Ideas worth spreading

3 things men can do to promote gender equity

1,958,481 views |

Jimmie Briggs |

TEDWomen 2021

• December 2021

"It is time for a gender reckoning, beginning with men authentically confronting our internal selves and each other," says essayist and intersectional justice advocate Jimmie Briggs. In this call to action for gender equity, he unpacks how traditional notions of masculinity harm society and offers three ways men can help promote personal safety, dignity and empowerment for all.

"It is time for a gender reckoning, beginning with men authentically confronting our internal selves and each other," says essayist and intersectional justice advocate Jimmie Briggs. In this call to action for gender equity, he unpacks how traditional notions of masculinity harm society and offers three ways men can help promote personal safety, dignity and empowerment for all.

This talk was presented at an official TED conference. TED's editors chose to feature it for you.

Check out Promundo, a global education and advocacy initiative that encourages gender equality and violence prevention through authentic engagement of young men and boys working in partnership with their female counterparts.

Donate to Grantmakers for Girls of Color to help support girl-focused organizations working at the intersections of gender, racial and sexual identities.

Learn about and join the Sister Song movement, a national, reproductive justice organizations centering the challenges of Indigenous and Black women's reproductive and maternal health.

About the speaker

Jimmie Briggs

Essayist, intersectional justice advocate

See speaker profile

Jimmie Briggs is an essayist, journalist and advocate for racial and gender justice.

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"Racial Justice Cannot Happen Without Gender Equality"

Speaking truth to power about violence and inequality within the black community as part of our larger quest for racial justice isn't vilifying black men but, rather, is creating greater space for those of us who openly declare ourselves feminists to ally with black women on the issues that specifically affect them, as well as hold our brothers accountable to one another.

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During the nearly six-year civil war in eastern Congo, gang rapes by soldiers were so common that doctors recorded vaginal wounds as crimes of combat.

Jimmie Briggs | VICE, 2018 | Article

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There's a vast, undiagnosed epidemic of PTSD in communities of color plagued by violence, and many young men are struggling to cope on their own.

Jimmie Briggs | TEDxTraverseCity, 2016 | Watch

"Failing forward"

Failure is an opportunity that social activists and entrepreneurs cannot be afraid to embrace.

Jimmie Briggs | HuffPost, 2014 | Article

"The Disease We Are"

More than anyone else, though, I feel the most disgust with myself. I wish I could go, go somewhere in that tragedy-burdened West African region to do something, anything.

Linda Villarosa | New York Times, 2018 | Article

"Why America's Black Mothers and Babies Are in a Life-or-Death Crisis"

Read journalist Linda Villarosa's seminal essay to understand the shocking medical inequities women of color face in having safe childbirths in the United States.

Learn more

This talk was presented at an official TED conference. TED's editors chose to feature it for you.

Check out Promundo, a global education and advocacy initiative that encourages gender equality and violence prevention through authentic engagement of young men and boys working in partnership with their female counterparts.

Donate to Grantmakers for Girls of Color to help support girl-focused organizations working at the intersections of gender, racial and sexual identities.

Learn about and join the Sister Song movement, a national, reproductive justice organizations centering the challenges of Indigenous and Black women's reproductive and maternal health.