[Music]
Q: I'm sitting here with Kevin.
He's a third year politics student and
he wants to start a men's group on
campus.
So could you tell us a little bit about
what a men's group is.
A: So we're a men's issues group. So
pretty much what we're focused on is
bringing awareness to
issues that disproportionately affect
men and boys. So this includes
high rates of suicide, high rates of
incarceration,
the fact that boys are failing in
education,
they have higher and higher.
Sorry lower and lower literacy rates.
lower and lower,
post-secondary engagement. There's
also a homeless plot,
problem where I think it's like over
70 percent of
the homeless are males. So it's just,
you know, bringing awareness to these
issues
and just generating discussions on
campus about them.
Q: So what other kind of things would
happen on campus in terms of events or
campaigns?
A: So we had a few events
proposed. We wanted to get speakers to
come in and talk about
men's health. We wanted to get speakers
from the Canadian Association
for Mental Health. I think that's how
it's called.
As well as other speakers like
Michael Rice who's an author that wrote
a bunch of books dealing with boys and
why they're failing
in education and stuff like that. We also
wanted to have
an Instagram campaign
on International Men's Day so we'd go
around asking people to
post pictures of themselves. Pretty much
just with with a quick quote saying you
know
saying, sorry bringing to light any
any positive male role models that
they've had in their lives.
Q: So this has been happening before
like previously in previous years. You
know there's been
this, this attempt to get these groups
on campus.
So why is yours different?
A: Well I don't know how the other
groups operated, but we pretty much
operate under an egalitarian framework
which is just the general view that
everyone should have equal rights.
So you know that's
That's who we are. I really wanted to
make it
as intersectional as possible. So
Q: Intersectional, as though anyone can join
this group? A: Yeah, so anyone can join.
Right now our members are almost 50 male
and female.
Our executives are two-thirds
female. Q: So
tell me a little bit about the
executives. Who's on the team, who's on
the board? Yeah, so
one of our executives would like
to remain
anonymous. Q: Why do you think that is?
A: Well she's
mentioned a few times now that
she fears the repercussions of
of being publicly associated with this
group.
Q: So what are those repercussions? why
would you be,
why would you be afraid to be public?
A: Well there's a lot of powerful groups in
on campus that have been bullying us
and spreading slanderous lies about us
since we started.
So I think it's tied to that.
Q: So U of T has similar issues as well.
A men's group issues club and they
face some backlash like you were
speaking on.
Do you think that will happen on
campus if you guys get approved?
A: Well we haven't been approved that's
the thing we got rejected recently.
So you know
in terms of that I
don't know. We may still continue
operating,
just you know not under the
guidance or supervision of the RSU.
But yeah it's
yeah Q: So how do you deal with this kind
of backlash like you were talking about -
people saying slanderous remarks? A: Well
we've released a statement,
you know, trying to clear up as much
as we can.
You know some of the slanderous lies
that have been spread about us is that
we're misogynists
and looking at our demographics alone is
you know
just puts that lie to rest.
Q: Sorry to cut you off we only have 30
seconds left - just want to know
what's next for the men's issues group?
You did say that you guys got rejected
but
how are you guys going to continue like
you were saying? A: So we will probably
be appealing the decision.
But we have other plans to continue
operating
possibly and
as well as other things planned. Q: Well
thanks so much for joining us Kevin, we
really do appreciate it.