Films & talks
Consent Toolkit Videos
AMAZE
Short animated explainers on consent and communication. A good first session.
To understand women is to have reverence and respect for women.
This shelf is for listening. Much of it is women’s own accounts of their bodies, health, history and work. Some of it is research and practice that help a man listen better, to a partner and in the circle. A few entries also sit on the other shelf.
Content note: some entries cover sexual health and sexuality, and some include accounts of violence.
Websites
Our Bodies Ourselves
Our Bodies Ourselves
Health and sexuality information, personal stories and reproductive-justice perspectives.
Museums
National Museum of Women in the Arts
Washington, DC
Collections, exhibitions and programs devoted to women artists.
Book
Come as You Are
Emily Nagoski
Explains sexual response through the interactions of arousal, inhibition, stress and context, emphasizing variation between people.
Organizations
V-Day
V-Day
Art and activism to end violence against women and girls.
Tools
Wheel of Consent: Free Handouts
Betty Martin
Diagrams that separate who is doing an action from who it is for.
Gatherings
Death Café
Local and online
Open conversations about death, meaning and what matters.
Films & talks
The truth about unwanted arousal
Emily Nagoski · TED
Why a body’s response can differ from what a person wants or enjoys.
Websites
Scarleteen
Scarleteen
Inclusive articles on sexuality, relationships, bodies and boundaries.
Museums
National Women’s History Museum: Online Exhibits
Online
Digital exhibitions on women’s contributions to public life, activism, science and culture.
Book
The Vagina Bible
Jen Gunter
An obstetrician-gynecologist's guide to vulvar and vaginal health, addressing anatomy, symptoms and common misconceptions.
Organizations
SisterSong
Reproductive justice collective
Organizing and culture work centered on Indigenous women and women of color.
Tools
Liberating Structures
Liberating Structures
A menu of facilitation formats that help everyone in a group take part.
Gatherings
Wild Church Network
Local and online
Communities practicing spirituality outdoors.
Films & talks
A new sexual revolution for orgasm equality
Laurie Mintz · TEDxUF
The orgasm gap, and the expectations and language behind it.
Websites
Sexual and Reproductive Health Information
Planned Parenthood
Plain topic-by-topic information about bodies, sexual health and reproductive care.
Museums
Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art
Brooklyn Museum
Home of Judy Chicago’s The Dinner Party, with a feminist art base online.
Book
What Do Women Want?
Daniel Bergner
Reports on research and interviews that challenge familiar assumptions about women's desire, arousal and sexual behavior.
Organizations
Center for Intimacy Justice
Center for Intimacy Justice
Research and advocacy on restrictions on women’s sexual-health information.
Tools
Group and Campaign Resources
Seeds for Change
Guides to facilitation, consensus and workshops.
Gatherings
Ecstatic Dance
Local
A directory of dance gatherings, for embodied, shared practice.
Films & talks
Period. End of Sentence.
Netflix · short documentary
Women in rural India making sanitary pads and confronting menstrual stigma.
Websites
OMGYES
OMGYES
Video and interactive lessons drawn from what women describe as pleasurable. Paid.
Museums
Vagina Museum
London
Exhibitions on anatomy and its cultural context. Its opening status has changed more than once, so check the site first.
Book
Woman
Natalie Angier
A science writer's exploration of female anatomy and biology that also questions cultural assumptions about women's bodies.
Organizations
The Pleasure Project
The Pleasure Project
Puts pleasure into sexual-health education and practice.
Tools
Great Questions
StoryCorps
Interview prompts about life, love and family. Ask a mother, a sister, a partner.
Gatherings
Body Electric School
Online and in person
Adult embodiment education, with heart circles and workshops.
Films & talks
The Principles of Pleasure
Netflix · three-part series
Pleasure, bodies, minds and relationships.
Book
How to Feel: The Science and Meaning of Touch
Sushma Subramanian
Explores touch through neuroscience, personal accounts and cultural attitudes, including what happens when touch is absent, feared or technologically reproduced.
Organizations
Girl Effect
Girl Effect
Information, networks and services supporting girls’ health, education and livelihoods.
Tools
Come As You Are Worksheets
Emily Nagoski
Exercises on sexual response, stress and context.
Gatherings
Menopause Café
Local and online
Conversations about menopause, with an event directory and hosting guidance.
Films & talks
Sacred
Thomas Lennon · PBS
Rituals around birth, growing up, marriage and death across cultures. Check current streaming availability.
Book
Vagina
Naomi Wolf
Combines memoir, cultural history and the author's interpretation of neuroscience to explore connections between sexuality, identity and creativity.
