Men's Radio

galway | gender and sexuality | event notice Tuesday January 30, 2007 09:07 by Margaretta D'Arcy - Radio Pirate-Woman margaretta at iol dot ie 091 565430

Where are men and boys today and what is their role in Ireland?

John Arden, playwright & novelist, will host
the MEN’s RADIO FESTIVAL
when Radio Pirate-Woman opens its airwaves
FM 102

Saturday February 3rd – Tuesday 13th February

Lunchtime broadcasts 12 noon – 2 pm daily
@ 10 St Bridget’s Place Lower,
Woodquay, Galway.

Where are Men & Boys today?
Do you have a role?
If so, are you happy with it?
Share your experiences over the air
Through stories, poems, thoughts, music & song.

The choice is yours:
turn up between 12 & 2, or phone, e-mail, text, skype.
Anonymity & Gentleness Assured
A midnight broadcast will recap lunchtime session

For more information, phone / text: 091 565430
e-mail: Margaretta@iol.ie
skype: phone in advance to arrange it
broadcast will be downloaded on webpage www.margarettadarcy.com

Radio Pirate-Woman, now in its 21st year, will open its airwaves in February for a ten-day forum exclusively for men.
The changing role of men, the shift for men – young men in particular – instead of being the bread winners and heads of household, now that the forces of capitalism have coerced more and more women into the workplace as bread winners and heads of families. Where does this leave men? The National Crime Council and the Economic and Social Research Institute report that 29% of women and 26% of men have experienced domestic abuse, while 13% of both women and men suffer physical abuse, and 29% of women and 5% of men report to the Gardai. Radio Pirate-Woman hopes to facilitate a forum on what men feel, think, what can be done? A lot of men are unhappy and frustrated and displaced, as is reflected in the amount of suicides. Who is to blame? Market forces? The cruel blast of a hostile environment? How far can women be blamed? The Mammy? – women as a cultural police force? Who are the abusers? Who are the abused? Cultural conditioning as seen in such tales as – e.g. the Book of Genesis, Bluebeard or My Fair Lady (altered from Shaw’s Pygmaion for commercial reasons to bring back Eliza submissively to the professor’s feet with his slippers!)
This is not an issue of so-called gender equality where all differences between the sexes are ironed out to make us all into robots, but a means of discovering ways for each and all of us to live happily and creatively together.
We are inviting any man who is interested in taking part in this forum to contact us with his ideas and personal experiences. The forum itself will be as flexible as possible.