In an ever-increasingly digital world, our ability to truly connect in a way that allows us to talk and really listen has waned. We can get access to and consume information about anything at the click of a button and can even weigh in on how we feel about another person’s life through social media, but having the hard and messy conversations that lead to learning, growth, and healing, without the distraction of advertisements, clickbait, and sensational journalism, is nearly impossible.

The Pillow Talk Project provides that safe space and often facilitates those powerful moments of learning, growth, and healing (digitally and in-person) where people, especially men–who often lack environments that encourage feeling and vulnerability–can “go there,” sharing the stories they often sweep under the rug and bottle up.  It also helps us remember that we’re all connected, even if we may not all have the same background, perspective, or experiences.

However, everyday intimate conversations are the tool to affecting change at a much larger scale, not the destination.

The Pillow Talk Project exists to push the world to rethink not only how we see men, but the archaic, violent, and dangerous archetypes of masculinity that adversely affect all of us, especially women, people of color, and the LGBTQ+ community.

In doing so, we can dismantle and rebuild the very social systems and thought processes that lead to things like physical, emotional, and sexual abuse, suicide, violence, hate, etc. and prioritize racial and gender equity so that we all feel valued, nurtured, heard, and connected.

There are no “silver bullets” for the social problems and injustices I listed above. Many of them have always been and are as old as time itself. But shifting our individual and collective consciousness will create more moments where we can all see the world in a new way and begin to re-imagine our places in it, together.

Are you down for the challenge? Learn more about how we’re getting this hard but meaningful work done around the country and, most importantly, why you should join us.