GQ USA - 11.2019

(Jacob Rumans) #1

VOICES OF THE NEW MASCULINITY


VOICES OF THE NEW MASCULINITY


VOICES OF THE NEW MASCULINITY


VOICES OF THE NEW MASCULINITY VOICES OF THE NEW MASCULINITY VOICE


The founder of the
#MeToo movement,
Tarana Burke is an activist
focused on racial justice
and sexual violence. She spoke
with GQ about the work she
does, creating allies out of men.

It’s best to start with men who at
least have a conscientiousness
around women’s rights and
see us as equals. And then
it’s always best to engage men
who can engage other men.
I may not have as much success
coming into a room full of men
and trying to talk to them about
women’s issues, but another
man can connect.
A lot of times, once you
start saying things like “rape
culture,” “sexual violence,”
“gender equity,” men’s ears turn
to mush. So I try to narrow it
down to concepts I think men
can connect to, like dignity.
That’s universal, and men in
particular are socialized to
protect their dignity. I frame it
in terms of their own lives, like,
“When you go into a meeting,
does somebody stop you and
say, ‘Hey, listen, you might
want to put a jacket on and
cover up your butt, because
these guys are handsy’? Or
‘Watch out for Joe, because
he likes to grab people by the
balls.’ ” I ask them: What if
that was a life you had to live?
Once you start connecting
the indignities women deal
with, they’re like, “Oh, God.”
It’s about getting them
to tap into empathy. Sympathy
is fleeting—you can feel
sorry for somebody today and
not think about it tomorrow.
If you can have empathy for
another person, you’ll always
come back to that because
it connects to a place inside
of you. —AS TOLD TO N.C.B.

Collier Schorr is a celebrated
photographer whose work ranges
from fine art to editorial to advertising
while flipping gendered scripts—of
assertive women, queer and transgender
models, and androgynous boys.

When I go to shoot someone, I’m always curi-
ous: How will we relate? I’m not the tradi-
tional face that walks into the photo studio.
Men have fewer facial expressions than
women, and so in terms of making pic-
tures and showing a range, it is harder.
I don’t know if it’s because men haven’t
been encouraged to have more emotional

responses and therefore their expressions
are more limited, or if it’s that we as a cul-
ture are less interested in that range.
I do think that today maybe there’s
more possibility of play for men. Play in
the sense of just being able to shift around
and borrow—just kind of soften. Women
probably can’t appreciate how big a small
shift is in masculinity. Maybe there’s per-
mission for men to be a little more curious
about who they really are. I’m not sure that
people have encouraged men to be curi-
ous about who they are. And so maybe in
pictures I try to play with that a little bit.
—AS TOLD TO N.C.B.

Photograph by Collier Schorr

Tarana Burke on...
How to Break
Through to Men

COLLIER


SCHORR


The A-List
Photographer
Whose Subject Is
Often Gender Itself

MAYBE THERE’S


PERMISSION


FOR MEN TO BE


A LITTLE MORE


ABOUT WHO


THEY REALLY


ARE.”



THIS PAGE: RACHEL MURRAY/GETTY IMAGES


94 GQ.COM NOVEMBER 2019

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