JAFARECYesterday, I had my monthly Yoyogi workshop session. The first mini-lecture in the morning was about “Family functions and therapy”.
I started by talking about how the men’s movement has been involved in supporting men or women, going back thirty years ago when I started Japan’s first men’s movement with my companions, and how men’s support is structurally different from so-called women’s support.
Feminists see the structure of male domination as the source of all problems, including family issues, and that men and women are in oppositional structures. Feminists see the structure of male domination as the source of all problems, including family issues, and that men and women are in oppositional structures. In contrast, Men’s therapy, which provides support from the standpoint of Men’s studies, assumes that the power structure, not the gender oppositional structure, is the essence of the problem. It is not about gender.
There is a secondary harm that feminists in power can inflict on women who face problems. From a men’s therapy perspective, it’s a natural consequence.
In order for the person involved in the problem to recover, regardless of the perpetration or gender, we believe that it is obvious that therapy should take place outside of the power structure, and furthermore, we believe that therapy is effective in re-nurturing the person, going back to the problems of upbringing. And for that to happen, the therapy needs to have a family function. We talked about this in the mini-lecture.
After that, we did the workshop “My Instruction Manual”. We observed ourselves objectively as if we were a household appliance, describing our own performance, features, and precautions for use, and tried to communicate that to others in words.
If you don’t include your weaknesses and write them down accurately, it won’t be an instruction manual. It’s not easy to talk about your weaknesses if you tell people about them, but it’s relatively easy to talk about them if you describe them as if they were products. By accepting yourself as you are, telling others about it, and having others accept it, you will gain pride in yourself as you are and a greater sense of self-assurance.
In addition, by telling your story as you are, it is easier for others to understand you, and through dialogue, mutual understanding and trust is built.
The work from noon was ” The Gift of Words”. Each person sends a message to the others, and each person replies to the message. It’s a pleasure to exchange gifts, even if it’s just words.
After that, we had a workshop for women only. The subject was “My Satisfaction”. You have to look objectively at how satisfied you are with various items.
Candy is always on the table at the women’s workshop.
After the women’s workshop, I had a few individual counselling sessions. After all that, I took the night bus from Shinjuku again…whew.
Originally posted on September 29, 2020
English text translated with DeepL (Japanese to English) and checked by Mina.
