In this YouTube segment, Coach Jack Kammer discusses why traditional, loud public demonstrations are especially difficult for men advocating male gender issues. He outlines three main obstacles: professional and personal constraints that limit men’s ability to protest openly; cultural discomfort with vocal, confrontational tactics; and the presence of counter‑demonstrators who distract and undermine the message. Kammer hints at a different approach—a silent, visual protest using a printed "Face of Sadness" graphic—to convey the cause without the usual noise. The segment also includes brief reports from other speakers: one noting a recent gathering of about 500 men’s‑rights activists at Federation Square, and another quoting a counter‑protester chant that mixes anti‑Trump, anti‑gay, and anti‑racist slogans, illustrating the chaotic opposition men’s‑rights groups often face.
Chapters
Will men ever stage huge marches and rallies like this one? Probably not. But maybe there's another style of public demonstration that will work better for us. We'll be back to talk about one idea right after this. Public demonstrations about male gender issues are difficult and problematic, to say the least. Even men who support the cause often can't go public because they have jobs, careers, businesses, bosses, customers, and clients they have to worry about. Some would be suspicious. Others would be outright outraged. Second, we're just not comfortable demanding attention with shouts and screams like women do. Third, we are often met with counter-demonstrators who really don't know much about us but do everything they can to make themselves feel heroic by distracting and disrupting us.
Around 500 men's rights activists convened at Federation Square on Saturday before counter-protesters came marching in in with their own tune.
No Trump! We can't get a gay, no fascist, never a racist, sexist, anti-gay, never a racist, you go away!
So we're generally outmatched in the game of making public demands. We're also not typically as slick as women in the communication game. It's a little like We have this, and they have this. But suppose we borrow the eloquence of images from their smartphone and build our public demonstrations around just one simple graphic. It won't require speeches. We won't need to chant, demand, yell, or scream. We will silently express just one underlying overwhelming emotion, the emotion that tells more of the truth about us than the mistaken stereotyped idea that we are angry. We are sad for men and boys. Our sadness is our message. We are sad for men and boys. And we proclaim that message in our demonstrations by making it the face of our demonstrations and of our demonstrators. It's the classic icon of tragedy and pain. For all its pathos, it costs next to nothing— just a printout from the internet and a couple of rubber bands. You'll find the download URL in the video description. Besides delivering our message, our Face of Sadness also serves as a mask for people who can't go public on male gender issues. We're not the only movement that feels a need for masks. Regardless of whether you like them or not, Anonymous, for instance, uses them too. Not only does their mask provide them with anonymity, it generates solidarity as well. Our symbol can do the same for us. Imagine a group of men and male-friendly women adopting this face and standing absolutely silent and motionless, shoulder to shoulder, in a public place for a full hour, just projecting to the world the way we feel. We are sad for men and boys. Just us, our sadness, our symbol, and a sign or two that broadcasts our message to passersby. We can do it on the Mall in Washington, D.C. in support of a White House Council on Boys and Men, or for any number of other proposals that deserve more attention and understanding than they get. We can do it also in state capitals in support of establishing state commissions on boys and men. We can do it outside the National Press Club or NPR, or the New York Times. We can do it any place where we need to make friends and influence people. If counter-protesters want to come, they will have no proceedings to disrupt. They cannot silence our silence. They cannot deny our sadness with their noise. Please put your thoughts in the comments below. Would you participate in a demonstration like this? I'm Coach Kammer. I am sad for men and boys. Thanks for watching.
