Our discussion was interesting, as we looked at many changes in the media, such as trends. One year something is ‘trending’ or ‘in style,’ and the next, it’s not. We also discussed people’s behaviour. A test, of sorts, was done in a neighbourhood with lots of people. In one of the houses, a man was playing the drums. Dozens of people came to his door to get him to stop the noise. Another night, in the same place, the man recorded the sounds of domestic violence and played the noises as loud as he could. That night not one person went to the door to stop it.

We discussed these topics, as well as others such as ‘real men don’t cry’, how colours were swapped, blue for girls and pink for boys, and what changed it and why. We also talked about how violence against women is always shown on the media, in the news. But there is barely ever anything about violence against men and how statistics can help us to address issues. We also discussed how the media pushes you to change your body and here we really became aware of why some myths needed busting.

Overall, everyone gave great points to the discussion. It was interesting hearing what everyone else thought and what is going on in the modern world and the importance for boys and men to have ‘conversations that matter.’ Thank you to Ben Barber, the representative from Goodfellas, for coming and talking with us, it was a great experience to have him at Emanuel School.