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Wingspan: Inside the Men's Movement
The editor of Wingspan--the official journal of the men's movement--offers an authoritative introduction to the movement written by its leaders and including essays, poetry, letters, photos, cartoons, and much more. Original.
264 pages, Paperback
First published July 1, 1992
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Christopher Harding
19 booksLibrarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.
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June 10, 2025
A BROAD COLLECTION OF WRITINGS EXPLAINING THIS MOVEMENT IN DEPTH
Editor Christopher Harding wrote in the opening section (‘What is Wingspan?’) of this 1992 book, “Mythopoetic men’s activity is here to stay as a deep, historical shift in world culture. Growing to keep pace with rapidly expanding interests, ‘Wingspan: Journal of the Male Spirit,’ an international quarterly, has emerged as the movement’s most comprehensive and widest circulation publication. This 16-page tabloid-sized newspaper is currently distributed free to anyone who requests a ‘subscription.’ Since 1986 Wingspan has been representing the scope of men’s work through provocative leadership interviews, workshop profiles, discussions of myth, and poetry as well as timely reviews or men’s books, film, and tapes… Our original intention for Wingspan was that it serve to report on the personal and planetary initiatives taking place on the horizon of men’s inner work these days.”
He explains in ‘What’s All This About a Men’s Movement?’, “Sadly, many, perhaps most, men lack pride in their masculinity. No matter how tough, cool, or jovial they may seem on the outside, inwardly many guys feel a little sheepish, spiritually and emotionally inferior to women, physically and financially inferior to other men… he often senses that there is something vaguely wrong with being proud of being a MAN. Any gleam of male pride these days is likely to be dismissed as ungrounded and unhealthy, and may even be equated with ‘typical male chauvinism’ or ‘machismo.’ … (Pg. xi)
He continues, “the growing men’s movement is largely about men discovering the simple truth that being male is an ‘honorable estate.’ In essence, the men’s movement involves men gathering in large groups and small to consider what it means to be a man today… These gatherings provide positively charged environments that a man can visit as often as he needs to be inspired and empowered… Regular attendance … [gives] him frequent opportunities to readjust his attunement and to continue unlearning negative stereotypes about fellow males.” (Pg. xii)
He reports, “Men drawn to the mythopoetic men’s movement tend to be older than the men who were involved with men’s liberation a generation earlier. Studies of men’s liberation participants put the median age between 18 and 35, while mythopoetic men tend to be in the 35 to 50 range. Men’s libbers tended to have wives or close female friends involved in the women’s movement. Mythopoetic men count among their number a substantial number of divorced men who, suddenly without their sole emotional outlet, discover that in many ways men can understand other men better than a woman can, no matter how sympathetic she is.” (Pg. xv-xvi)
Barry Cooney notes, “One powerful aspect of the men’s movement is its emphasis on this form of bonding. When men are allowed to freely experience that love and support of other men, they begin to question competition in our society. This questioning engenders a willingness to engage in more service-oriented projects and activities whose aim is to nurture and protect the planet. Thus, the ‘feeling man’ becomes fully initiated into manhood and carries out his role as a protector, healer, and teacher to other men.” (Pg. 38)
