DOCSLIB.ORG

VI. Men and the Man Box – a Commentary Dr Michael Flood

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
VI. Men and the Man Box – a Commentary Dr Michael Flood VI. Men and the Man Box – A commentary Dr Michael Flood The Man Box provides invaluable data on men and The Man Box survey follows a well-established tradition masculinities in Australia. As the first nationally of quantitative measurement of men’s attitudes representative study of the gender-related attitudes towards masculinity. Like other, influential measures and behaviours of young Australian men, it offers an of masculinity ideology such as the Masculinity Role informative snapshot of young men’s experiences and Norms Inventory (Levant, Hirsch, Celentano, & Cozza, perceptions of gender and the norms of manhood that 1992) and Male Role Norms Scale (Thompson & Pleck, structure these. 1986), it assesses men’s agreement with a series of ‘men should’ statements. Another, widely used measure, the Conformity to Masculine Norms Inventory (James R Men and gender Mahalik et al., 2003), instead focuses on men’s individual masculine beliefs, couched in ‘I’ statements, in addition We have known for a long time that men and boys to asking young men about the social pressures they are as implicated in gender as women and girls – that percieve about masculinity, although The Man Box men’s lives are shaped, as much as women’s, by gender. survey also asks about men’s own endorsement of ‘Gender’, defined simply, refers to the meanings given beliefs about manhood. to being male and female and the social organisation of men’s and women’s lives. Five decades of scholarship The notion of the ‘Man Box’ names influential and have documented extensively that gender is socially restrictive norms of manhood. The ‘Act Like a Man’ box constructed – it is the outcome of social forces and or ‘Man Box’ has been a common teaching tool in efforts relations. Boys and men learn to be ‘proper’ men for over the past three decades to engage men and boys in example through parental socialisation, peer groups, critical reflections on men and gender (Kivel, 2007). The schools and universities and other institutions, sports, ‘box’ names the qualities men are expected to show, the communities, and media and popular culture. rewards they earn for doing so, and the punishments they are dealt if they step ‘outside’ the box. It emphasises One of the key insights of contemporary scholarship that these dominant standards are restrictive and on gender is that in any particular context particular limiting for men, as well as harmful for women. Individual definitions and images of womanhood and manhood qualities in the Man Box are not necessarily bad, and are dominant. Whether in a country, a community, or a indeed some may be useful or desirable in some more local setting, particular versions of femininity and contexts. On the other hand, some of the qualities are masculinity will be the most celebrated, most desirable negative in themselves, the range of qualities available and most influential representations of how to be to men is narrow, and men are expected not to deviate female and male. There are dominant forms of gender from them. The Man Box norms also sustain forms in media representations, but also in most settings, of privilege and unfair advantage for men, and men’s institutions and contexts. This is true for example of attitudes and behaviours that underpin inequality schools, sporting clubs, workplaces, faith institutions, between man and women. The reference to ‘acting like a governments, and so on. In other words, particular ways man’ makes the point that masculinity is a ‘performance’, of being a boy and man are dominant, while others are a set of qualities and behaviours practised in stigmatised, punished, or silenced. These dominant particular contexts. constructions of gender shape boys’ and men’s lives. Boys and young men may conform to the dominant form Before exploring the findings in this report, three further of masculinity, or they may resist it or fail its expectations, points are relevant. First, dominant constructions of but all live in its shadow. masculinity are not all powerful, and there may be other influential ideals of masculinity in circulation. Second, Various terms have been coined for dominant dominant ideals are not static – they may change over constructions of masculinity. Influential Australian time. Third, men’s actual lives do not necessarily conform sociologist Raewyn Connell wrote of ‘hegemonic to dominant ideals of manhood, and typically there is a masculinity’ (R.W. Connell, 1987), and this term has gap between men’s lives and these. The findings of this been taken up very widely in scholarship on men report bear out of each of these points, as I return and masculinities around the globe (R. W. Connell & to later. Messerschmidt, 2005). The term superceded older terms such as ‘sex role’ and ‘gender role’, and indeed This survey, The Man Box, provides crucial information involved a rejection of the simplistic assumptions which on contemporary Australian norms of manhood – on had accompanied these older terms. New terms for both perceived social norms of manhood, and on young dominant constructions of masculinity have emerged men’s own norms of manhood. What does it tell us? outside academia too, such as ‘toxic masculinity’ (Flood, 2018b). 