Any guy who has been paying attention in the past few years realizes that the media narrative about men has become stagnant - or even negative. Men are portrayed as lazy and incompetent, while women are hard-working multi-taskers.

The truth is somewhere in between. Some of this narrative is based on facts (like women earning more degrees than men and having a greater role in the workforce), while much of it is not (men are stepping up more in their roles as dads, while they are still portrayed in sitcoms as bumbling idiots).

The idea behind FWD: If we can get smart men together to talk about this, blog posts, tweets, and ideas about how to move forward will emerge, and a movement of the next generation of men will be started. So this is the beginning of a project to change the narrative - starting with a few conversations with smart men over a few beers, and hopefully growing into something much more.

Johnny O'Hagans has graciously reserved Murphy's Snug for us. So come at 6 to eat, drink and chat, and at 7 we'll get the "official" conversation started.  Availability is limited, so reserve your seat at the table now.

Gentlemen: time to step it up.