A Call To Action For Men
Giacomo Gianniotti: A Call To Action For Men
YouTube version: Giacomo Gianniotti: A Call To Action For Men | The Man Enough Podcast - YouTube
This month’s episode covers a tough topic. Or at least a topic that I knew that I wanted to help our group talk about but I thought would be incredibly tough to bring up. Tough because we run this podcast in a work environment. Tough because this is such a personal topic. Tough because of the current political atmosphere around this topic. The topic is abortion.
I’m incredibly thankful that I found this week’s podcast to share with the group because it turned out to be a wonderful way to start the conversation. Yes, it was still a little uncomfortable, but isn’t that true about most topics that help us learn the most?
This week we listened to The Man Enough podcast with hosts Jamie Baldoni, Liz Plank, and Jamey Heath. And this particular episode featured guest Giacomo Gianniotti who shares the very personal story of his family’s experience with miscarriages and encourages men to speak out in the fight for protecting not just women’s rights, but all of our rights for bodily autonomy. It’s a message that I know was helpful for me to hear, and I hope it is useful for some of you as well.
It’s hard to find content on abortion that doesn’t create polarizing discussions. While this episode doesn’t shy away from a point of view, I think it does a good job focusing on creating a safe space for sharing, learning, and open discussion.
If you enjoy this podcast, I recommend you check out others from the series. There are so many good ones, but here’s a link to a discussion with Alok Vaid-Menon on The Urgent Need for Compassion which I also highly recommend.
Suggested discussion questions (if you need something to start the conversation):
Have you heard of a missed miscarriage before? Were there any other aspects of abortion that were new to you from this episode? Did learning about those things open up your thoughts in a new way?
What do you think of Giacomo’s statement that “men need to speak up”?
For our group this was a good test of our ability to create a safe space for our group to share. Have you had a close personal experience with miscarriage and/or abortion? Did you feel able to share your story? Did others feel able to share theirs? And if so, how did the sharing of those stories feel?
Compassion over comprehension - what does that mean to you?
Does your workplace offer support for employees going through a situation like this? If not, do you think they should?