To what extent do people in Australia have anti-feminist attitudes? A number of Australian surveys support the point that significant proportions of the population endorse anti-feminist beliefs that men are treated unfairly or discriminated against.
Michael Flood
There is consistent evidence that stereotypical masculine attitudes and norms shape men’s and boys’ behaviour in harmful ways.
- Men who endorse traditional definitions of manhood are more likely to suffer harm to themselves.
- Men who endorse traditional definitions of manhood are more likely to do harm to others.
The following notes summarise the evidence of associations between men’s conformity to stereotypical masculine norms and a range of outcomes, including:
ASK A MATE is a new app aimed at boys and young men that aims to provide sound, evidence-based advice on topics including relationships, gender, consent, domestic and sexual violence, delivered by high-profile positive male role models who young men are willing to listen to.
ASK A MATE has been created by Beyond DV, an Australian charity focused on shaping a society free from domestic violence.
Fathers have a vital role to play in preventing and reducing men’s violence against women and in building a non-violent future.
Dads, Gender, and Violence Prevention
There is a strong rationale for engaging fathers in efforts to prevent men’s violence against women.
There is intensified attention in Australia at present to the messages about manhood, good and bad, that boys and young men grow up with.
There is now a field of programming and policy focused on ‘engaging men and boys’. This involves efforts self-consciously aimed at men or boys and addressing their involvements in gender in some way, and can be termed the ‘engaging men and boys’ field (Greig & Flood, 2020). The last decade has seen significant growth in this field. Programs and initiatives focused on men and boys have proliferated at local, national, and international levels.
This paper provides a critical assessment of efforts to involve men in the prevention of men’s violence against women. Although there is a substantial evidence base attesting to the effectiveness of at least some strategies and interventions, this field is also limited in important ways. Violence prevention efforts often have focused on changing men’s attitudes, rather than also seeking to transform structural and institutional inequalities.
There is a long history of pro-feminist men's activism in countries around the world. As part of this advocacy and education work, some groups and networks have produced newsletters and magazines. This XY collection is an archive of key English-language pro-feminist men's magazines.
XY itself began as a printed magazine, that I founded in 1990 and edited for seven years. You can read more about XY's history here.
This archive includes the following:
How can boys and men be encouraged to respond critically to the anti-women ideologies of the manosphere, the network of websites, blogs, and online forums promoting sexism and opposition to feminism? This page highlights key resources for engaging men and boys.
Curricula, programs, and resources:
This report examines violence prevention education with boys and young men. Exploring how best to work with boys and young men in classrooms and other face-to-face settings, it identifies six standards for best practice in this work.
The report focuses on educational strategies aimed at the primary prevention of domestic and/or sexual violence, focused on boys and young men, and provided face-to-face in schools and other settings.