{"id":15392,"date":"2022-11-17T15:12:49","date_gmt":"2022-11-17T14:12:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/finncult.be\/?p=15392"},"modified":"2022-11-18T07:35:54","modified_gmt":"2022-11-18T06:35:54","slug":"finlands-first-ever-book-club-creates-much-needed-space-for-vulnerability-among-men","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/finncult.be\/fi\/finlands-first-ever-book-club-creates-much-needed-space-for-vulnerability-among-men\/","title":{"rendered":"Finland&#8217;s first-ever Book Club creates much needed space for vulnerability among men"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Kriticos Mwansa<\/span><\/b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">, known for <\/span><i><span data-contrast=\"auto\">The Book Club<\/span><\/i><span data-contrast=\"auto\"> concept in the Benelux area, held his first Book Club in Helsinki on the 9th of November. Focusing on masculinity, the Book Club took place in collaboration with the <\/span><b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">J\u00e4b\u00e4t ja Tunteet <\/span><\/b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">community and <\/span><b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">the Finnish Cultural Institute for the Benelux.<\/span><\/b><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:160,&quot;335559740&quot;:259}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>The session was based on the book<i><span data-contrast=\"auto\"> The Will to Change: Masculinity, Men &amp; Love<\/span><\/i><span data-contrast=\"auto\"> by writer and activist <\/span><b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">bell hooks<\/span><\/b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:160,&quot;335559740&quot;:259}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>We asked <strong>Yohannes Henriksson<\/strong>, Project Assistant at the Finnish Cultural Institute for the Benelux and participant at the event to share his experience of his first-ever Book Club.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_15398\" style=\"width: 2570px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-15398\" class=\"size-full wp-image-15398\" src=\"https:\/\/finncult.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/The-Book-Club-in-Helsinki-09.11.2022-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"A group of men sit round a table in an ambiently lit room.\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1707\" srcset=\"https:\/\/finncult.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/The-Book-Club-in-Helsinki-09.11.2022-scaled.jpg 2560w, https:\/\/finncult.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/The-Book-Club-in-Helsinki-09.11.2022-1280x854.jpg 1280w, https:\/\/finncult.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/The-Book-Club-in-Helsinki-09.11.2022-980x653.jpg 980w, https:\/\/finncult.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/The-Book-Club-in-Helsinki-09.11.2022-480x320.jpg 480w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 0px) and (max-width: 480px) 480px, (min-width: 481px) and (max-width: 980px) 980px, (min-width: 981px) and (max-width: 1280px) 1280px, (min-width: 1281px) 2560px, 100vw\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-15398\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><em>The Book Club with Kriticos Mwansa in Helsinki 09.11.2022. Photo by Yohannes Henriksson \/ The Finnish Cultural Institute for the Benelux<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n<h2><\/h2>\n<h2>A Deeper Need to Be Heard<\/h2>\n<p>By Yohannes Henriksson<\/p>\n<p>When I first heard that Kriticos\u2019 Book Club on masculinity would take place in Finland, I immediately saw two vivid mental images; one where a group of men were sitting quietly in a room staring at the floor, counting the minutes, and an alternative version, where we ran out of wine before The Book Club had even started.<\/p>\n<p>However, to my own surprise, I couldn\u2019t have been more wrong!<\/p>\n<p>After the first question \u201cWhat ways are the best to channel your pent-up emotions?\u201d all the men participating started to discuss. Different perspectives and personal experiences were shared and listened to resulting in all the unknown men sitting beside me starting to feel less foreign. The pre-picked quotes then naturally confluence with other topics and questions leading to a flowing conversation highlighting the participants longing to open-up and talk.<\/p>\n<p>After the first hour of the men-only discussion, everyone else was allowed to join in. At this point, I could feel a change in energy, as I felt that the safe space was disrupted. Nevertheless, by the end of the \u201copen for all\u201d discussion it started to feel more of a safe space again; a feeling that then lingered throughout the rest of the evening.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Personally, I feel like Kriticos and J\u00e4b\u00e4t ja Tunteet succeeded in creating an environment free of judgement and assumptions. To be among 11 (mostly) unknown men and to be able to speak and listen to each other about themes like love, emotions and how we view our male models and ourselves in life, was not only refreshing, it fed a deeper need to be heard and to open-up to other male-defining individuals. The Book Club ultimately succeeded in something greater than just an interesting discussion. The Book Club gave its participants a direction to follow on how to open their mental and emotional locks by simply discussing and sharing thoughts about masculinity among other men; a concept that is still foreign to most men in my own social circle.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/finncult.be\/internationally-acclaimed-the-book-club-concept-by-kriticos-mwansa-arrives-in-helsinki\/\">Read more about the collaboration.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The first-ever Helsinki Book Club with Kriticos Mwansa was a great success, giving participants the space to share their feelings and thoughts on masculinity.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":15389,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[79,71],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15392","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","category-masculinities"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - 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