Harding observes, “Men’s group members are different from friends. They gather, not simply to hang out, but to work on themselves in the presence of others committed to self-exploration. Men are there to practice being open, compassionate, and understanding of perspectives other than their own… Bonding certainly can take place wherever men spend time together, slowly letting one another seep in, silently sizing one another up, getting comfortable with one another. But the purpose of being part of a men’s group is not to become buddies, even though friendships form as a natural consequence. It’s not unusual for one man not to like another man in his group, yet feel an affection for him born out of understanding. “ (Pg. 77)
Tom Daly says, “As we men gather to live out the truths of ourselves, we discover the value of our secular rites of passage as we cocreate new sacred ones that honor our manhood. Only when we have accepted ourselves and our brothers as men can we become fully humanized adults. This is not a one-time process. Nor can it be in this age. We are not conforming to a set of traditional beliefs or established doctrines. We are living in the mystery of what we will become. To do this, we need all our brothers. We must use the grief, the anger, the fear, and the wildness to take us down into our souls.” (Pg. 83)
Shepherd Bliss states, “Our intention is clear: to form a weekend community of diverse individuals which can help restore the positive male community and facilitate the healing of each man and the context of humans, animals, and plants within which he dwells. We seek to alter men’s consciousness by means such as drumming and chanting, so we ask them to come without mind-altering drugs such as alcohol, cigarettes, and other substances that can be abused.” (Pg. 97)
Harding notes, “The men’s movement is rediscovering the interrelationships among psychology, spirituality, and literature and the notion that the heightened language of poetry and myth can impress truths more lastingly than a straightforward explication can.” (Pg. 120)
Christopher X. Burant reports, “Robert Bly has fashioned a contemporary understanding of the nature of the Wild Man. In his view the Wild Man possesses spontaneity, the presence of a developed female side, and the embodiment of a positive male sexuality… What has happened to this hairy, unclothed Wild Man who had lain for centuries submerged in the murky ooze of a forest lagoon? Wild Man has probably grieved for thousands of obliterated ecological niches and the disappearance of hundreds of delicate and unique species of plants and animals.” (Pg. 171)
Harding admits criticisms of the mythopoetic movement from feminists like Betty Friedan, as well as men in other branches of the men’s movement; e.g., “The mythopoetic movement is self-indulgent, rich white boys playing at cowboys and Indians, wasting time and money that would be much more productively spent advancing either of their [opposing] political and legislative agendas.” But he counters, “Few such critics understand that retreats allow men time and space to straighten out their thinking and recharge themselves with a sense of mission. Then they are able to go out into the world and get involved with social change. However, unlike their estranged brothers in the two political camps, mythopoetic men do not feel the need to agree with each other or anyone else on what constitutes ‘enlightened’ action; each man finds his own truth.” (Pg. 230)
This book will be ‘must reading’ for anyone seriously studying the mythopoetic men’s movement.
Editor Christopher Harding wrote in the opening section (‘What is Wingspan?’) of this 1992 book, “Mythopoetic men’s activity is here to stay as a deep, historical shift in world culture. Growing to keep pace with rapidly expanding interests, ‘Wingspan: Journal of the Male Spirit,’ an international quarterly, has emerged as the movement’s most comprehensive and widest circulation publication. This 16-page tabloid-sized newspaper is currently distributed free to anyone who requests a ‘subscription.’ Since 1986 Wingspan has been representing the scope of men’s work through provocative leadership interviews, workshop profiles, discussions of myth, and poetry as well as timely reviews or men’s books, film, and tapes… Our original intention for Wingspan was that it serve to report on the personal and planetary initiatives taking place on the horizon of men’s inner work these days.”