Tools
Clue
Clue
A cycle-tracking app. Useful for understanding a partner’s rhythm if she chooses to share it.
Films & talks
#Female Pleasure
Barbara Miller
Five women challenging religious and cultural restrictions on their bodies. Content note: includes accounts of violence and genital mutilation.
Book
In a Different Voice
Carol Gilligan
Questions psychological models built around men's experience and examines how care and relationship shape moral reasoning.
Book
The Myths of Motherhood
Shari L. Thurer
Traces changing cultural ideals of motherhood and examines the demands placed on women by supposedly natural maternal roles.
Book
Composing a Life
Mary Catherine Bateson
Portraits of women's lives that examine how people make meaningful patterns from change, interruptions and competing commitments.
Book
Reading Lolita in Tehran
Azar Nafisi
A memoir of reading literature with women in Iran, exploring the relationship between imaginative freedom and political restriction.
Book
Unfit
Lani Jo Leigh
A memoir of teenage pregnancy in the Bible Belt before reproductive choice, documenting the personal consequences of social judgment and restricted autonomy.
Book
Women Who Run with the Wolves
Clarissa Pinkola Estés
Interprets myths and folktales through a Jungian lens to explore women's instincts, creativity and psychological lives.
Book
Reckoning
Eve Ensler (V)
A collection of personal and political writing confronting violence, survival, accountability and the author's life in activism.
Book
The Vagina Monologues
Eve Ensler (V)
Monologues about bodies, sexuality, pleasure and violence, shaped from interviews and written for performance.
Book
The Art of Receiving and Giving: The Wheel of Consent
Betty Martin with Robyn Dalzen
A framework for distinguishing who is doing an action from whom it is for, with practices for asking, receiving and setting limits.
Book
What You Really Really Want
Jaclyn Friedman
Exercises and discussion for identifying one's own desires and boundaries while navigating sexual expectations and safety.
Book
For Each Other
Lonnie Barbach
A guide for partners seeking to understand sexual differences, discuss needs and develop a more satisfying shared sexual life.
Book
Sexual Intelligence
Marty Klein
A guide to sexual confidence and satisfaction that emphasizes emotional skills, communication and realistic expectations rather than performance standards.
Book
Attached
Amir Levine and Rachel Heller
An accessible account of adult attachment patterns and how expectations about closeness influence romantic relationships.
Book
Mating in Captivity
Esther Perel
Examines the tension between the security of long-term partnership and the uncertainty, separateness and imagination involved in erotic desire.
Book
Passionate Marriage
David Schnarch
Connects sexual intimacy with emotional development, examining how partners can remain distinct individuals while building a close relationship.
Book
Daring Greatly
Brené Brown
Examines vulnerability, shame and the risks involved in being seen, asking for help and forming meaningful relationships.
Book
Erotic Integrity
Claudia Six
A sex therapist's approach to acknowledging desire, addressing shame and bringing sexual behavior into alignment with personal values.
Book
The Body Keeps the Score
Bessel van der Kolk
An account of trauma's effects on bodily experience, memory and relationships, with discussion of several approaches to recovery.
Book
Call of the Wild
Kimberly Ann Johnson
A body-centered approach to trauma and personal agency, exploring sensation, protective responses and the experience of safety.
Book
Open to Desire
Mark Epstein
A Buddhist-informed examination of desire that explores longing and attachment without treating all wanting as something to eliminate.
Book
The Art of Gathering
Priya Parker
A practical argument for giving gatherings a clear purpose, with attention to invitations, boundaries, participation and endings.
Book
Reclaiming Conversation
Sherry Turkle
Examines how digital habits affect conversation and argues for protecting face-to-face exchange in families, friendships and public life.
Book
Pleasure Activism
adrienne maree brown
Essays and conversations connecting pleasure with liberation, disability, race, sexuality and the conditions that make fuller lives possible.
Book
Emergent Strategy
adrienne maree brown
Connects organizing and social change with patterns found in living systems, emphasizing adaptation, relationships and collective practice.
Book
See No Stranger
Valarie Kaur
A memoir and argument for revolutionary love as a practice of solidarity, grief, struggle and sustained engagement with others.
Reverence begins at home.
This shelf is a man’s own work: what he was taught about being a man, what it cost, and what he does with shame, grief, desire and anger. Some entries are older and some are new, and they don’t all agree. Read critically.
Films & talks
Consent Toolkit Videos
AMAZE
Short animated explainers on consent and communication. A good first session.
Book
The Art of Receiving and Giving: The Wheel of Consent
Betty Martin with Robyn Dalzen
A framework for distinguishing who is doing an action from whom it is for, with practices for asking, receiving and setting limits.
