*** Welcome to piglix ***

Mythopoetic men's movement


The mythopoetic men's movement refers to a loose collection of organizations active in men's work since the early 1980s, grew as a reaction to the second-wave feminist movement and aims to liberate men from the constraints of the modern world which keep them from being in touch with their true masculine nature. Sometimes mistakenly referred to simply as the men's movement, which is much broader, it is best known for the rituals that take place during their gatherings. While in the public eye in the early 1990s, the movement carries on more quietly in The ManKind Project and independent psychologico-spiritual practitioners. Mythopoets adopted a general style of psychological self-help inspired by the work of Robert Bly, Robert A. Johnson, Joseph Campbell, and other Jungian authors.

Mythopoets believe that the rise of the urban industrial society "trapped men into straitjackets of rationality, thus blunting the powerful emotional communion and collective spiritual transcendence that they believe men in tribal societies typically enjoyed" (p. 20 Messner). Most importantly, the movement seeks to restore the "deep masculine" to men who have lost it in their more modern lifestyles. Other causes for the loss of the "deep masculine" include:

The mythopoetic men's movement spawned a variety of self-help groups and workshops, led by authors such as Robert Bly, Michael J. Meade and Robert L. Moore. Among its most famous advocates was the poet Bly, whose book Iron John: A Book About Men (1990) spent 62 weeks on The New York Times Best Seller list, being an exegesis of the fairy tale "Iron John" by the Brothers Grimm. Groups of men from the professional class retreated from their female loved ones in order to join in spiritual rituals that emphasized homosociality, with the central goal of reclaiming the parts of their masculinity that they had lost called the "deep masculine."


...
Wikipedia

...