The ‘man box’ is the set of beliefs that society has defined as what it means to be a ‘real man’. When men try to step outside this, they are pushed back into the box of how they should think and behave. Matt Tyler, passionate about this topic, shares with Dr Justin Coulson in this conversation how to undo ‘toxic masculinity’, gender stereotypes, and break down ‘man box’ behaviour. The astounding life outcome statistics that result from living in the man box will blow you away.

Timestamps

• 00:19 Dr Justin Coulson introduces Matt Tyler
• 01:11 Matt’s backstory
• 02:31 The Men’s Project
• 05:27 The Man Box
• 13:42 The Man Box in Australia 
• 14:18  Perceived social pressures 
• 16:24  Personal endorsement of man box themes
• 18:30  Endorsement vs beliefs
• 21:20  Life outcomes of living in the man box 
• 22:14  Sexually harrassing women
• 24:50  Physical violence
• 27:55 Australian boys in the Man Box
• 29:20 Four adolescent man box sub pillars
• 29:27  Constant effort and bravado
• 30:03 Emotional restriction
• 30:37  Heterosexism
• 35:43  Social teasing
• 37:41 Impact on society from the Man Box
• 42:06 How can parents overcome the Man Box?
• 49:43 Other concrete strategies

Matt Tyler

Jesuit Social Services

Matt Tyler is the executive director of The Men’s Project at Jesuit Social Services working with a team committed to providing leadership on the reduction of violence and other harmful behaviours prevalent among boys and men. A particularly important part of this work is broadening the definition of what it means to be a man by translating findings from The Men’s Project’s Man Box research into practice. 

Matt brings to his role over 10 years of experience across the private, public, academic and community sectors. Prior to joining Jesuit Social Services he worked as a fellow for Harvard’s Government Performance Lab, focused on child protection, and he has also worked on projects related to family violence and mental health. He is trained as an economist with a particular focus on statistics, holding a Master of Public Policy from Harvard’s Kennedy School and Honours in Economics from Monash University.

Resources

• The Men’s Project
• The Man Box
• The Man Box and Language
• Modelling Respect and Equality Program – a case study

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