When men are struggling, they don’t call each other. Even with plenty of close friends, they still can’t bring up stories of collapse anywhere, and today again they pretend nothing is wrong. For the men who have held on alone, LifeShare has carefully made a place for them to meet. On Saturday, July 11, from the afternoon, it will be “Men's Talk : Men Who Move Through Life.”
When did men start shutting their mouths?
After industrialization, sons no longer worked alongside their fathers. Opportunities to learn what a man should protect—and to be recognized for it—also disappeared. That is the background behind the term “Father Hunger,” which refers to the absence of a father in psychology. For a son who was not properly guided, the only thing left was instinct: to survive. He had to achieve and he had to take responsibility, but no one told him that it was okay to show weakness. As the only thing that grew was how to endure, his father’s loneliness finds its way back to the son.
A generation that only learned how to endure, the loneliness of those in their 30s, 40s, and 50s
In 2024, South Korea’s suicide rate hit the highest level in 13 years. The generations driving that rise were not people in their 20s or older adults, but those in their 30s, 40s, and 50s. Men’s suicide rates are more than twice women’s, and the gap widens every year. The inability to share the burden more deeply is cited as a key reason, especially in life turning points when people face crises—such as job loss, divorce, mounting debt, or retirement. For men in their 30s, 40s, and 50s, LifeShare says what’s needed right now is not just learning to endure even more, but learning how to lean on one another.
A place where you don’t have to compete
Among men, there are feelings that allow each other to understand carefully. A place where you don’t have to judge who is better and where you don’t have to press a wounded boy in your heart to just “put up with it.” Men's Talk aims for exactly that kind of time. In a comfortable, supportive atmosphere, the community begins with a hope that the boy and the warrior within one man slowly integrate into one, and that he can return again to his own home. Those who had long kept watch over the culture of the Men’s Work from abroad opened the door first, in small ways.
If you’re this kind of man, you’re welcome to stand at this door
This is a place that will feel good if you’ve been chasing something but now you don’t know what it is, if you have plenty of acquaintances but no one to talk to when things are hard, or if you keep up the facade that you’re fine at work or at home. It’s especially welcome if you’re passing one of the turning points of life—such as changing jobs and saying goodbye, marriage, becoming a father, or saying farewell to your parents. Twenty-somethings who want to meet good male seniors and juniors, and men in their 30s, 40s, and 50s who long for friends to share their hearts with are both invited.
Saturday, July 11, in Cheongun-dong
Men's Talk will be held in small numbers in Cheongun-dong, Jongno-gu, Seoul, from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday, July 11. It’s about two or three bus stops away by village bus from Gyeongbokgung Station. The participation fee is 30,000 won, and it will be used for actual costs preparing refreshments and the space. Two hours in which you don’t have to try to look strong—there will be men there who will listen all the way to what you’ve held in for a long time. Men need men. If that sentence doesn’t sound unfamiliar when you read it, then you are already someone who belongs in that room.