DMT Beauty Transformation: A Cheeky Way to Talk About Straight Male Privilege
featured Khareem Sudlow

A Cheeky Way to Talk About Straight Male Privilege

October 24, 2019DMT.NEWS

#DMTBeautySpot #beauty

The Worldwide Roar Is Changing How We Look at Men With a Global Campaign

Just last year, the Warwick Rowers’ social media presence disappeared like a victim of Thanos’ snap. The athletic club, known for stripping down as a part of a calendar shoot that helps stop homophobia across all sports, was taken aback when its charitable efforts were basically mistaken for an excuse to post thotty pictures online.

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“As you may have noticed, our Instagram account has been permanently deactivated without any reason communicated to us,” the group wrote back in the summer of 2018 when they were told they’d violated guidelines. “We’re hoping this is a mistake and are waiting for them to allow us back on the platform to keep spreading our message.”

Now, not only is the sports club back in full swing, it’s rebranded as the Worldwide Roar, a sports-based advocacy program aiming to become “an inclusive campaign that offers sportsmen everywhere to experience the journey of the original Warwick Rowers.”

“Over the course of ten calendars, four coffee table books, and countless films, [this] project evolved from a basic student fundraiser for a sports club into a campaigning calendar promoting the straight ally message into a global campaign looking to promote healthier masculinity (and by implication, gender equality and LGBT+ rights) through changing how we look at men,” says Angus Malcolm, Worldwide Roar producer and Sports Allies sponsor.

“The Roar will enable men to set project-based goals based on their sporting skills, their physical fitness, their social skills, empathy, courage and commitment to change. This is an opportunity for sports – and sportsmen — to show leadership in promoting diversity, healthier masculinity and gender equality.”

Men posing with rowing paddlesWorldwide Roar

And all this male nudity isn’t just used as internet clickbait. The act of promoting nudity and posing without clothes is meant to enable men to feel liberated, all while embracing new experiences and perspectives on things they might never have been exposed to before. It’s also meant to spark a conversation, encouraging males of any sexuality to speak openly and honestly.

Yes, a calendar filled with dudes chilling in the nude might scream “flaming homosexual” to some, but according to Malcolm, “most of the WR guys have been straight.” However, he notes that the most recent shoot for the new calendar was about “50/50 straight and LGBT” with its first ever inclusion of a trans person.

“Over thirty men took part, from all levels of rowing, including aspiring GB squad members, and from a range of other sports, including football, boxing, cricket, rugby and MMA,” adds Malcolm.

Despite all the great work Worldwide Roar is doing, there’s still a lot to be done regarding homophobic and toxic masculinity that occurs every day, especially within the world of sports. One of the key things that Malcolm highlights is men becoming more “conscious of the rules that operate, particularly when men are together in groups, and being prepared to challenge those rules, even when it’s not comfortable to do so.”

“I think that’s part of what makes the nudity in the WR project so meaningful – these are men stepping outside their comfort zones and potentially inviting the criticism of other men by breaking unspoken rules about intimacy and vulnerability between men,” he says. “It’s about visibility, too. If you care about your values, you have to prove them … you cannot hide in the shadows. Stand up for the person who is being bullied, at the time that it is happening.”

men in towelsWorldwide Roar

As Worldwide Roar acts as a non-profit organization, all of the profits from its valiant efforts go directly to Sport Allies, a registered charity that has received over £100,000 (about 129,190.00 in U.S. dollars) from its sales thus far.

“We hope that as we grow into an international campaign working at a local level, we can raise money for other relevant causes,” says Malcolm. “Sports-based programs to promote better mental health in young men, for example, or charitable initiatives addressing some of the impacts that male heteronormative values have on other people like LGBT support groups and domestic abuse awareness programs.”

As we slowly approach 2020, the Worldwide Roar team is continuing to do what they do best: flash their cheeks for a good cause.

“By asking an apparently simple question about how we can look at men, we aim to show how much the heterosexual male gaze continues to dominate our culture,” notes Malcolm. “We want to draw attention to the privilege that many men, particularly heterosexual men, still take for granted. We aim to highlight the inequality and injustice on which that privilege is based, and how it affects every one of us, men included.”

With plans to organize events targeting various sports in countries all across the globe, the Worldwide Roar is aiming to teach men how to contribute as part of the solution, and not as part of the problem. Inclusion is key, people, and if it takes a little bit of man ass to grasp that concept, so be it.

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via https://www.DMTBeautySpot.com

Sean Abrams, Khareem Sudlow

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