46 Ideals of manhood in Australia far higher proportions perceive societal messages that men must ‘act strong’ and ‘fight back when pushed’. Do young men in Australia agree that the Man Box is an Traditional definitions of masculinity have hardly accurate account of social expectations of manhood? disappeared among young men in Australia. Strength, The Man Box, as represented in the survey used toughness, aggressive responses to challenge, perpetual here, defines being a man in terms of seven qualities: sexual readiness, and emotional stoicism continue to self-sufficiency, toughness, physical attractiveness, define manhood, at least as far as these young men’s rigid gender roles, heterosexuality and homophobia, perceptions of societal norms are concerned. Yet many hypersexuality, and aggression and control over women. young men also believe that contemporary men also are Young men in Australia agree that societal norms for expected to contribute to household work and parenting manhood include the expectation that men will act and to be comfortable around gay men (but not strong and tough, be the primary income earner, and not actually be gay themselves). say no to sex. Here, they echo the “Guy Code”, the ideas Personal support for the Man Box about ‘real men’ documented in interviews with young American men aged 17-26 (Kimmel & Davis, 2011). Lower If the above findings tell us about young men’s proportions agree that societal norms for manhood perceptions of societal norms of manhood, then what include non-involvement in household work and care about young men’s own, personal understandings of of children, using violence to get respect, and shunning manhood? To what extent do young men themselves gay men. So if it was once true that dominant definitions accept or endorse the masculine expectations of manhood in Australia included such expectations, they perceive? then these are weakening. They have not disappeared Research on men and gender finds a consistent gap altogether, but around two thirds of young men reject between perceived social norms of manhood and men’s these. While one-third or close to half show a troubling own attitudes about being a man. In any society or endorsement of male aggression, decision-making, and culture, the lived or performed genders of the majority control of women, most do not endorse these of men do not need necessarily to correspond to the patriarchal norms. culturally dominant ideal. Most men live in a state of Young men’s perceptions of masculine social tension with, or distance from, the dominant masculinity expectations seem contradictory or ambivalent, for of their culture or community (R.W. Connell, 2000). example for homophobia, paid work and parenting, The Man Box survey finds two important patterns and violence. On homophobia, although just under half here. First, in line with other scholarship, there is a (47 per cent) agree that society tells them “A gay guy significant gap between young men’s perception of is not a ‘real man’”, two-thirds (64 per cent) agree that societal support for the Man Box rules and their own society tell them friendships between heterosexual and endorsement of these rules. While young men agree gay men are ‘normal’. This may represent what others that many of the traditional messages of the Man Box have described as contradictory trends regarding are part of contemporary societal expectations of homophobia among young men: on the one hand, manhood, they are less likely to support such messages increased support for same-sex marriage and comfort themselves. This accords with other research suggesting with gay men as friends, and on the other, the continued that the dominant code of manhood “is perpetuated by policing of masculinity through homophobia (Bridges & men’s need for approval from other men, secret shame Pascoe, 2016). Homophobia continues to be a key means about not living up to the masculine ideal, and the false through which young men socialize each other into perception that most men believe in it” normatively masculine behaviours, practices, attitudes, (Berkowitz, 2011, p. 162). and dispositions, including through homophobic joking and demonstrations of heterosexual prowess and power. This data shows that young men’s own views of masculinity are more progressive than the social norms Young men’s perceptions of breadwinning and care work they perceive. The biggest gaps between societal norms also seem contradictory, with simultaneous support for (as perceived) and personal attitudes were for the ideas men as primary breadwinners and as skilled in domestic that a ‘real man’ would never say no to sex, men should work and caring for children.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • School-Based Education to Address Pornography's Influence on Young
