{"id":2725,"date":"2018-09-14T16:19:15","date_gmt":"2018-09-14T21:19:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsroom.home.ona\/newsroom18\/?p=446"},"modified":"2021-06-22T18:26:24","modified_gmt":"2021-06-22T22:26:24","slug":"male-allies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/journalists-org-develop.go-vip.co\/newsroom\/2018\/09\/14\/male-allies\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Male allies’ panel takes unique approach to prompting discussion"},"content":{"rendered":"

When Fergus Bell and Frederica Cherubini pitched their \u201cMale Allies Toolkit\u201d<\/a>\u00a0session at ONA, the idea was to create a safe space so that those present could be honest about their stories.<\/p>\n

On Thursday, those attending found a unique format where those on the panel were recorded but not those in the audience.<\/p>\n

“We are going to be recording this session,”\u00a0 Bell, a consultant and journalist for Dig Deep Media, told a room three-quarters filled with men. “This recording will pick up our voices. It won’t pick up your voices in any degree that is useful in identifying people.”\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Janine Warner, ICFJ fellow and executive director of SembraMedia\u00a0explained:\u00a0<\/span>\u201cOne of the first things I did in that room was to try to create a space where well-intentioned men could not be embarrassed to admit what they don\u2019t know and didn\u2019t have to worry about being attacked for saying the wrong thing.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe men who came to the male allies session were men I knew who were at least trying to do the right thing.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The #MeToo<\/a> movement has spurred multiple conversations about misogyny in the workplace. Bell and Cherubini, head of knowledge sharing for Cond\u00e9 Nast International, wanted the panel\u00a0to shift the conversation from what women can do for themselves to what men can do to empower women. Attitudes like mansplaining and discrediting the work of women can greatly hamper those in the workplace.<\/p>\n

As an educator with power, Alfred Hermida said this was an important session for him at ONA.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u201cI thought that it was important to see what I could do and what I could learn from that panel so I could learn how someone like myself \u2026 could help out the women around me,” said Hermida, director of the journalism program at the University of British Columbia. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201c[Men] can call things out in a way that is more diplomatic sometimes or will be accepted in a way that perhaps when I call it out will be just be seen as a gender thing,\u201d said Angela Pacienza, a panelist and head of experience for the Globe and Mail.<\/span><\/p>\n

What allyship looks like<\/b><\/p>\n

One of the topics the panel discussed was how men can be allies without being patronizing to women. Pacienza said reading the room in a work environment is key for allies. Warner added that men calling out men out might not be the best idea, but pulling them aside afterward is a better approach.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cMost men are really uncomfortable if you call them out in front of a group of people \u2014 that\u2019s just been my experience working with them,\u201d Warner said.
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

Words matter<\/b><\/p>\n

Another topic for the panelists was language. For example, never using \u201cgirl\u201d when referring to women is one of many starting points for men.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI will call out a man or a woman if they use the word girl when they\u2019re not talking about a girl,\u201d Bell said. \u201cI just correct them and say \u2018you mean woman.\u2019 The reaction I\u2019ve had is \u2018Oh, I call everyone girl\u2019 and \u2018I don\u2019t mean anything by it.\u2019\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Additionally, Bell said he has eliminated gendered curse words in his vocabulary. <\/span><\/p>\n

When dealing with people who use misogynistic language in the newsroom, Pacienza advised having one-on-one conversations with people and establishing that not everyone is perfect.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cComing to a conversation and saying none of us are perfect but when you did this, this is how it makes other people feel, can be valuable,\u201d Pacienza said.<\/span><\/p>\n

After the panel, Hermida said he learned how to frame ideas better and how having male allies who empower women will improve everything in a journalism publication. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIf you\u2019re a male in a position of power, what can you do to create spaces for others to take power and have authority?\u201d he asked. \u201cHow can you create space for others to have agency? Because really this is what we\u2019re talking about.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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