The Continuum of Male Engagement

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Funk, Continuum of Male Engagement 2018 graphic

The Continuum of Male Engagement is a tool to assist efforts to effectively engage men in work to end gender based violence. Men are differently positioned in the degree to which they are willing and able to become engaged in efforts to prevent gender-based violence or promote gender equality. gender equality, along a continuum from ‘overtly hostile’ to ‘ready to lead’. The basic premise of the Continuum of Male Engagement is that our efforts to engage men and boys are better served when we a) focus these efforts on those men who are "most engage-able" (rather than seeking to engage all men in our communities or on our campuses) and b) strategically align the engagement efforts with the degree of willingness to be engaged of the men we're seeking to engage.

I originally developed the Continuum of Male Engagement in the late 90s. Over the past several months, I have been working to update and revise the continuum, and develop some additional resources to assist organizations and practitioners in using the continuum in their engaging and organizing efforts. The results, in addition to the revised continuum, include a manual that provides an overview of the continuum (including the theoretical bases for the concept), and some thoughts on applying the continuum to engagement efforts. I have also producted a variety of supporting resources, here:  http://rusfunk.me/continuum-of-male-engagement/

Coming shortly will be additional short video "classes" that unpack some more related to using the continuum.  Some of the topics to be explored in these upcoming videos include: 

  • "Reaching out and Responding to those men who are opposed"
  • "Core Standards and Principles to Engaging Men"
  • "Using an Intersectional Approach to Engaging Men"

Stay tuned for more upcoming resources and support!