STEERING COMMITTEE

NOMAS-Boston

The Boston chapter of the National Organization for Men Against Sexism was founded in 2000 after the 25th National Conference on Men & Masculinity held at Colorado College, Colorado Springs, CO.  NOMAS-Boston is working to bring local communities, organizations, and college students together to break down barriers about issues surrounding sexism, racism, and homophobia and show that living without being confined to one's gender roles will enhance our lives.

We meet monthly to plan events, provide thanks and support for organizations effecting positive change, and to support one another.  In addition to business meetings, we also hold social events every 1-2 months to help build trust, friendships, and a sense of community among our members and allies.

Mission

The Boston chapter of the National Organization for Men Against Sexism (NOMAS-Boston) is a profeminist community-building and activist organization, open to all genders, that works to promote equality and justice in the areas of race, sex, gender identity and expression, and sexual orientation. We seek a greater understanding of the ways in which these identity-based experiences interconnect within individuals and society at large. As an organization committed to social justice and nonviolence we strive to create feelings of closeness and connection for men in order to enhance the lives of our membership and all people with whom we interact.

NOMAS

The National Organization for Men Against Sexism (NOMAS) began as a spontaneous, loose-knit social movement in the early 1970s.  With the beginning of the second wave of American feminism in the late 1960s, "anti-sexist" men's groups, men's articles, and other writing about pro-feminist men began to appear.

In 1975, a group of men who were enrolled in a women's studies course at the University of Tennessee held what they announced as "The First National Conference on Men and Masculinity," in Knoxville, TN.  Thus began the tradition of holding annual National Conferences on Men and Masculinity (M&M).  At the 1981 M&M in Boston, it became clear that some kind of organization was needed if the M&M tradition was to continue.  A national membership organization was formed, and in 1982, its members elected an 18-person national council to provide the collective leadership of the anti-sexist men's movement.

In 1983 the name "National Organization for Changing Men" (NOCM) was chosen; in 1990 the present name, "National Organization for Men Against Sexism" (NOMAS), was adopted.  Supported and co-sponsored by NOMAS since 1982, the national M&M conferences have occurred annually. 

NOMAS was the first organized men's movement, since the beginning of the second wave of American feminism, to challenge the construct of patriarchy.  Today, with its more than twenty-five year history, it remains the oldest network of activist men and women who share a multi-dimensional anti-sexist perspective about men and masculinity.