Emancipator is the only organization in the Netherlands that explicitly focuses on engaging boys, men and masculinity in gender equality. This is badly needed, because conversations about issues and problems involving gender often focus on women and lgbtqia+ people, while too often the core of the problem lies in oppressive masculinity norms.

Transforming masculinities

Our work to engage men and boys contributes to women’s and lgbtqia+ struggles for equality, and the liberation of men from traditional ideas about masculinity.

We work to prevent violent masculinities and promote caring masculinities, challenging patriarchal masculinities and making men more human.

Traditional masculinity norms not only cause problems for men themselves, but also for others and for the world. All kinds of personal and social problems can be traced back to rigid ideas about what it means to be a man. Feminism needs men for a better world and men need feminism for a better life.

Emancipator

Emancipator is the Dutch expertise center for engaging men and transforming masculinities. We connect organizations, professionals and activists and show how masculinities link all kinds of topics to eaech other. We put masculinities on the agenda and inspire and support people and organisations to promote engaging men in their own work.

We also offer advice, workshops and trainings for schools, organisations and companies, around all topics relted to masculinities and gender equality. We have worked with Heineken and Gillette, municipality of Amsterdam and Utrecht, ROC Amsterdam, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and University of Amsterdam, and many other local and national governments, organisations and companies.

We are the change

Emancipator doesn’t only bring a new perspective – engaging men and transforming masculinities as essential part of the solution to gender justice – but also a new way of working. We don’t just want to work towards change that will happen later, somewhere else, but we want to make that change happen here and now. The way we work and collaborate is consciously and explicitly anti-patriarchal and regenerative, and makes space for people in their full humanity and in genuine contact with each other. Read more about that here: we are the change.

Projects and topics

Masculinities are relevant in almost all societal issues questions. In our projects we work to prevent gender-based and sexual violence and street harassment (NAP, Safe Cities, White Ribbon, Tackling street Harassment); promoting caring masculinities, in involved fatherhood or encouraging men in jobs traditionally regarded as feminine (Alliance Becoming Who You Are); equal political representation (Alliance Politica); extreme-right politcal movements and how they mobilise masculinities (MEN4DEM). Other themes that are directly or indirectly linked to masculinities and engaging men are sexuality, sexual and gender diversity, the climate crisis, militarisation.

Besides these projects we offer workshops and trainings (Our offer). Every year we organise a weekend, and regularly other activities and events (Calendar).

Looking for expertise or an interview. Get in touch with us: call Jip at +31 6 83561841, send an email to info@emancipator.nl, or fill out the form below.

Media appearances

Emancipator regularly appears in media outlets. Below you can find a selection of media appearances around different topics – most in Dutch.

• NPO Radio 1, Omroep Zwart: Met Mandy in gesprek over Tate, Trump en Zuckerberg, en hoe hun mannenpraat de wereld beïnvloedt: Wat is de impact van machtige, misogyne mannen op mannelijke rolpatronen? (19 januari 2025) – interview on a national radio show about the influence of powerful misogynistic men
• Vrij Nederland sprak met Jens over mannenemancipatie en het voorkomen van geweld: ‘Geweld tegen vrouwen is een probleem van alle mannen’ (17 december 2024) – interview in a national magazine about transforming masculinities and violence prevention
• Trouw schreef een reportage over onze workshops over daten en relaties: Met jongens praten over relaties en mannelijkheid, het blijft lastig (26 september 2024) – article in a national newspaper about our workshops in schools about masculinities and dating
• In POWNED’s serie Trap Er Niet Influencer?! kwam Jens aan het woord over manfluencers: Mannenwereld (11 september 2024) – television series about influencers, one episode about manfluencers features an interview with us
• In Op1 spraken Nynke Nijman en Jens van Tricht over een nieuwe conservatieve wind onder Nederlandse jongeren (22 februari 2024) – national television show with a contribution from us about youngsters becoming more conservative
• De Groene Amsterdammer sprak met Jens over mannenwerk en hoe mannenemancipatie ook de problemen die mannen ervaren kan helpen oplossen: ‘Wat kom je doen, man?’ (26 juli 2023) – interview in a national magazine about masculinity work and how engaging men can also contribute to solving men’s issues
• De Volkskrant liep mee met onze workshops over het voorkomen van geweld op het ROC van Amstercam: ‘Verander de wereld, begin bij de jongens: geweld tegen vrouwen aanpakken start op school’ (26 augustus 2021) – article in a national newspaper about our workshops in schools about gender, masculinity and the prevention of violence

Book: What kind of men do you want to be?

Our founder and director, Jens van Tricht, wrote a book: Why feminism is good for men, which was republished in 2023 as What kind of men do you want to be? Why men and feminism need each other (2023, Atlas Contact). It was published in English as an ebook, it’s available through Amazon. The book was also published in German, Egyptian-Arabic and Korean.