Macho, alpha males are everywhere. Men’s circles are modeling another way to be a man

Experts say there’s a growing appetite for these groups across the US, UK, Canada and Australia — and those who participate in them say they’re challenging deeply entrenched ideas about what it means to be a man.

Tyrone Marsh felt a void in his life. He was in his 40s and married with two kids. A self-described extrovert, he socialized often. But living in New York after years of moving around, he realized his existing relationships lacked a certain level of depth. His conversations with other men tended to revolve around sports or romantic pursuits, and he longed for more substance. In other words, he wanted real friends. In 2018, in search of connection, he came across a Meetup group that he thought was a book club. It was something else entirely: The ManKind Project, an organization offering intensive retreats and support groups to help men improve their relationships with themselves and others. Intrigued, Marsh decided to join one of the organization’s men’s circles, or structured spaces in which men gather regularly to talk. At his first meeting, he found what he had been missing all his life. “I can sit there with this group of men and fumble through whatever these thoughts are that I’m having,” he says. “And those men hold the space for me and ask questions, and I don’t feel like I’m being judged.”