'men's groups'?
socialism and sexual liberation.
sexist language and mannerisms. own and personal life to IN socialist circles in the '70s, even where feminism has gained only minimal acceptance, men's groups are a phenomenon often greeted with suspicion at the very least. After all, aren't all the powerful institutions which control our lives Achilles Heel is a magazine produced explicitly by a collective of men. One of the fundamental convictions of the collective is that consciousness raising groups, for men as well as women, have a vital role to play in organising for The emergence of the Women's movement in the early ' 70s affected both my ideas as a socialist and changed my relationships with women. By accepting the basic positions of the women's movement it was possible, as a man, to develop some forms of anti-sexist behaviour, e.g. taking responsibility for child care/ housework, supporting demands for nurseries, abortion, equal pay, avoiding But socialist feminists I was close to made it clear to me that feminism extended far beyond the struggle against institutions. I was affected by the criticisms women were making of how men on the left operated both in public I have been in a men's group for over six years. As men we are socialised to be competitive; out-in-the-world, objective and to suppress our emotional and subjective selves, particularly when we are with other men. Often the burden of our emotional lives is taken by women with whom we have sexual relationships, reinforcing the mothering role that women are made to play.
The essential part of a men's group is learning to share subjective feelings We need no clearer example than the 17 January 1980 Page 15