"My liberation as a man is tied to your liberation as a woman"--Tony Porter, co-founder of 'A Call to Men'
'A Call to Men' is an organization dedicated to ending violence against women. A main goal of the organization is to shift social norms about manhood. It's a pretty straightforward group, and according to their organization here are 10 things men can do to change our sexist and all-too often violent society:
1. Acknowledge and understand how male dominance
and aspects of unhealthy manhood are at the foundation of
domestic and sexual violence.
2. Examine and challenge our individual beliefs and
the role that we play in supporting men who are abusive.
3. Recognize and stop colluding with other men by
getting out of our socially defined roles, and take a stance to
prevent domestic and sexual violence.
4. Remember that our silence is affirming. When we
choose not to speak out against domestic and sexual violence,
we are supporting it.
5. Educate and re-educate our sons and other young
men about our responsibility in preventing domestic and sexual
violence.
6."Break out of the man box"- Challenge traditional
images of manhood that stop us from actively taking a stand in
domestic and sexual violence prevention.
7. Accept and own our responsibility that domestic
and sexual violence will not end until men become part of the
solution to end it. We must take an active role in creating a
cultural and social shift that no longer tolerates violence and
discrimination against women and girls.
8. Stop supporting the notion that domestic and
sexual violence is due to mental illness, lack of anger
management skills, chemical dependency, stress, etc… Domestic
and sexual violence is rooted in male dominance and the
socialization of men.
9. Take responsibility for creating appropriate and
effective ways to educate and raise awareness about domestic
and sexual violence prevention.
10. Create responsible and accountable men's
initiatives in your community to support domestic and sexual
violence prevention.
I like 4 and 7.
Love it! I think that this message is very rarely put out there when it comes to education and support services. Of course support services for survivors is incredibly important, and very under-funded, but if we started dismantling gender roles and masculinity from a much earlier point in child development, incidences of violence are bound to decrease.
ReplyDeleteAs a female, I'm always told how to protect myself and not send mixed messages or what spaces are safe for me to walk in alone. But in terms of male to female violence, we very rarely hear "don't commit sexual assault." It's such a simple message...but more often we hear "boys will be boys" or "she was asking for it with the way she drank/danced/dressed/flirted." Good post Paul!