    School-Based Education to Address Pornography’s Influence on Young People: A Proposed Practice Framework Maree Crabbe & Michael Flood To cite this article: Maree Crabbe & Michael Flood (2021): School-Based Education to Address Pornography’s Influence on Young People: A Proposed Practice Framework, American Journal of Sexuality Education. https://doi.org/10.1080/15546128.2020.1856744 ABSTRACT There is growing community and policy interest in educational efforts among children and young people to address pornography. Education on pornography increasingly is seen as a necessary strategy in the context of young people’s widespread exposure to pornography and the potential shifts in young people’s sexual and gendered lives and relations which this entails. What, then, does promising practice in education to address pornography’s influence look like? This article offers a framework for school-based pornography education. It begins with the rationale for conducting pornography education in schools in particular. The article then offers a detailed account of a proposed practice framework for school-based pornography education, emphasizing such principles as a whole-school approach, a robust conceptual approach, grounding in sexuality education, and participatory teaching and learning. It concludes by assessing an existing school curriculum resource, In The Picture, against this framework. KEYWORDS Pornography; pornography education; sexuality; childhood; adolescence Introduction Pornography is increasingly widely identified as an influence on
    [Show full text]
  • Gender-Matters-1.Pdf
    Towards transformation Synchronising work with women and men for gender equality Isadora Quay and Joanne Crawford with contributions from Dr Michael Flood and Dr Patrick Kilby gender MATTERS Issue #1, August 2012 Contents Partners featured in this publication IWDA recognises partnership and collaboration as fundamental 1 Introduction . 2 to development effectiveness. As we work with partners, we 2 Why gender synchronisation? . 3 From gender-specific towards gender-synchronised build our capabilites and strengths to advocate for gender approaches . 3 equality. Together we create space for women’s voices to be What is gender synchronisation? . 4 heard and amplify those voices through networking, advocacy Why synchronise gender strategies? . 4 and research. Gender-transformative’ or ‘gender-specific’? A word about terminology . 5 Banteay Srei 3 Gender synchronisation in practice . 7 Banteay Srei (‘Citadel of Women’) is a Cambodian NGO that works to Case study 1: gender synchronisation and intimate partner violence . 7 empower vulnerable women and their communities in Battambang and Case study 2: gender synchronisation in water, hygiene Siem Reap Provinces to improve their political, economic and social situation and sanitation . 9 through community development activities, advocacy, and networking. Since Case study 3: challenging harmful constructions of masculinity: ‘rapping against risk’ . 12 establishing as an independent Cambodian-registered organisation in 2000, Banteay Srei has become a leading NGO supporting women leaders in rural 4
    [Show full text]
  • Pro-Feminist Publishing: Delights and Dilemmas
    This may be the author’s version of a work that was submitted/accepted for publication in the following source: Flood, Michael (1997) Pro-Feminist Publishing: Delights and dilemmas. Social Alternatives, 16(3), pp. 14-17. This file was downloaded from: https://eprints.qut.edu.au/103795/ c Consult author(s) regarding copyright matters This work is covered by copyright. Unless the document is being made available under a Creative Commons Licence, you must assume that re-use is limited to personal use and that permission from the copyright owner must be obtained for all other uses. If the docu- ment is available under a Creative Commons License (or other specified license) then refer to the Licence for details of permitted re-use. It is a condition of access that users recog- nise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights. If you believe that this work infringes copyright please provide details by email to [email protected] Notice: Please note that this document may not be the Version of Record (i.e. published version) of the work. Author manuscript versions (as Sub- mitted for peer review or as Accepted for publication after peer review) can be identified by an absence of publisher branding and/or typeset appear- ance. If there is any doubt, please refer to the published source. http:// search.informit.org/ documentSummary;dn=980100188;res= IELAPA;subject=Mathematics Pro-feminist publishing: delights and dilemmas Michael Flood Originally published in Social Alternatives, 16(3), July 1997. (For a PDF version of the published article, click here.) One steady landmark on the political and ideological landscape of men's politics has been XY magazine, a pro- feminist men's magazine.
