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E58: Aspire to Care (ft. Cody Ragonese) - Real Men, Real Conversations
Aspire: The I Have The Right To Podcast
In this episode of Aspire - Real Men, Real Conversations, hosts Alex Prout and Gabriel Viscogliosi sit down with Cody Ragonese, Associate Director of Programs at Equimundo: Center for Masculinities and Social Justice. Cody shares how his journey from academic work in public health and international development to Peace Corps service in Eswatini led him into engaging men and boys in gender equality, HIV prevention, and violence reduction, and eventually into global masculinity work at Equimundo. He describes how early “girls’ empowerment” programs revealed a critical missing piece, and how building boys’ clubs focused on behavior change, safer sex, and relationships became his entry point into gender-transformative programming.
Together, Alex, Gabriel, and Cody unpack why “gender equality needs men just as much as men need gender equality,” reframing this work not as charity or “allyship” but as men’s empowerment and liberation from harmful, socially constructed masculinity. They dive into concepts like the “man box,” the crisis of connection, and boys’ emotional masks, exploring how norms of stoicism, dominance, and narrow definitions of strength leave many young men isolated, under-equipped, and convinced that “nobody cares if they’re okay.” Cody explains how Equimundo works across ecosystems, from preschool classrooms and sports fields to online spaces like Discord and influencer content, to help boys and men redefine what it means to be a man. The episode closes with Cody’s “I have the right to” statement, balancing accountability and care: a call for men to be held responsible for their actions while also being supported to express care in ways that build empathy and connection.
To learn more about Equimundo, please visit https://www.equimundo.org/
For more information on I Have The Right To, visit https://ihavetherightto.org/
Aspire is produced by BenHudakProductions.com
