Compassionate Masculinity Defined

So, what is Compassionate Masculinity? Being a Compassionately masculine human is a way of being. It’s like when I call myself a Soulful Facilitator, it’s a way of being. We all possess masculine energy within and we all possess feminine energy within us. Compassionate Masculinity is a new way to be in relationship with the Masculinity construct. Masculinity as a construct has been inflated with so many different definitions of what it means to be a man. Yet masculinity is a construct that has evolved into ideals of dominance and physical power over. So, what if we wrapped this concept with compassion, what would become possible? What would it take to open the compassionate hearts of men and how would the definition of masculinity evolve? This is the question that I’m asking and have made my life’s work to explore.

I’m not going to go offer a list of prescribed qualities of compassionate masculinity. I’ve learned early on that this is not a conversation where we need more definitions of what it means to be a man. Instead, I bring questions that can elicit an internal questioning of who am I as a man when I bring compassion into my heart and my definition of my way of being? How am I in relationship to masculinity and how does that relationship serve me? What has been the opportunity and the cost of my relationship to my definition of masculinity? What are my associations and connotations with compassion? In what ways am I compassionate? What holds me back from being the most compassionate that I can be?

I believe it’s futile to prescribe qualities for masculinity as it’s so unique to each person based on life experience, gender expression, sexuality, religious affiliation, and cultural background. So many factors play into one’s relationship with masculinity and how we associate, connect with and have internalized that relationship. To say this is the definition could be damaging. However, to ask, the questions of who am I authentically, how does this masculinity construct impact and inform me, what mask of my constructed identity have I been wearing, and what has been the cost of wearing this identity?

So Compassionate Masculinity is more of an inquiry into who am I as a human and how do I want to be in this world and how can I continue to expand my heart to it’s fullest level of compassion for myself and others in the world?