Michael Flood

Fathers have a vital role to play in preventing and reducing men’s violence against women and in building a non-violent future. Fathers can have a profound and positive impact on children, mothers, families, other fathers, and the wider community.

There are of course a wide range of ways in which men can contribute to ending violence against women, and a wide range of ways men can improve their own fathering. But here I focus on what fathers can do, as fathers, to prevent domestic and sexual violence.

This book explores men's attraction to violent extremist movements and terrorism. (Download it free here.)

I tweet regularly on issues of men, masculinities, gender, and violence, at https://twitter.com/MichaelGLFlood. On this page, I list many of my recent tweets. So if you don't use X/Twitter or follow me on Twitter, then you can find most of my recent tweets here. If X/Twitter ceases to exist or be functional, I may continue posting at Mastodon, at @MichaelGLFlood@mastodon.au.

University colleges have a vital role to play in building cultures of respect and safety on campus. What are the risk factors for sexual violence and harassment in colleges – the factors that make perpetration and victimisation more likely? Why are some colleges safer than others? What strategies are effective in preventing and reducing violence and abuse among students? How can we foster positive cultures in colleges, and how do these fit within a whole-of-institution approach to prevention?

Working Together with Men is an innovative violence prevention project based on community engagement and mobilisation. The project aims to contribute to the prevention of violence against women by engaging men to develop and implement primary prevention strategies in their local communities.

Engaging men and boys is a key strategy for preventing the perpetration of sexual violence. Whilst prevention efforts among men and boys are growing, they remain limited in scope and scale. The evidence base for the effectiveness of sexual violence prevention work with men and boys is also small, although increasing rapidly, and shows mixed impacts. The chapter argues that it is necessary for prevention initiatives to place a greater focus on the structural and cultural factors contributing to sexual violence.

This literature review was commissioned by Deloittes as part of its stocktake of sexual violence prevention in Australia. A condensed and revised version of this literature review was published as an Appendix in: Deloittes and M. Flood. (2020) Stocktake of Primary Prevention Initiatives in Sexual Violence and Sexual Harassment. Sydney: Deloittes.

I want to start with the rationale for this work. Why are we trying to promote healthy masculinities? What is the problem?

To answer that, I have to start with gender.

Gender means…

I’m using the term ‘gender’ here for the patterns of men’s and women’s lives, boys’ and girls’ lives.

Gender means: the meanings we give to being male and female, and the social organisation of men’s and women’s lives.

Men have a vital role to play in contributing to the prevention and reduction of sexual harassment, in workplaces and elsewhere. Although men’s involvement is often constrained by poor understanding of sexual harassment and barriers preventing their advocacy, there are effective ways to invite them in to the work of sexual harassment prevention, and practical actions men can take to make change.

Driving is shaped by gender – by the meanings given to being male or female and the social organisation of men’s and women’s lives and relations. There are significant associations between men, masculinity, and risky driving.

Risky driving behaviours

Men are more likely than women to show various risky driving behaviours, as national data on self-reported driving behaviour in Australia finds. Males are more likely than females to: