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What happens when a Muay Thai champion decides the real fight isn't in the ring—it's saving boys from the stereotypes that are killing them?

Richie Hardcore knows exactly what happens when boys grow up watching men solve problems with fists and bottles. His father's severe alcoholism and the family violence that came with it could have destroyed him. Instead, it became his mission.

Now, as a White Ribbon ambassador and TEDx speaker, Richie walks into schools across Australia and New Zealand having the conversations most adults are too scared to have. He tells teenage boys it's okay to cry, to feel confused, to not have it all figured out. He works with incarcerated young men through The Rise Above Charitable Trust, showing them the violence can stop with them.

But here's what's keeping me up at night after this conversation: our boys are struggling more than we realize. They're ordering hard drugs via Uber. They're learning about sex from pornography that teaches the opposite of intimacy. They're consuming manosphere content that's gone mainstream—not Andrew Tate anymore (he's "cringe now") but gym influencers and self-help bros peddling the same dangerous messages about what it means to be a man.

And they're desperate for someone to tell them it's okay to take off the mask.

This is essential listening if you're:

• Raising or teaching boys and watching them shut down emotionally
• Worried about gender violence in your community
• Trying to understand what healthy masculinity actually looks like in practice
• Concerned about online radicalization and manosphere influence on young men
• Looking for actual conversations to have with the boys in your life

CONTENT WARNING

This episode contains frank discussions of family violence, alcoholism, substance abuse, sexual violence, domestic abuse, and the impact of pornography on young people. Listener discretion advised.

Resources mentioned -

• Jess Hill - "⁠See What You Made Me Do" ⁠(book on domestic violence and gender violence)
• Jess Hill -⁠ "Asking For It" ⁠(SBS documentary on consent culture)
• ⁠The Rise Above Charitable Trust ⁠- Richie's organization working with incarcerated youth
• ⁠Our Watch (Australia)⁠ - Gender violence prevention resources

CONNECT WITH RICHIE HARDCORE

⁠On Instagram⁠

⁠On Website⁠

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Connect with Danielle at danielle@daniellecolley.com.au or on ⁠Instagram⁠