An outline of strategies for the primary prevention of violence against women, focused on engaging and working with men.
Michael Flood
SEXISM is all around us, and sometimes we try to do something about it. Sometimes this doesn't work, sometimes it does.
CASE: It's the middle of the city, Saturday night. David walks around the corner. There's a man and woman, he's pushing her, slapping her crying face. It's fast, scary, violent.
Men's groups are the backbone of the men's movement. They are a good thing, says Michael Flood.
I JOINED my first men's group when I was 20, and it profoundly changed my life. Seven years on, I'm passionately committed to men's issues.
For the last three years I've been part of two great men's groups: the Canberra branch of Men Against Sexual Assault, and those lovely men in the XY editorial group.
Four lessons, and plenty of homework. That's what Michael Flood took home from the Adelaide sessions.
I learnt important lessons about pro-feminist activism, and lessons that are important for all men, in the four-day sessions in Adelaide. I felt challenged, inspired and confused.
Three terms have become the guiding principles for anti-sexist men in Australia, but what do they mean? Michael Flood pins them down.
Male-positive. Pro-feminist. Gay-affirmative. These three terms have become the guiding principles for a substantial section of the men's movement, including this magazine and Men Against Sexual Assault groups around Australia. What do they each mean, and what should they look like in practice?
Is XY anti-male? Is it male-bashing? Founding editor Michael Flood thinks not, putting the case for the defence and raising broader questions about men and men's politics.
While XY gets its fair share of positive feedback, it also regularly receives the feedback that it is "anti-male". Is this true, why might XY be seen this way, and what can we do about it?
The best involvements in men's or boys' issues, whether as a men's movement participant, a social worker or counsellor, or policy-maker, are guided by three interrelated principles: they are male-positive, they are gender-just, and they recognise diversity and are inclusive.
Do you need a solid social analysis of masculinity? Of course you do. Well, look no further than Bob Connell’s new book, Masculinities. Michael Flood got the story.