found, about your mental health and anything else surrounding your health and wellbeing. So men, we want you to listen to us, we want you to give us the space and time to talk about what’s important to us, we want you to ask us how we’re feeling if we’ve got a painful period, are going through the menopause, are carrying your baby, are not quite feeling right but are worried about wasting a doctor’s time. We want you to be there for us and support us and encourage us to seek help if needed, just as we should do for you.
The We WANT Festival is an opportunity for you to speak to organisations, ask questions, learn and listen. And also, celebrate the amazing things that the bodies of women, trans, non-binary and gender non-conforming people go through day to day.
To end, we think there is a brilliant opportunity here to open up a conversation about men’s health. If you initially felt left out of this festival, we hope that now you’ve read this you feel like you can come along and be included. If you agree that we all need to be talking about men’s health more then maybe you have an idea for your own event or session – a men’s shed, some one-off sessions to talk about certain topics, maybe even your own festival! As mentioned before, our workplace is predominantly female so we feel it wouldn’t be right for us to plan a men’s health festival without the input of men. We’d love for you to reach out to us if you’ve got ideas, we can support with our experience and knowledge of organising events and help you get started.
In the meantime, we’ve put some resources below for local things aimed at men as well as some further away that might spark an idea. We truly hope to see you at the We WANT Festival on Saturday 30th April!
Caithness JIM (join in more) – a Caithness group for Caithness Men https://listeningearcaithness.org/mens-group/
The James Support Group – support for all affected by suicide (sometimes with meetings in Caithness)
https://jamessupportgroup.com/
Mikeysline – It’s ok not to be ok
SAMH – The Changing Room – to promote men’s health and wellbeing through football (Edinburgh based)
https://www.samh.org.uk/get-involved/physical-activity-and-sport/our-projects/the-changing-room
Men’s Sheds – not one currently in Thurso
CASWA – with additional resources specifically for men
https://www.caswa.org.uk/essential-information/what-about-men