    [Show full text]
  • Inquiry Into the Harm Being Done to Australian Children Through Access to Pornography on the Internet
    Inquiry into the harm being done to Australian children through access to pornography on the internet Submission by: Dr Michael Flood, University of Wollongong March 10, 2016 Contact: Dr Michael Flood Associate Professor and ARC Future Fellow Sociology, Faculty of Law, Humanities and the Arts University of Wollongong NSW 2522 Australia E [email protected] Staff page: http://lha.uow.edu.au/hsi/UOW084229.html Academic writings: https://uow.academia.edu/MichaelFlood 2 SUMMARY Defining pornography • Pornography can be defined as sexually explicit media that are primarily intended to sexually arouse the audience. o Pornography includes representations of nudity or semi-nudity, implied sexual activity, and actual sexual activity. o Pornography can be textual or visual. • This definition: neutral rather than normative Patterns of pornography consumption • Most everyday users of pornography are heterosexual men. • Men are more likely than women to view pornography frequently, to be sexually aroused by it, and to have favourable attitudes towards it. • Among boys and young men; o Significant proportions consume pornography; o They do so in greater numbers and with much greater frequency than their female peers. o Boys and men are more likely than girls and women to: use pornography for sexual excitement and masturbation; initiate its use; and view it alone and in same-sex groups. o Pornography is “a cornerstone of the autoerotic sexuality of males”. Shifts in children’s and young people’s exposure to pornography include: • An increase in overall rates of exposure • Likely exposure at younger ages • Shifts in the means of exposure: increasingly, via the internet, and mobile phones • Potential exposure to increasingly violent content • A changing cultural context: the increasing normalisation of pornography use and the pornographication of mainstream culture.
    [Show full text]
  • Men's Experiences As Agents of Feminist Change
    Chapter 10 Concluding Critical Commentary: Men’s Experiences as Agents of Feminist Change Michael Flood and D’ Arcy Ertel 10.1 Introduction There has been an increasing visible politicisation of masculinities in many coun- tries over the past several decades. One important dimension of this is the emer- gence of groups and networks of men seeking to act as agents of feminist change. Many such efforts focus on men’s roles in preventing and reducing men’s violence against women (Flood 2018), while others address gender inequalities and sexism in general or more specific domains such as fathering (Hassink and Baringer 2015) and sexual health (Hook et al. 2018). In this chapter, we explore the challenges faced by men who adopt explicitly profeminist forms of political advocacy, drawing selectively on the preceding chapters in this book as well as other recent scholarship among male advocates as examples. Community and political attention to the ‘problem of men’ is certainly not new, and there are other times and places when debates over men’s and boys’ lives and relations have consumed public attention. Yet the present moment shows a particu- larly energetic and widespread politicisation of masculinities. There are at least six overlapping signs of this. First, in the earliest sign of this politicisation, men’s groups and networks with a self-conscious focus on men and masculinities emerged in many countries in the 1970s in the wake of second-wave feminism (Flood 2007). Their numbers were small, they spanned the political spectrum from anti- to pro- feminist, and their fortunes have ebbed and flowed over the past five decades, but they have continued to contest the meaning and organisation of masculinity.
    [Show full text]
  • Engaging Men in Building Gender Equality
    Engaging Men in Building Gender Equality Engaging Men in Building Gender Equality Edited by Michael Flood with Richard Howson Engaging Men in Building Gender Equality Edited by Michael Flood with Richard Howson This book first published 2015 Cambridge Scholars Publishing Lady Stephenson Library, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE6 2PA, UK British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Copyright © 2015 by Michael Flood, Richard Howson and contributors Cover Image: Amy Hamilton Concept Design: Ben Wadham All rights for this book reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owner. ISBN (10): 1-4438-7248-2 ISBN (13): 978-1-4438-7248-5 “Engaging Men captures the growing and diverse actions of men around the world who see gender equality as the foundation for building fulfilling, healthy and peaceful families, workplaces and communities. Michael Flood, long a leader in feminist studies of men and masculinity, has compiled a crucial resource that does the important work of bridging academic research on men and gender equality with progressive activism.” —Michael A. Messner, author of Some Men: Feminist Allies and the Movement to End Violence Against Women “Gender-based inequalities, fears and hatreds, and gender-based exclusions and violence, are among the world’s great problems. The way masculinities are made is a fundamental part of these problems; and if they are to be solved, men must play an active role in solving them.
