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Engaging Men and Boys

The violence against women movement started when women organized to address men’s violence against women. The early social change efforts engaged women as individuals who had the power to change the conditions in which violence against women existed.

While it is clear that violence against women impacts the lives, well-being, and safety of women and girls, this issue is not only of concern to women. Since most people who commit violence against women are men, men must also be engaged and participate in activities to prevent sexual violence.

Early efforts for men’s involvement in violence against women prevention have been work in batterer intervention projects such as EMERGE in Boston, RAVEN in St. Louis and MOVE in San Francisco. Other organizations focussed on providing education about male violence.

Check out this article on Eight Ways Men and Boys are Helping to End Gender-Based Violence

Research

XY Resources:
There is also scholarship and research on violence prevention work with men. See e.g.;

The work of engaging men has been around for a while, and XY includes some early speeches and articles too, e.g.;

A tour of the wide range of resources on engaging men in violence prevention on the website XY.
http://www.xyonline.net/content/violence-walking-tour-some-xy%E2%80%99s-content

XY includes materials focused on violence prevention in particular settings and contexts or among particular groups of men and boys, including

XY includes a wide range of key reports and overviews on the role of men in addressing violence against women, including:

 

Comprehensive Campaigns for men/boys in the U.S.

 

XY Resources on Engaging Men

Engaging men is now firmly on the violence prevention agenda. XY includes great introductions to the notions that men have a role to play in preventing and reducing violence against women and that violence prevention efforts should include engaging men. See e.g.;

These include pieces which focus on the practical educational and other strategies which can be used to engage men, such as these:

International Efforts with a Focus on Men/Boys
Men Engage: Is an alliance of worldwide NGOs and UN agencies that work to engage men and boys in the goal of achieving gender equality. One of the organization’s key issues is ending gender-based violence.

 

Books/Publications

From the NSVRC Special Collection Men and Boys: Preventing Sexual and Intimate Partner Violence

Articles about Traditional Masculinities:

Articles about the Intersection of Race, Class, and Gender:

Understanding the benefits of Working with Men and Boys:

Prevention Articles about Engaging Men:

Addressing Challenges and Barriers to Working with Men and Boys:

Articles about Men, Feminism, and Anti-Violence Movements:

Understanding the Primary Prevention approach to engaging boys and men:

Relational level prevention and social change: the bystander approach:

Community change: Prevention work in schools, sports programs, and social communities

Societal Change: Changing social norms

Accountability Work With Men:

 

XY Resources

People new to the area of men’s violence against women can find short overviews and introductions, including pieces such as;

If you want more detailed, scholarly accounts of men’s violence against women, or domestic or partner violence, or sexual violence, look to XY’s collections. These include:

Domestic violence and gender: There are debates and controversies in this work. One key debate is over gender and domestic violence: is women’s domestic violence against men is as common or as serious as men’s domestic violence against women? XY includes valuable resources here, including

False allegations: Men’s rights advocates (MRAs), and community members more widely, claim that women often make false allegations of domestic violence or child abuse. But, this is not true, as this fact sheet spells out.

Men’s rights and father’s rights advocates have attacked efforts to address men’s violence against women. XY includes responses to typical anti-feminist claims, including this short piece (Flood, 2006), an article on fathers’ rights groups and their efforts to undermine work to address violence against women, and a wide range of other materials.

Community attitudes: XY also includes valuable materials on community attitudes towards domestic / family violence or violence against women.

You will find materials focused on particular strategies of or issues in violence prevention, including e.g.:

 

DVDs and Videos

Article/video from PBS: The Search for Masculinity

Consultants, Training and Speakers

 

Bibliographies and Toolkits