About Damn Fool Productions
Why “Damn Fool”?
Damn Fool Productions takes its name from a phrase Wade’s grandmother used whenever he or his siblings got out of line.
Like so many inherited expectations, he chose to turn it on its head.
Damn Fools are those willing to go against the grain.
Those who speak up when staying silent would be easier.
Those who question comfortable conclusions that limit what is possible.
Those foolish enough to believe we can make a real difference in the world.
Because we can.
Our Mission
To advance gender equality and foster healthier, more life-affirming expressions of masculinity by creating and sharing media, resources, and methodologies that challenge the status quo.
This work is not about easy answers or simplified narratives. It is about confronting difficult questions, embracing nuance, and creating space for more honest and meaningful conversations.
What This Work Is About
This platform is grounded in one core belief:
There must be a better way.
Dysfunctional expressions of masculinity have caused pain for men, women, and society as a whole. But masculinity is not fixed or confined to the past. It is shaped by culture, reinforced by systems, and capable of change.
Through storytelling, inquiry, and reflection, Damn Fool Productions explores:
How men are socialized
How those patterns appear in everyday life
What it means to take responsibility and engage differently
How the traditional “Three Ps” of masculinity—provision, protection, and procreation—can be expanded into something more effective, meaningful, and life-affirming than what we have inherited
Wade Channell
Wade Channell is the founder of Damn Fool Productions and an independent consultant specializing in gender, masculinity, and legal reform.
He spent over 30 years working with or for USAID on barriers to healthy economic growth, and retired in 2021 as the Senior Economic Growth Advisor for Gender.
Since 2021, his work has focused on storytelling—using film, writing, and media to explore how masculinity is experienced, understood, and changing.
Growing up the Deep South during the Civil Rights era, he notes that his own cultural roots included nationalism, racism, misogyny and sexism, as well as homophobia and elitism. It’s been a long road to the other sides of those divides and today his approach is grounded in the recognition that these issues are deeply personal, cultural, and often complex.
More importantly, Wade knows that change is possible, especially if enough damn fools can work together to make it happen.