He explains in ‘What’s All This About a Men’s Movement?’, “Sadly, many, perhaps most, men lack pride in their masculinity. No matter how tough, cool, or jovial they may seem on the outside, inwardly many guys feel a little sheepish, spiritually and emotionally inferior to women, physically and financially inferior to other men… he often senses that there is something vaguely wrong with being proud of being a MAN. Any gleam of male pride these days is likely to be dismissed as ungrounded and unhealthy, and may even be equated with ‘typical male chauvinism’ or ‘machismo.’ … (Pg. xi)
He continues, “the growing men’s movement is largely about men discovering the simple truth that being male is an ‘honorable estate.’ In essence, the men’s movement involves men gathering in large groups and small to consider what it means to be a man today… These gatherings provide positively charged environments that a man can visit as often as he needs to be inspired and empowered… Regular attendance … [gives] him frequent opportunities to readjust his attunement and to continue unlearning negative stereotypes about fellow males.” (Pg. xii)
He reports, “Men drawn to the mythopoetic men’s movement tend to be older than the men who were involved with men’s liberation a generation earlier. Studies of men’s liberation participants put the median age between 18 and 35, while mythopoetic men tend to be in the 35 to 50 range. Men’s libbers tended to have wives or close female friends involved in the women’s movement. Mythopoetic men count among their number a substantial number of divorced men who, suddenly without their sole emotional outlet, discover that in many ways men can understand other men better than a woman can, no matter how sympathetic she is.” (Pg. xv-xvi)
Barry Cooney notes, “One powerful aspect of the men’s movement is its emphasis on this form of bonding. When men are allowed to freely experience that love and support of other men, they begin to question competition in our society. This questioning engenders a willingness to engage in more service-oriented projects and activities whose aim is to nurture and protect the planet. Thus, the ‘feeling man’ becomes fully initiated into manhood and carries out his role as a protector, healer, and teacher to other men.” (Pg. 38)
Harding observes, “Men’s group members are different from friends. They gather, not simply to hang out, but to work on themselves in the presence of others committed to self-exploration. Men are there to practice being open, compassionate, and understanding of perspectives other than their own… Bonding certainly can take place wherever men spend time together, slowly letting one another seep in, silently sizing one another up, getting comfortable with one another. But the purpose of being part of a men’s group is not to become buddies, even though friendships form as a natural consequence. It’s not unusual for one man not to like another man in his group, yet feel an affection for him born out of understanding. “ (Pg. 77)
Tom Daly says, “As we men gather to live out the truths of ourselves, we discover the value of our secular rites of passage as we cocreate new sacred ones that honor our manhood. Only when we have accepted ourselves and our brothers as men can we become fully humanized adults. This is not a one-time process. Nor can it be in this age. We are not conforming to a set of traditional beliefs or established doctrines. We are living in the mystery of what we will become. To do this, we need all our brothers. We must use the grief, the anger, the fear, and the wildness to take us down into our souls.” (Pg. 83)
Shepherd Bliss states, “Our intention is clear: to form a weekend community of diverse individuals which can help restore the positive male community and facilitate the healing of each man and the context of humans, animals, and plants within which he dwells. We seek to alter men’s consciousness by means such as drumming and chanting, so we ask them to come without mind-altering drugs such as alcohol, cigarettes, and other substances that can be abused.” (Pg. 97)
Harding notes, “The men’s movement is rediscovering the interrelationships among psychology, spirituality, and literature and the notion that the heightened language of poetry and myth can impress truths more lastingly than a straightforward explication can.” (Pg. 120)
Christopher X. Burant reports, “Robert Bly has fashioned a contemporary understanding of the nature of the Wild Man. In his view the Wild Man possesses spontaneity, the presence of a developed female side, and the embodiment of a positive male sexuality… What has happened to this hairy, unclothed Wild Man who had lain for centuries submerged in the murky ooze of a forest lagoon? Wild Man has probably grieved for thousands of obliterated ecological niches and the disappearance of hundreds of delicate and unique species of plants and animals.” (Pg. 171)
Harding admits criticisms of the mythopoetic movement from feminists like Betty Friedan, as well as men in other branches of the men’s movement; e.g., “The mythopoetic movement is self-indulgent, rich white boys playing at cowboys and Indians, wasting time and money that would be much more productively spent advancing either of their [opposing] political and legislative agendas.” But he counters, “Few such critics understand that retreats allow men time and space to straighten out their thinking and recharge themselves with a sense of mission. Then they are able to go out into the world and get involved with social change. However, unlike their estranged brothers in the two political camps, mythopoetic men do not feel the need to agree with each other or anyone else on what constitutes ‘enlightened’ action; each man finds his own truth.” (Pg. 230)
This book will be ‘must reading’ for anyone seriously studying the mythopoetic men’s movement.
August 12, 2016
a mixed bag of opinions and writing styles. has some interesting perspectives.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews