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Episode·57 min·Jun 2, 2026

Progressive Masculinity — Boys, Role Models and the Future of Masculinity

with Mike Nicholson

Mike Nicholson joins Chris and Jett to talk about what 'progressive masculinity' actually means — for boys growing up online, for the men trying to be role models, and for the version of manhood we're collectively building next.

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Progressive Masculinity — Boys, Role Models and the Future of Masculinity

57 min

Transcript

Edited lightly for clarity. Timecodes available inside the player.

Chris: Welcome back to No Man's an Island. I'm Chris Hemmings.

Jett: And I'm Dr. Jett Stone. Today we're sitting down with Mike Nicholson — educator, writer, and founder of Progressive Masculinity.

Mike: Thanks for having me. I think the place I want to start is the word itself. 'Progressive' gets read as political. I don't mean it that way. I mean: moving forward, on purpose, into a version of masculinity that actually works for the boys in front of us.

Chris: What does 'actually works' look like in a classroom?

Mike: It looks like being allowed to be uncertain out loud. Most boys I work with have never seen an adult man say 'I don't know' without flinching. That's the first move.

Jett: And in therapy we see the cost of that on the other end — men in their forties learning the language for what they felt at twelve.

[Full transcript continues — this is an excerpt. The complete transcript is available in the audio chapters on Acast.]

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