    [Show full text]
  • Men and Gender Equality Michael G
    University of Wollongong Research Online Faculty of Law, Humanities and the Arts - Papers Faculty of Law, Humanities and the Arts 2015 Men and gender equality Michael G. Flood University of Wollongong, [email protected] Publication Details Flood, M. (2015). Men and gender equality. In M. G. Flood & R. Howson (Eds.), Engaging Men in Building Gender Equality (pp. 1-31). Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing. Research Online is the open access institutional repository for the University of Wollongong. For further information contact the UOW Library: [email protected] Men and gender equality Abstract Our world is a deeply unequal one. Systemic inequalities which disadvantage women and advantage men are visible around the globe. Whether on looks at political power and authority, economic resources and decision-making, sexual and family relations, or media and culture, one finds gender inequalities. These are sustained in part by constructions of masculinity-by the cultural meanings associated with being a man, the practices which men adopt, and the collective and institutional organisation of men's lives and relations. Keywords gender, men, equality Disciplines Arts and Humanities | Law Publication Details Flood, M. (2015). Men and gender equality. In M. G. Flood & R. Howson (Eds.), Engaging Men in Building Gender Equality (pp. 1-31). Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing. This book chapter is available at Research Online: http://ro.uow.edu.au/lhapapers/2464 CHAPTER ONE MEN AND GENDER EQUALITY MICHAEL FLOOD Our world is a deeply unequal one. Systemic inequalities which disadvantage women and advantage men are visible around the globe. Whether one looks at political power and authority, economic resources and decision-making, sexual and family relations, or media and culture, one finds gender inequalities.
    [Show full text]
  • Good Men" Industry LSE Research Online URL for This Paper: Version: Published Version
    View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by LSE Research Online Engaging men and boys in the Women, Peace and Security agenda: beyond the "good men" industry LSE Research Online URL for this paper: http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/104031/ Version: Published Version Monograph: Duriesmith, David (2017) Engaging men and boys in the Women, Peace and Security agenda: beyond the "good men" industry. Women, Peace and Security Working Paper Series (11/2017). Centre for Women Peace and Security, London School of Economics and Political Science, London, UK. Reuse Items deposited in LSE Research Online are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved unless indicated otherwise. They may be downloaded and/or printed for private study, or other acts as permitted by national copyright laws. The publisher or other rights holders may allow further reproduction and re-use of the full text version. This is indicated by the licence information on the LSE Research Online record for the item. [email protected] https://eprints.lse.ac.uk/ ENGAGING MEN AND BOYS IN THE WOMEN, PEACE AND SECURITY AGENDA: BEYOND THE “GOOD MEN” INDUSTRY David Duriesmith 11/2017 + Since the signing of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 (UNSCR 1325) in October 2000, there have been two explicit references to men in resolutions on the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) agenda. For the first 13 years of the agenda resolutions included men by default without naming them directly, referring to gender broadly and many particular instances of violence presumably caused by men.1 The first explicit mention appeared in 2013 in Resolution 2106, which mentioned “the enlistment of men and boys in the effort to combat all forms of violence against women.” Resolution 2106 was followed up in 2015 by Resolution 2242, which reiterated “the important engagement by men and boys as partners in promoting women’s participation in the prevention and resolution of armed conflict, peacebuilding and post-conflict situations”.
    [Show full text]
  • Michael Flood
    48 KEYNOTE LECTURE Gender and sexuality stream, Sociological Association of Aotearoa New Zealand Conference 2015 The turn to men in gender politics MICHAEL FLOOD Abstract There has recently been a ‘turn to men’ in gender politics, an increasing emphasis on the roles that men can play in building gender equality. This is a feminist achievement that locates the responsibility for gender injustice squarely with the group who benefit from it, and it prompts programmes and policies that ideally involve men in processes of personal and collective transformation. Yet there are problems with this turn to men. In popular discourse, the bar for men is set very low, with high-profile campaigns asking little of men yet rewarding them with praise and gratitude, and doing little to challenge systems and cultures of oppression. The limits of the turn to men reflect the wider limits of contemporary feminism in popular culture, in which feminism risks meaning everything and thus nothing. Keywords Men, masculinities, gender, feminism Introduction There has recently been a ‘turn to men’ in gender politics, an increasing emphasis on the roles that men can play in building gender equality. The turn to men has two overlapping dimensions. One is a shift in cultural and community discourse regarding feminism and gender. Another is the emergence of the ‘engaging men’ field – the field of programming and policy focused on involving men in building gender equality. What does this turn to men signal for feminist efforts to make progress towards gender equality? The notion that men have a role to play in ending gender inequalities, in ending sexist oppression and patriarchal injustices, is not a new one.
