Toxic masculinity – IMSA-Iran

Name of the activity: Toxic masculinity

Country/NMO: IMSA-Iran

Program: Gender-Based Violence

Contact information: contact [email protected] to get in touch with the Activity Coordinator

Type of the activity: First-time Activity

Category: Education

Focus area: Toxic masculinity

Sustainable Development Goals addressed: SDG 5 (Gender Equality)

General description:

We introduced the topic of toxic masculinity and its effects on society by producing visual content and sharing it on our social media. Next, we prepared a podcast using the experiences of our audience to raise awareness about the concept and its examples, and, the solutions were presented by an expert on how to prevent the spread of toxic masculinity in society. Meanwhile, we tried to engage our audience more by using methods such as holding an online competition or discussion panels.

Problem statement:

Toxic masculinity encompasses the social and cultural pressures imposed upon men, expecting them to behave in certain ways. It expects men to suppress emotions, poorly or rarely express them; a concept consequence of which is detrimental to them and others. Being forced to live up to social expectations, and refraining from expressing emotions results in violence, addiction to narcotics, and eventually suicide which augments mortality rates from 4 to 7 fold.

Target groups:

• Men

Beneficiaries:

• General population

Objectives:

1. 1) Raising awareness about the concept, complications, and pitfalls of toxic masculinity and publishing a video on the mentioned topic to further clarify the gist of the project on June 25th, 2022  
2. 2) Encouraging our target audience to share opinions about how society reacts to these clichés and sharing visual content to further gain our audience’s attention on June 26th, 2022.
3. 3) Sending out a questionnaire, asking our audience to brainstorm or share experiences about the place of toxic masculinity in a patriarchal society. The questionnaire had been put on the committee’s Instagram page on June 27th, 2022. 
4. 4) Publishing a podcast concerning the subject, consensually using our audience’s experience with toxic masculinity and the pitfalls and pressures that befall men’s way on July 9th, 2022. 
5. 5) A live Instagram interview about the consequences and burdens of toxic masculinity and how to manage and prevent the hardships that may lie ahead on July 13th, 2022.

Indicators of Success:

“) Assessing our audience’s interest in the published video about the concept,  challenges, and pitfalls of toxic masculinity; a minimum of 700 views, 350  likes, 30 comments, and shares are expected.

2) Analyzing our target audience’s engagement in sharing their experiences and ideas about clichés and social expectations that a patriarchal society expects men to live up to; a minimum of 50 participants is expected.

3) Evaluating whether the published podcast about toxic masculinity and people’s experiences were well received; a minimum of 300 likes, 30 comments and 20 shares are expected.

4) Assessing the participation rate in the Instagram live about compilations and consequences of toxic masculinity; participation of at least 50 people is expected

5) Evaluating the likelihood of the project’s success (i.e. raising awareness about the concept of toxic masculinity) based on a minimum 50% increase in the pre-test and post-test answers.

Methodology:

1)Holding a brainstorming meeting and forming the team on May 30th

2) Sharing Instagram to introduce the concept of toxic masculinity and assess our audiences’ knowledge on the topic on June 24th.

3) Taking initiative steps into starting the project by sharing a video on our committee’s Instagram page about toxic masculinity on June 25th and posting our visual content about its effects on June 26th and posting a Ted Talk video on June 27th. 

4) Sharing the questionnaire to ask about our audiences’ personal experience with toxic masculinity on June 28th and then Producing a podcast using the experiences shared on our questionnaire and posting it on the Instagram page on August 9th.

5) Calling out for an online competition to encourage our audience to look for clichés and pitfalls of toxic masculinity in everyday life and on the internet on July 25th. 

6) Going live on Instagram to elaborate on types, effects, and outcomes of toxic masculinity in a patriarchal society on August 30th. 

Plans for evaluation:

Evaluation of the project was done by asking our audience about their viewpoint changes throughout the conduction of the project; that being said, forms and questionnaires were provided to evaluate the effectiveness and efficiency of the project. In this questionnaire, our audience was challenged to share their perspective as it developed during the project, parts of the questions were also designed to assess the audience’s understanding and knowledge of the concept, examples, and effects of the issue on society, before and at the end of the project.

External collaborations:

Golestan University of medical science (A government university) helped us by providing the resources we needed.