![]() ![]() ![]() To this end Mask Off seeks to bridge the gap between two constituencies: the scholarly and activist milieux, which have their own established vernacular of critique and dissent and the wider community of uninitiated younger readers who, while potentially sympathetic to feminist politics, may find some of its terms of reference opaque or intimidating. He is under no illusions about the scale of this task, which will require “a collective cultural and social transformation and shift in consciousness”. While self-help gurus of the Jordan Peterson type nudge their readers towards the consolations of chauvinism – and, in so doing, fuel a grievance culture – Bola insists the only solution is to dismantle the entire concept of maleness as we have hitherto known it and replace it with “a masculinity that sees the necessity of the equality of genders for it to not only survive, but to thrive”. Before becoming a writer – he has three poetry collections and a novel, 2017’s No Place to Call Home, to his name – Bola spent many years as a youth worker helping young people with behavioural and mental health problems, so he knows a thing or two about the feelings of insecurity and low self-esteem experienced by many young men today. JJ Bola’s contribution is unusual in that it is explicitly aimed at younger people. ![]()
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