    [Show full text]
  • Engaging Men and Boys in Violence Prevention
    GLOBAL MASCULINITIESITIES ENGAGING MEN AND BOYS IN VIOLENCE PREVENTION MICHAEL FLOOD Global Masculinities Series Editors Michael Kimmel Department of Sociology Stony Brook University Stony Brook, NY, USA Judith Kegan Gardiner University of Illinois at Chicago Chicago, IL, USA The dramatic success of Gender Studies has rested on three develop- ments: (1) making women’s lives visible, which has also come to mean making all genders more visible; (2) insisting on intersectionality and so complicating the category of gender; (3) analyzing the tensions among global and local iterations of gender. Through textual analyses and humanities-based studies of cultural representations, as well as cul- tural studies of attitudes and behaviors, we have come to see the cen- trality of gender in the structure of modern life. This series embraces these advances in scholarship, and applies them to men’s lives: gender- ing men’s lives, exploring the rich diversity of men’s lives—globally and locally, textually and practically—as well as the differences among men by class, race, sexuality, and age. More information about this series at http://www.palgrave.com/gp/series/15013 Michael Flood Engaging Men and Boys in Violence Prevention Michael Flood Queensland University of Technology Brisbane, QLD, Australia Global Masculinities ISBN 978-1-137-44210-9 ISBN 978-1-137-44208-6 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-44208-6 Library of Congress Control Number: 2018951028 © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2019 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifcally the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microflms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed.
    [Show full text]
  • Engaging Men in the Prevention of Violence Against Women
    10/23/19 Engaging men in the prevention of violence against women Dr Michael Flood Queensland University of Technology, Australia Email: [email protected] Web: www.xyonline.net Twitter: @MichaelGLFlood Citation: Flood, M. (2018). Engaging men in the primary prevention of violence against women. First Pacific Regional Dialogue on Engaging Men in Efforts to End Violence Against Women and Girls: Current Practice and Future Collaborations. Sigatoka, Fiji, 16-20 September 2019 Contents 1. Involving men and boys in preventing men’s violence against women: Rationale & strategies 2. A critical assessment of the ‘engaging men’ field 3. Principles 4. Effective practice in face-to-face education 5. Effective practice in communications and social marketing 6. Effective practice in community mobilisation 7. An introduction to gender inequalities and male privilege 8. Some men’s groups are better than others 9. Personal strategies for strength, support, and inspiration among male advocates 10. More on principles of effective violence prevention 11. Key challenges in engaging men • Exercise: Appealing to men 12. Resources on engaging men Notes: • Only Parts 1-3 of these slides were used in the workshop. The remaining slides are provided as further resources. • Some sections are summaries of the book Engaging Men in Violence Prevention, available free here: https://xyonline.net/content/new-book-engaging-men-and-boys-violence-prevention 1 10/23/19 Who is this man? • Advocacy • Men Against Sexual Assault; XY (once a magazine, now a website, www.xyonline.net ); White Ribbon Campaign; etc. • Community education • Academic research & teaching • Research on engaging men in preventing men’s violence against women • FREE book, Engaging Men and Boys in Violence Prevention (2018): https://xyonline.net/content/new-book-engaging-men-and-boys-violence- prevention • Other research, e.g.
    [Show full text]
  • Involving Men in Efforts to End Violence Against Women
    Involving Men in Efforts to End Violence Against Women Dr Michael Flood Domestic Violence Network Forum (Eastern Suburbs Domestic Violence Network), March 18, 2008, Sydney Introduction Thank you to the organisers of this Forum for inviting me to speak here: the Eastern Suburbs Domestic Violence Network, and the organisations and DV Committees it represents. I want to start by acknowledging that the work done by the women, and men, in this room is really at the frontline of domestic violence work. I have the utmost respect for those of you who do this work, and I feel both humbled and privileged to be in this forum with you. In this paper, I offer an overview of strategies for the primary prevention of violence against women. I focus on working with men to end violence against women, and I situate this within a wider framework of violence prevention. I begin by outlining the rationale for addressing men in efforts to prevent violence against women. I then offer a framework identifying six key levels of intervention in violence prevention. I discuss examples of working with men in each, and I identify effective or promising strategies in work with men. The final section of the paper then explores some key challenges in working with men. Men’s roles in preventing violence against women Efforts to end violence against women must address men. This notion is increasingly accepted in violence prevention circles. More generally, there is growing international support for the belief that we must involve men in efforts to build gender equality. The growing emphasis on the need to address men in ending violence against women is fuelled by three key insights.
    [Show full text]