Organizations
Equimundo
Center for Masculinities and Social Justice
Research and programs engaging men and boys in gender equality.
Tools
Wheel of Consent: Free Handouts
Betty Martin
Diagrams that separate who is doing an action from who it is for.
Gatherings
Death Café
Local and online
Open conversations about death, meaning and what matters.
Websites
Man Box study
Equimundo
The research behind the term: what young men are told a “real man” is, and how it affects them.
Support
988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline
United States
Call or text 988, any time. Man Practice is a peer circle, not therapy or crisis care.
Films & talks
The Mask You Live In
The Representation Project
How boys and men learn the rules of masculinity, and what those rules cost.
Book
For Each Other
Lonnie Barbach
A guide for partners seeking to understand sexual differences, discuss needs and develop a more satisfying shared sexual life.
Organizations
A Call to Men
A Call to Men
Training and resources for men on healthy, respectful manhood.
Tools
Liberating Structures
Liberating Structures
A menu of facilitation formats that help everyone in a group take part.
Gatherings
Wild Church Network
Local and online
Communities practicing spirituality outdoors.
Films & talks
A Call to Men
Tony Porter · TED
On the “man box” and the part every man plays in ending violence against women.
Book
Sexual Intelligence
Marty Klein
A guide to sexual confidence and satisfaction that emphasizes emotional skills, communication and realistic expectations rather than performance standards.
Organizations
Movember: Men’s Mental Health
Movember
Men’s mental-health information and ways to start the conversation.
Tools
Group and Campaign Resources
Seeds for Change
Guides to facilitation, consensus and workshops.
Gatherings
Ecstatic Dance
Local
A directory of dance gatherings, for embodied, shared practice.
Book
Attached
Amir Levine and Rachel Heller
An accessible account of adult attachment patterns and how expectations about closeness influence romantic relationships.
Organizations
Men’s Sheds
U.S. Men’s Sheds Association
Community workshops where men connect shoulder to shoulder over shared work.
Tools
Great Questions
StoryCorps
Interview prompts about life, love and family. Ask a mother, a sister, a partner.
Gatherings
Body Electric School
Online and in person
Adult embodiment education, with heart circles and workshops.
Book
Mating in Captivity
Esther Perel
Examines the tension between the security of long-term partnership and the uncertainty, separateness and imagination involved in erotic desire.
Book
Passionate Marriage
David Schnarch
Connects sexual intimacy with emotional development, examining how partners can remain distinct individuals while building a close relationship.
Book
Daring Greatly
Brené Brown
Examines vulnerability, shame and the risks involved in being seen, asking for help and forming meaningful relationships.
Book
Erotic Integrity
Claudia Six
A sex therapist's approach to acknowledging desire, addressing shame and bringing sexual behavior into alignment with personal values.
Book
The Body Keeps the Score
Bessel van der Kolk
An account of trauma's effects on bodily experience, memory and relationships, with discussion of several approaches to recovery.
Book
Call of the Wild
Kimberly Ann Johnson
A body-centered approach to trauma and personal agency, exploring sensation, protective responses and the experience of safety.
Book
Open to Desire
Mark Epstein
A Buddhist-informed examination of desire that explores longing and attachment without treating all wanting as something to eliminate.
Book
The Art of Gathering
Priya Parker
A practical argument for giving gatherings a clear purpose, with attention to invitations, boundaries, participation and endings.
Book
Reclaiming Conversation
Sherry Turkle
Examines how digital habits affect conversation and argues for protecting face-to-face exchange in families, friendships and public life.
Book
Iron John
Robert Bly
A retelling of a Grimm fairy tale as a map of men’s initiation. The book that launched the mythopoetic men’s movement.
Book
King, Warrior, Magician, Lover
Robert Moore and Douglas Gillette
Four archetypes of mature masculinity, and the immature versions that cause harm.
Book
Fire in the Belly
Sam Keen
On being a man in a changing world: a personal, philosophical inquiry into manhood.
Book
Adam’s Return
Richard Rohr
Rites of passage and the five things men need to learn, from a Franciscan priest.
Book
The Will to Change
bell hooks
Men, masculinity and love: an argument that patriarchy wounds men too, and that men can change.
Book
I Don’t Want to Talk About It
Terrence Real
On the hidden depression in men and its effects on partners and families.
Book
Of Boys and Men
Richard Reeves
A data-driven look at where boys and men are struggling in school, work and family.
A note on these links
Man Practice is a peer circle. It is not therapy, medical care or crisis support. If you are in crisis in the U.S., call or text 988.
Links lead to third-party sites. Inclusion is not an endorsement of everything on them, and availability changes, so check a site before you rely on it.