A precious creature, man

When I discovered that International Men's Day ( International Men's Day ) falls every November 19th, I remembered the lines of a film - taken from a book published in 1961 and written by Richard Yates - that is perhaps worthwhile in life see, even if you don't like Di Caprio; in the role of middle suburban hubby he is fine.

This is "Revolutionary Road", directed by Sam Mendes. The drama of a couple is consumed in a short time, in the attention that is lacking, among the accumulated objects, the security of a house, the children, the voices of the neighbors. There is a scene, perhaps the only love scene in the film, a peak of life that wants to go back to being lived, when she asks him to drop everything and move to Paris. "You are the most precious thing in the world ... You are a man ..." Kate Winslet tells him (April in the film), taking his face in his hands (the scene in the original language in the video at the bottom of the page ).

Here, like every creature, male creatures are precious.

In fact the gender differences are very subtle and every soul is different. From the tantric teachings to the words of Osho, we often find the truth that the masculine and the feminine live in each of us and should both be cultivated and nurtured.

If we think of the component of physical strength and take up again the words of Osho in "The female mystery", we find a very precise position: in fact man is distinguished from woman by physical strength and vigor because, Osho states, at the moment in which the woman will compete on this with respect to man, the moment she will put herself in the gym to damn herself for having equally developed muscles, then she will go in a direction not entirely bright. On this point we hold ourselves suspended, and each reader will develop their own thoughts. If we talk about gender we cannot ignore psychosexual factors such as gender identity, sexual identity, sexual orientation, sexual behavior. These are all factors that have been analyzed, studied, and gutted.

It is not easy to trace gender differences or, on the contrary, it can be very simple, if as a premise we give the freedom to be and let be. Something different comes to mind for each woman and each man if we read the word "man" . In the imaginary this term may have been affected by the influence of the fairy tale hero. The adventurer who discovers the native? The prince who arrives, kisses and saves? The hero with sword and shield? The superhero to wait for his planetary urgencies?

The origins of International Man's Day

This day of celebration for man was established in 1999 in Trinidad and Tobago, and has spread thanks to the support found in Australia, the Caribbean, North America, Asia, Europe and Africa, including through United Nations channels.

If increasingly much attention is rightly centered on violence against women, on domestic abuse cases, little is said about who does violence. Where does this anger come from, how does one relate to those who hatch it? Is there a possible "re-education"?

Speaking of this day on behalf of UNESCO, the Director of Women and Culture of Peace Breines Ingeborg said: "It is a great idea, it would give a certain gender balance".

"Even the rights of men and boys ... are human rights, " says the sentence that accompanies the newborn celebration day. The objectives of the day are aimed at promoting gender relations and are an opportunity to rethink male sexual life, marriage, family and supposed roles in society.

Through public seminars, debates, round tables, activities in schools, radio and television programs we will discuss the image that the media give back, the general situation on a social, emotional, physical, food and spiritual level, of the male contribution in the service areas social issues, social attitudes and expectations and legislative recognition.

Domestic violence against men and homophobia

There are men who beat, yes. But there are also men who are beaten and not talked about, because for a man to admit it and confess it is difficult. We want to point out that there are and are active listening centers for abused men; domestic violence has many facets and even the control of every partner's behavior is a form of disdain, an attitude that damages trust and communication.

An example is The Maltreated Men Center, born as an experimental Cesvot Innovation project and in January 2009, promoted by the Artemisia Association and with the collaboration of Asl 10 of Florence .

There is a switchboard and the possibility of practical and telephone support for men who want to undertake a path of change and take responsibility for their behavior of physical and / or psychological, sexual maltreatment, an experience of stalking.

And do we want to talk about homophobia towards men who love other men? A European Union survey condemns us as the most homophobic and transphobic country in Europe. It also applies to the approach intended for forms of sexuality other than heterosexual.

Look also at this map on homophobia published in an article by L'Espresso written by Lorenzo Di Pietro. A real "hate map", as it has been defined, in terms of spreading homophobic language, very low, almost non-existent level of recognition of ties with egalitarian marriages or civil unions.

There is no respect for sexual orientation and men and women are affected by this. There is no respect for a sensitivity that probably in man wants to emanate and manifest itself in more than one way. There are men who see the value of things, in addition to the price of objects. Men who silently and gently do their job of being human beings and their daily work, whatever it is. Who know how to have delicate thoughts when you least expect it.

To these men and those who aspire to improve themselves but also to those who are only now approaching new insights, to new forms of non-violent communication, we wish them a happy celebration. Even to those who are far from themselves, especially those, we wish a gradual, gentle approach.