There has been progress towards gender equality in countries around the world. And increasingly, men are being invited to help build gender equality. There is a growing belief that men have a vital role to play in working with women to create a world of gender justice, in campaigns such as HeForShe and in programs addressing domestic violence, parenting, and health. But is gender equality good for men? What do men gain from more gender-equal relationships, families, and communities? What do men lose? Does feminism need men, and do men need feminism?
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When profeminist men are alleged to have perpetrated abuse or harassment: How should the alleged abuser respond? How should friends and colleagues respond? Does this change how we see the alleged abuser’s work? Can the alleged abuser stay in public roles?
How do we prevent our sons from becoming rapists?
Media headlines lately have been dominated by violence – young men’s violence against other men outside pubs and in the street, and men’s sexual assaults of women. Most boys and men do not use violence. But a minority do. The confronting truth is, some of the boys growing up right now will force or pressure a girl or woman into sex.
The term toxic masculinity has appeared increasingly frequently in media and popular discussions of men and gender. The term typically is used to refer to the narrow, traditional, or stereotypical norms of masculinity which shape boys and men’s lives. These norms include the expectations that boys and men must be active, aggressive, tough, daring, and dominant.
The term toxic masculinity points to two interrelated impacts of the constructions of masculinity:
Meaningful engagement with men and boys is increasingly recognized as critical to gender equality and equity, necessary not only for women’s empowerment, but also for transforming the social and gender norms that reinforce patriarchy and inequality and harm both women and men. The primary challenge embedded in this work is how to engage men and boys effectively without instrumentalizing them as a pathway to women’s empowerment on the one hand, or marginalizing women and girls in gender equity work on the other.
Men’s relations with men structure the practices, processes, and cultures of a wide variety of social contexts. Homosocial bonds have a profound influence on men’s friendships with other men and their social and sexual relations with women. Various institutional contexts, from schools and workplaces to militaries and governments, are dominated by males and shaped by the relations between them. Male-male relations define important kinship and familial connections.
Call for abstracts for the symposium “Making it like a man”: men, masculinities and the modern ’career’.
25- 26 October
University of Helsinki, Finland
Please see the PDF attachment below.
This paper explores the essential principles required for the development of an effective violence prevention framework for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander men and boys, to reduce and prevent violence against women and children.
It is now widely accepted that strategies to end violence against women and girls (VAWG) must include work with men and boys. Much of the evidence relating to such strategies comes from the health sector. Ending VAWG, however, requires coordinated work across many sectors. The need for a multi-sectoral response to the challenge of ending VAWG has focused attention on the opportunities for and challenges of male engagement strategies outside of the health sector.
This working paper:
- Reviews existing knowledge on child marriage and informal unions between girls and boys/men in the Global South;
- Explores the attitudes of male family and community members on child marriage and the role of masculinity in shaping these attitudes; and
- Surveys interventions currently working with men and boys to see what can be built upon more systematically in the future work on child marriage.
Please see below for the full report, in PDF.