San Diego Man Camp is a male-only group that I started to give men a space for mutual support and encouragement to help all of us become more effective leaders, boyfriends, husbands, and parents.
Our mission statement:
We live in a society that is experiencing safety and prosperity that is unprecedented in human history. Never before have we enjoyed so much equality and opportunity. Unfortunately, the advancement of our society has also increasingly marginalized masculinity by either redefining the gender role as androgyny or femininity or overtly vilifying all things masculine. The San Diego Man Camp is an inclusive group of like-minded men that see the value in the open expression of masculinity. Currently, there are ample men's groups that aim to do the same, but they're a little too cult-like, annoyingly pious, or criminal enterprises. I'm aiming for a laid-back middle ground – something between The Promise Keepers and Hell's Angels.
The San Diego Man Camp has several goals, including:
- Create a fraternal club that provides a safe-haven for the free expression of masculinity where men are able to engage in “manly” adventures, discuss emotional and relationship issues, receive support from others that can truly empathize, and have freedom from our overly-repressive politically-correct culture.
- Teach men traditional skills our grandfathers may have mastered, and modern skills relevant to our world today.
- Share and learn information about women and interpersonal relationships to make us more effective boyfriends, husbands, and fathers and assure our embracing of masculinity does not turn our loved ones into the enemy.
- Work to improve our local community by fostering leadership and relationship-building skills with the eventual goal of creating a world where every member of our society, regardless of demographics, will have equal opportunity, equal possibility, and equal responsibility.
The San Diego Man Camp accomplishes these goals in three ways. We have a dedicated Facebook group of like-minded men that engage in asynchronous discussions on any relevant topic (and a few irrelevant topics, too.) I also run a workshop (currently in development) where the fundamental San Diego Man Camp beliefs are disseminated. Finally, we have group adventures (including activities like meetings to discuss male issues, training sessions to learn new skills, to organized trips to share and build male camaraderie) for men that have completed the workshop.
"Somewhere between Promise Keepers and Hell's Angel's"
ReplyDeleteSounds like you're real "down to earth" in a good way!