International Men's Day (Seychelles)

On 19 November 2012 Government Minister Vincent Meriton declared this year the first that IMD has been celebrated at a National Government level. Minister Meriton said, "The time has come for us to adopt a new approach, instead of reinforcing negative stereotyping of males behaving badly, e.g. media portrayals of males as violent, power-hungry, irresponsible and so on. Such negative images are frequently used in an attempt to shame males into behaving more positively." Meriton stated that the practice of negative stereotyping ignores the fact that such negative behaviours do not apply to the vast majority of men and boys, or that such negativity may detrimentally impact the self-image and self-esteem of boys, which in turn impacts their willingness to contribute to building better relationships and communities as they grow into adults. In conclusion he stated that "International Men's Day calls for and promotes positive masculinity which we in Seychelles can strongly identify with as it forms part of the social renaissance campaign launched at the beginning of the year by President James Michel."