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Anyway, the next night we watched a thing about some pig man who is supposed to live in Vermont. People said it had claws and a pig nose but walked upright like a man. Now, I happen to know that sideshows used to shave bears and present them as pig men. So every piece of evidence they gave of this monster sounds to me like a bear with mange.

So now the running joke in our house is that everything is bears. Aliens? Bears. Loch Ness monster? Bear. Every cryptozoological mystery is just a very crafty bear.

but my point is that i feel men can and should discuss the issue of shame which stifles men's emotions without pretending we live in a fantasy world where women are exempt from the issue.

Instead of simply reminding them about the event, just ask them about a specific detail involved in it instead. If you know that The Thing is on next week's friday, and the last moment you need confirmation whether they're coming or not is this thursday, instead of texting

"Hey you remember we have the thing on next week's friday, right?"

you can text some specific question - regardless of whether the info itself is important to you or not - that clarifies when the event is, like

"Hey are you going to be driving to the thing next week's friday, or is someone giving you a ride? We'll need to plan parking beforehand."

Because in case they did remember the thing, they can just answer you for the question you asked. And if they didn't remember and go "OH SHIT IT'S NEXT WEEK I COMPLETELY FORGOT", you still gave them the reminder they needed just the same.