This Poet Issues A Moving Challenge That Every Man Needs To Hear

Performance poet Jeremy Loveday has a challenge for men: take off your masks and start talking about gender violence.

The Canadian poet, based out of Victoria, British Columbia, delivers a clear and poignant explanation of what rape culture is and how it insidiously (and quietly) inserts itself into many benign parts of our lives. He recounts how he used to think of the men who committed acts of gender-based violence as monsters -- and just how damaging that assumption can be.

Loveday's call to action begins around 2:08, and is something that every man (and woman) should hear:

Men, take your masks off. Men, take responsibility. Men, open your mouths wider, show more than your teeth. There is a softness in your throat waiting to be freed. Men, we are responsible for the vast majority of violence. Men it's an epidemic. Men, don't think that it has to be this way. ... Men, put your masks down. Men, let's look each other in the eyes. Men, let's talk.

[H/T Upworthy]