The Men's Sheds initiative, which began in Australia, is expanding internationally.

BlacknOrangeZ · 2014-10-11T04:06:02+00:00

Nice to see my home town in country Australia getting a mention here. Dad is involved in running a shed associated with the church he goes to and has been seeing a steady increase in the number of local men getting involved over the last couple of years. I'm not terribly close to my father but I highly doubt anyone there gives any thought to the notion that it is "permitted/tolerated by feminists" as some other commenters have suggested. My point being that I doubt they give any thought to the politics of it at all.

Dad is a jack of all trades when it comes to working with his hands and no doubt the men who attend - and if they're anything like some of the guys who I used to know from the congregation when I was forced to attend, they would likely include recovering alcoholics and junkies, reformed serious offenders, as well as the stereotypical extremely awkward guys who don't have any real socialisation outside of the church - get to experience a sense of mateship and self-improvement that they otherwise wouldn't have the opportunity or skills to fulfil.

It should be noted that I doubt this specific one is officially affiliated with the Men's Sheds™ organisation but I can't imagine the mentalities of the actual men going along to these things differing much between them.

CrustythePrawn · 2014-10-10T22:16:45+00:00

The mens shed movement is both cool and rather sad. Cool in that it is something for men, in society where now anything for men is seen as inherently bad and is opposed. Sad in that it operates only with the tick of feminist approval which stays in place only whilst they keep the movement operating within narrow guidelines (a diversional therapy/mental health focus). Have a look at their website and discussion forum to see what I mean.

I have started or participated in a couple of threads there - see for example: http://www.theshedonline.org.au/discussions/general/australian-human-rights-commission-appears-to-have-little-interest-in-men

The site admin have on occasion asked for suggestions for improvement (to try to increase traffic). I suggested having a section for mens rights-type issues like portrayal of men in the media, etc, but that was met with silence.

I get the feeling that with this, as with other Australian mens health-related initiatives, the people running them fully realise just how tenuous the level of govt support is and are desperately frightened not to offend anyone.

scanspeak · 2014-10-11T08:56:20+00:00

Remember boy scouts? Now they have to allow girls. Same will happen to men's sheds.

CrustythePrawn · 2014-10-11T01:33:27+00:00

Yes Lakemba, I hear what you're saying but:

At least as far as their online forum goes, the site traffic is pitiful, hence in that regard they are not capturing the interest of men. They are/it is seen as fusty/musty and a forum for rather forlorn/resigned expressions of the life in the good old days, awkward blokey chit-chat, etc.
They are run by an anti-depression group (Beyond Blue) and I don't think you/they/anyone can tell me that the social backdrop re: attitudes to men, imposition of stereotypes, demonisation by feminist organisations, etc is not a contributing factor to anxiety and the development of depression and other mens mental health issues. By getting men to recognise, discuss and maybe mobilise against these factors ... well maybe that would achieve more for their mental welfare than just giving them a venue from which they can temporarily escape from their wives/lives.

In other words the movement is, or as least seems to be, more a case of allowing men "to do what feminists are prepared to tolerate for men to do" rather than about allowing men "to do what men do".

I guess there are a several of ways to look at it, marked by end points that might be:

*seeing the men's shed movement as a beachhead on which to empower men to do things and/or participate as part of a movement, that will enhance their own sense of worth and create a better social environment for those that come after them, or

*seeing the men's shed movement as occupying men harmlessly within a sheltered workshop environment granting them some temporary solace from the #@%# that awaits outside

Title	The Men's Sheds initiative, which began in Australia, is expanding internationally.
Author	disposableaccount900
Upvotes	46
Comments	13
Date	October 10, 2014 9:09 PM UTC (11 years ago)
Subreddit	Posted in /r/MensRights
Original Link	https://old.reddit.com/r/MensRights/comments/2iw45v/the_mens_sheds_initiative_which_began_in/
Archive Link	https://theredarchive.com/r/MensRights/the-mens-sheds-initiative-which-began-in-australia.994804 https://theredarchive.com/post/994804

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