Following another series of alleged killings of women across Australia, the country has once again found itself asking familiar questions. How many more women have to die before we act? What more should governments do? Why does this violence keep happening?
Michael Flood
How can the Australian Government strengthen efforts to engage men and boys in the primary prevention of domestic, family and sexual violence? This submission to the Consultation on the Second Action Plan (National Plan to End Violence against Women and Children 2022–2032) provides guidance on effective ways forward. See the short summary below, and the full submission here.
The manosphere contributes to violence against women by men both within and outside the manosphere. The manosphere is a diverse online ecosystem of anti-feminist and male supremacist communities, influencers, and platforms.
The manosphere - a diverse ecosystem of anti-feminist and male supremacist online communities, influencers, and platforms - has emerged over the past decade as a significant site of gendered harm. From men’s rights activist (MRA) networks and incel forums to “red pill” influencers and anti-feminist social media channels, these online environments shape how some men and boys understand masculinity, relationships, and gender relations.
This new report explores how a care-centered approach can strengthen efforts to prevent men’s violence against women and girls. Produced by Equimundo for the MenCare Changemaker Summit 2026, the report examines how empathy, caregiving, relational accountability, and gender equality can help foster healthier masculinities and safer communities.
Drawing on global research and decades of violence prevention work, the report highlights practical strategies for engaging men and boys as caregivers, allies, and active partners in building a more just and non-violent world.
The Australian organisation ManCave released an open letter on May 14, titled “An open letter to the sector working with men and boys, in healthy masculinities, gender equity, and the prevention of violence”. Professsor Steven Roberts and colleagues responded to this in a Substack post.
In the field of violence prevention work with men and boys, there is growing interest in engaging men as fathers. Fatherhood is identified as a key entry point that can be strategically leveraged to support male engagement, both during men’s transition to parenthood and throughout their involvements as parents and caregivers.
Four streams of work have converged to shape interest in engaging men as fathers in the prevention of domestic and sexual violence:
Male allies are men who act to challenge patriarchal inequalities. Male allies ideally take everyday action to challenge sexist behaviours and relations, act in solidarity with women, and hold themselves accountable for striving to meet a gender-equitable standard.
This article summarises some of the research on allies, covering:
In countries across the world, there are growing numbers of men taking action to help end violence against women.
And there are growing efforts to engage men and boys in prevention efforts: as participants in education programs, as targets of social marketing campaigns, as activists and advocates, and as leaders and policy makers.
The tension between attention to men’s privilege, on the one hand, and men’s disadvantage, on the other, is a fundamental one in efforts to understand and work with men and boys.
Debates over how to understand men’s and boys’ social positions have been part of self-conscious attention to men and masculinities since the beginnings of this work in the early 1970s. There have been competing understandings of men’s social situations in different strands of men’s organising (pro-feminist, men’s liberation, mythopoetic, and anti-feminist), and these disagreements persist today.