These notes were prepared by Professor Michael Flood in September 2021, to guide a largescale organisation in Australia in its development of bystander education to prevent and reduce workplace sexual harassment.
There are some general principles for effective education that can be applied to education and training strategies focused on bystander intervention in sexual harassment. Such strategies are more likely to generate change if they:
Over the past couple of years, Andrew Tate, a kickboxer from Britain, has emerged as an online star for disaffected, often highly misogynist young men. Starting as a professional kickboxer, he became an online celebrity after making repeated highly misogynistic statements. By 2022 Tate was the most Google searched figure in the world, promoting misogynist, pro- traditional masculinity, ideas to millions of young men.
Neoconservative social scientists have claimed that fathers are essential to positive child development, and that responsible fathering is most likely to occur within the context of heterosexual marriage. This perspective is generating a range of governmental initiatives designed to provide social support preferences to fathers over mothers; and to heterosexual married couples, rather than to alternative family forms.
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.
There is consistent evidence that stereotypical masculine attitudes and norms shape men’s and boys’ behaviour in harmful ways.
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 and intended 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.
There is a strong rationale for engaging fathers in efforts to prevent men’s violence against women.
Increased public attention to issues of gender injustice has led to a proliferation of community-based programs for boys and men designed to educate for gender respect and gender justice. An intersectional approach to this work is now seen as imperative. In practice, however, this approach is far from simple or straightforward. This paper presents data from a broader study of community-based programs in Victoria, Australia designed to support men and boys to adopt more inclusive and respectful masculinities.
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