Homer

With a launch planned for August 2016, Homer is essentially going to be a resource for founder Ashley Thomson’s younger self.

Homer hopes to destigmatise male vulnerability (among other things) and provide alternative role models for men (male and otherwise) through the public complicity of men in rejecting and questioning cultural norms. There are many men who do it privately, and many more who are comfortable leaving that particular fight to others, but Homer is about men going public with the conversation, in concert with other men (and everyone else).

This will be primarily achieved through publishing interviews, essays, memoir and humour by both men and women. All submissions will be paid, and any submission lending insight into positive and negative experiences with mainstream and non-mainstream masculinities will be considered. It could be social commentary, comedic literature review, an outright hagiography of a wonderful and unusual man or anything else.

This venture skirts risky territory – dudespaces, mansplaining, unchecked male privilege – but Homer won’t champion ‘men’s issues’ above or to the detriment of others. Homer also isn’t interested in presenting some authentic, alternative masculinity – there is no ‘real man’, least of all a white liberal one. We want robust writing that reveals experiences from every corner of Australia and elsewhere. And with a little seed funding, we can make this a sustainable goal.