What it means to be a man and the struggle for gender

equality | Sebastián Molano

① 1. What do you think this talk might be about?

2. How do you think, what does it mean to be a man/to be a woman today?
3. Do you think that to struggle for gender equality is the most effective way of
closing gender gap and avoiding gender stereotypes?
② Read the following information about the talk and explain the words in bold:

Sebastián's mission is to facilitate healthy discussions between men and women that
challenge the conventional gender roles established in a male dominated society.
Sebastián Molano, a native from Colombia, is a development worker with extensive
experience in Latin America and the Caribbean. Driven by a passion for social justice
and equality, Sebastian created the Defying Gender Roles group
(www.defyingenderoles.org), an initiative that contributes to deconstructing harmful
gender roles traditionally attributed to men and women in society. Selected as the
commencement speaker for his graduating class, Sebastián Molano is an alumnus of
The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. He is also a regular
contributor to the Good Men Project and Words in the Bucket.

③ While watching the talk, answer the following questions:

1. What breaking points does Sebastian talk about?

2. What kind of struggle do men and women face every day?

3. What does Sebastian want to say using the example of grey phone?

4. How do you think, what traditional and alternative roles are mentioned in the
speech?

5. What are the three things Sebastian wants to share with us?

6. What is the main idea of the talk?

7. The most impressing moment of the talk....

④ Read the comments to this TED Talk and discuss in pairs how much you agree
with them:

Excellent talk! The pressure that boys and young men receive to prove their
manhood in conventional-macho ways is still huge, despite modernity. So great
that these conversations raise awareness about the need change these harmful
cultural patterns. 
The men today should be versatile in every field, but no coward, or weak, do
the same things that a woman do also, but when the times come to use the
physical strength or anything that "define us as a basic man", we have to use
it!!!
More than "what it means to be a man" it's a question of what society demands
of men and women. As individuals, we may find discomfort in complying with
what society's demands.
Men have a crisis of masculinity. Men are given contradictory notions of
strength and weakness. Our aggressive nature and desire is suppressed to some
extent. I feel like while there's benefits to changing male gender roles they've
also made me more docile and afraid of life. I wonder if these can be
reconciled. Advertising really subconsciously messes with the mind which is
why I find the ads you posted interesting. I will say that emotional strength in
general is more important than physical strength thus the increase in stoic
literature.