Welcome to The Pixel Project’s “30 For 30″ Father’s Day Campaign 2018! In honour of Father’s Day, we created this campaign:
- To acknowledge the vital role dads play in families, cultures and communities worldwide.
- To showcase men from different walks of life who are fabulous positive non-violent and non-sexist male role models.
- To provide dads worldwide a positive platform to share ideas about stopping sexism, misogyny, and violence against women and girls.
This is our 6th annual 30 For 30 campaign and through it we will be publishing interviews with dads from across the world throughout the month of June.
Our first “30 For 30″ 2018 Dad is Jim Hines from the USA.
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The Dad Bio
Jim C. Hines is an author and stay-at-home Dad for his 12-year-old son and 17-year-old daughter. His published Science Fiction and Fantasy books include the Goblin trilogy, the Princess series, the Magic ex Libris books, and his new novel Terminal Alliance, the first in a trilogy about space janitors. He’s still waiting for someone to give him the How To Be A Perfect Father guidebook…
1. What is the best thing about being a dad?
I’m tempted to go with the tax deductions, but I think it’s the feeling that I’m part of something bigger, something that I dearly hope will survive long after I’m gone.
Both of my kids are very much their own people, with their own hopes and loves and dreams and passions and so on. But I get to be a part of helping them grow. I can try to help them avoid some of the many mistakes I’ve made in my life, and show them some of the wonderful things I’ve seen and learned. That’s not a one-way thing, of course. I learn from them all the time, too. It hasn’t always been easy, but being a dad has made me a better person too.
2. A dad is usually the first male role model in a person’s life and fathers do have a significant impact on their sons’ attitude towards women and girls. How has your father influenced the way you see and treat women and girls?
The biggest way my father influenced my attitude toward women was in his relationship with my mother. They’ve always been equals, and it’s obvious that not only do they love one another, they also respect and trust each other. I’ve never seen or heard of him treating a woman as anything less than…well, than fully human.
It wasn’t something we ever talked about much when I was a kid, and it probably would have been better if we had. But I think his actions were more important, and had much more of an impact on what I learned and my own attitudes as I grew up.
3. Communities and activists worldwide are starting to recognise that violence against women is not a “women’s issue” but a human rights issue and that men play a role in stopping the violence. How do you think fathers and other male role models can help get young men and boys to take an interest in and step up to help prevent and stop violence against women?
So many ways. For example, as I’m reading stories to my son or watching shows together, I try to point out and talk about some of the messed-up ways men treat women. Earlier today, it was a Disney show about a couple of boys using love potions on girls they like. One of the boys says, “She kissed me. Of her own free will!” My son and I didn’t get into a long conversation, but we did talk about the fact that no, it wasn’t of her own free will, and that’s a problem.
I’ve also tried to teach both of my children about consent in various ways over the years. Letting them know they have the right to say no, even to things like being tickled or hugged or photographed. Emphasising that they have to respect when other people say no as well.
In terms of helping the next generation become aware of and step up to try to stop violence against women, I feel like my job is to educate them about the problem. Particularly for guys, it’s so easy to close our eyes and pretend the problem doesn’t exist.